Manager Newsletter / July 2026
Onboarding Culture
Onboarding is more than paperwork, training schedules, and a first-day checklist; it's a new employee's first experience of your team's culture. Long before they fully understand their responsibilities, new hires are observing how people communicate, collaborate, solve problems, and support one another. In many ways, onboarding is where culture becomes tangible.
Without intentional onboarding, employees are left to navigate expectations, relationships, and norms on their own. But with it, they gain clarity, connection, and confidence. A strong onboarding experience helps people feel welcomed, valued, and equipped to succeed - not just in their role, but as part of the broader campus community.
That's where managerial influence comes in: not just in helping employees learn their jobs, but in helping them find their place. Great managers understand that onboarding is one of the most important leadership opportunities they have. This month's newsletter is about onboarding culture: why it matters, how it shapes engagement and retention, and what managers can do to create a strong foundation for long-term success.
Onward and upward,
Jesse Heath / Employee Relations Coordinator
Beyond the First Day: Building an Onboarding Culture That Lasts
For many employees, the first few weeks on the job shape their perception of an organization for years to come. They are learning their responsibilities, meeting new colleagues, and trying to understand how things work. But perhaps most importantly, they are determining whether they feel like they belong.
That's why onboarding matters.
Too often, onboarding is viewed as a checklist of forms, trainings, and administrative tasks. While those elements are important, effective onboarding is really about integration. It helps new employees understand not only what they do, but how they fit into the team, the department, and the institution's mission.
On a college campus, where collaboration and relationships are essential, onboarding has an outsized impact. New employees are expected to navigate institutional processes, build partnerships across departments, support students, and contribute to a unique campus culture. Without intentional support, this can feel overwhelming. With it, employees gain confidence, build connections, and become productive more quickly.
Managers play a critical role in this process. Human Resources may facilitate orientation, but managers shape the day-to-day experience that follows. New employees look to their supervisor for clarity, support, and cues about what success looks like. They pay attention to how decisions are made, how people communicate, and how team members treat one another.
Strong onboarding also influences retention. Employees who feel welcomed, prepared, and connected are more likely to remain engaged and committed to the organization. In contrast, employees who feel isolated or uncertain often begin questioning whether they made the right decision long before performance becomes a concern.
The most effective managers recognize that onboarding is not an event - it's a process. It extends beyond the first day, first week, or even first month. Creating a positive onboarding experience requires intentional effort, but the payoff is significant: stronger engagement, faster integration, and a more connected team.
Actionable Takeaways
Create a 30-60-90 Day Plan
New employees should know what success looks like beyond their first week.
Develop a simple roadmap outlining:
- Key responsibilities to learn
- Important people to meet
- Training milestones
- Short-term goals
Providing structure reduces uncertainty and gives employees a clear sense of progress.
Schedule Regular Check-Ins
Don't assume that "no news is good news."
Set aside dedicated time during the first several months to discuss:
- What's going well
- What's confusing
- What support they need
- Questions they may be hesitant to ask
Consistent check-ins create psychological safety and prevent small concerns from becoming larger issues.
Focus on Relationships, Not Just Tasks
People often stay because of the connections they build.
Intentionally introduce new employees to colleagues across your department and campus. Schedule informal coffee chats or meetings with key partners. The faster employees build relationships, the faster they feel connected to the institution.
Assign a Campus Connector
Consider pairing new employees with a peer outside of their direct reporting relationship.
This person can answer informal questions, explain campus norms, and provide guidance on navigating the institution. Having a trusted colleague often accelerates a new employee's sense of belonging.
Explain the "Why" Behind the Work
Most onboarding focuses on what to do and how to do it. Great onboarding also explains why it matters.
Help new employees understand how their work contributes to student success, departmental goals, and UNI's broader mission. People are more engaged when they can connect their responsibilities to a larger purpose.
Ask for Feedback on the Experience
At the end of the first month or semester, ask new employees:
- What was most helpful?
- What was unclear?
- What do you wish you had known sooner?
Their perspective can help improve the onboarding experience for future hires while demonstrating that their voice matters.
Inaccessible onboarding technology and team members too busy to engage with the new hire makes for a very bad first day of onboarding. When passwords and usernames aren’t readily available, a computer or cell phone aren’t ready, and team members are too busy to introduce themselves or answer questions, onboarding becomes a chaotic, unorganized, unwelcoming experience for the new hire.
Manager's Checklist for New Employees
A successful onboarding experience doesn't happen by accident - it happens by design. To support managers in creating a more intentional and consistent onboarding process, HRS has developed the Manager's Checklist for New Employees. The checklist provides a framework for supporting employees before their first day and throughout their first several months on campus, helping managers build connection, clarify expectations, and foster long-term success. As hiring activity increases in preparation for the academic year, we encourage managers to incorporate this resource into their onboarding practices.
Manager Case Study: The First 90 Days
Sarah recently joined the university as an Academic Advisor. Excited about the opportunity, she arrived on her first day eager to contribute. Her manager ensured she completed required paperwork, attended orientation, and received access to the systems she needed.
After that, however, onboarding became largely self-directed.
Sarah spent her first few weeks trying to understand processes, campus resources, and departmental expectations. She wasn't sure who to contact when questions arose and hesitated to ask for help because everyone seemed busy preparing for the start of the semester. By the end of her second month, she was completing tasks but still felt disconnected from the team and uncertain about how success would be measured.
Contrast this with another new employee in a neighboring department. Their manager scheduled weekly check-ins during the first 90 days, introduced them to key campus partners, assigned a peer mentor, and provided a clear roadmap for learning the role. By the end of the semester, the employee reported feeling confident, connected, and fully integrated into the department.
Key Takeaway: Successful onboarding extends far beyond orientation. New employees don't just need information - they need connection, clarity, and a sense of belonging. Managers who intentionally invest in the first 90 days create a foundation for stronger engagement, faster productivity, and greater retention.
Reflection Questions
- Which employee is more likely to feel engaged and committed to the university?
- What onboarding practices made the difference?
- How might Sarah's experience affect her performance, confidence, and long-term retention?
- What could Sarah's manager do now to improve her onboarding experience?
Additional Resources
Onboarding: The Key to Elevating Your Company Culture SHRM
"Effective onboarding can reduce turnover, increase productivity and drive engagement. Perhaps most importantly, onboarding is how a company sets the cultural tone for new hires."
How To Successfully Onboard Employees in 7 Steps Indeed
"Knowing how to onboard employees effectively can help them feel more comfortable with their new environment and position. It can also lead to greater employee retention."
Onboarding That Sticks: How To Help New Employees Stay And Thrive Forbes
"For a new employee, onboarding is the foundation on which their deep-felt sense of the employee experience is built. What do you want that experience to be?"
How to Design The Perfect Onboarding Process (3:58)
With the right blend of activities and information, you can make sure that your new employee feels welcome, build their understanding of your company culture AND shorten their time to perform.
How To Onboard Employees (7:38)
Entrepreneur Chandler Bolt shares five key principles, a six-step process, and practical tips to accelerate productivity, reinforce company values, set expectations, provide training, and support new hires so they reach full performance quickly and consistently more successfully.
How to Master Recruiting (18:58)
While leaders are told to recruit the right people, they have never been taught how to recruit the right people. That is why most leaders spend 10% of their time recruiting, 90% of their time making up for recruiting mistakes.
Creating a Great Onboarding Experience
Onboarding is the event that sets the tone for a new employee, ensuring new hires have a great first experience with their new company and that they receive all the critical information they need to get started in their new job. This course shows you how to ensure both those things. Instructor Catherine Mattice takes managers through all aspects of creating a great new hire experience - starting with the details to include and ranging all the way to the employee’s experience.
Onboarding: The Key to Elevating Your Company Culture SHRM
"Effective onboarding can reduce turnover, increase productivity and drive engagement. Perhaps most importantly, onboarding is how a company sets the cultural tone for new hires."
How To Successfully Onboard Employees in 7 Steps Indeed
"Knowing how to onboard employees effectively can help them feel more comfortable with their new environment and position. It can also lead to greater employee retention."
Onboarding That Sticks: How To Help New Employees Stay And Thrive Forbes
"For a new employee, onboarding is the foundation on which their deep-felt sense of the employee experience is built. What do you want that experience to be?"
How to Design The Perfect Onboarding Process (3:58)
With the right blend of activities and information, you can make sure that your new employee feels welcome, build their understanding of your company culture AND shorten their time to perform.
How To Onboard Employees (7:38)
Entrepreneur Chandler Bolt shares five key principles, a six-step process, and practical tips to accelerate productivity, reinforce company values, set expectations, provide training, and support new hires so they reach full performance quickly and consistently more successfully.
How to Master Recruiting (18:58)
While leaders are told to recruit the right people, they have never been taught how to recruit the right people. That is why most leaders spend 10% of their time recruiting, 90% of their time making up for recruiting mistakes.
Creating a Great Onboarding Experience
Onboarding is the event that sets the tone for a new employee, ensuring new hires have a great first experience with their new company and that they receive all the critical information they need to get started in their new job. This course shows you how to ensure both those things. Instructor Catherine Mattice takes managers through all aspects of creating a great new hire experience - starting with the details to include and ranging all the way to the employee’s experience.
Our Vision
All employees will be positively engaged in achieving their greatest potential while contributing to the success of the university.
Our Mission
Human Resource Services fosters and environment of integrity and collaboration through innovative solutions and communications contributing to the successful recruitment, development, and retention of university employees.
