Onboarding: welcoming a new employee well

Onboarding is the most underrated phase of workforce management. Many companies pour enormous energy into recruitment and then leave the new hire to fend for themselves on day one. The result is a slow start, avoidable mistakes and, in the worst cases, early resignations. Good onboarding is not a courtesy: it is productivity and risk reduction. In Switzerland it also has an administrative component that must be closed before the person even arrives.

Before day one: the obligations

Successful onboarding begins weeks in advance. On the administrative side, the following must be sorted out before the employment relationship starts:

a signed employment contract, with role, gross salary, working hours, holidays, probation period and notice period;
affiliations in order with the AHV fund (state old-age and survivors’ insurance), the BVG institution (occupational pension) and the UVG insurer (accident insurance);
verification of the work permit and, where due, setting up withholding tax for foreign employees;
any check on the cantonal minimum wage or applicable collective labour agreement (CLA).

These steps are not “paperwork to deal with at your leisure”: they must be ready before the person works, because contributions and coverage take effect from the start of the relationship.

Preparing the practical groundwork

Beyond the formalities, day one must be prepared. It sounds obvious, but the most common mistake is to have the new hire arrive without the tools to work:

workstation, IT access rights, e-mail and credentials ready;
equipment (computer, phone, badge) available;
a clearly designated contact person for first questions;
a schedule for the first days, not an empty desk.

An employee who cannot even log into the system on day one receives an implicit message: this organisation is sloppy.

The first days: context, not just tasks

Real integration is not the list of duties, it is the context. In the first weeks the new hire should understand:

how the company works, who does what and whom to turn to;
the priorities and what “a job well done” means in their role;
the practical rules: hours, communication channels, any remote working;
the objectives for the first months, explicit and verifiable.

Assigning a reference colleague (buddy) hugely speeds up this phase: many small but blocking questions get answered without bothering the manager.

The probation period: actually using it

The probation period — as a rule the first months of the relationship, with reduced notice terms under the Swiss Code of Obligations — is not a formality. It is the tool designed to check, from both sides, whether the match works. To use it well:

schedule review meetings at regular intervals (for example after the first month);
give concrete feedback, in time to correct course;
document what you observe, so that a decision — to confirm or to part ways — is well founded and not improvised.

Reaching the end of the probation period without ever having given feedback is a wasted opportunity.

The 30-60-90 days

A simple way to structure the start is to think in stages:

first 30 days: understand the context, tools and people; first guided tasks.
within 60 days: growing autonomy on the main tasks; first structured feedback.
within 90 days: full operational capability expected on the core of the role; probation-period review.

You do not need a heavy process: you need intentionality. Knowing what is expected at each stage makes the path readable for everyone.

Why it pays to do it well

Careful onboarding shortens the time to full productivity, reduces errors in the first weeks and lowers the risk of early departure, which wipes out the investment made in recruitment. It is also a matter of administrative risk: closing affiliations, permits and withholding tax before the start avoids back-payments and retroactive corrections. Welcoming people well, in short, is not a luxury: it is the part of the job where you decide whether the hire will pay off.

How we help

The People division of SIH ONE structures clear onboarding processes — administrative checklist, first-months plan and proper use of the probation period — so that every new hire starts compliant and in the right way. Talk to the People division.