How to manage preboarding procedures for new hires

When a new hire signs their offer letter, it’s easy to think the hard work is done. But the period between offer acceptance and the first day of work is critical, and an often overlooked part of the employee experience.

This is where an effective preboarding process becomes important. In this article, we’ll explain why preboarding matters for retention, provide tips on how to create a great preboarding process, and provide a detailed checklist to make things easy. So let’s jump straight in.

First, what is preboarding?

Preboarding is the process of preparing and engaging new hires between the moment they accept their job offer, and their official start date.

It includes all the communications, tasks, tools, and resources you share during this window to:

• Build excitement and confidence
• Reduce first-day anxiety
• Take care of administrative and compliance needs
• Set clear expectations

Preboarding goes beyond logistics. It’s your opportunity to start integrating new employees into your company culture, align them with your mission, and remove any friction before day one. It’s an excellent chance to make a great first impression, all before your hire has even begun work.

What’s the difference between preboarding and onboarding?

Preboarding can often get confused with onboarding, but they are two different processes:

Both are essential. But preboarding sets the tone for everything that follows.

Why does preboarding matter?

Most companies focus heavily on onboarding, but skipping or rushing preboarding can lead to avoidable problems, especially in distributed teams.

Here’s why preboarding deserves your attention:

It reduces no-shows and drop-offs. The time between offer acceptance and start date is risky. Several recent studies show that as many as 20% of new hires ghost their new employers before their first day, especially in competitive talent markets. Preboarding helps keep them engaged and committed during this potentially tricky period.

It accelerates productivity. By handling paperwork, access, and introductions early, your new hires hit the ground running on day one instead of wasting time with setup.

It helps improve retention. A thoughtful preboarding experience fosters a sense of belonging early on. Employees who feel supported from the start are more likely to stick around, especially during those crucial first months.

It enhances your employer brand. Positive early experiences get shared — and so do poor ones. Preboarding is a chance to showcase your company culture and values, and build long-term trust.

Preboarding checklist

Every company is different, of course, but there are a mix of logistical, cultural, and relational steps that it’s recommended for most organizations to follow.

Here’s a customizable checklist to help get you started with the preboarding process.

Administration and compliance:

• Send an official welcome email with start date, time, and agenda
• Share the employment contract and all key policies
• Collect the necessary documents for payroll, tax, and benefits registration
• Initiate background checks (if required)
• Send any relocation or visa information (for global hires)
  
  

Tech and tools

• Order and ship equipment (e.g., laptop, headset, etc.)
• Set up accounts and permissions (e.g., email, Slack, internal tools, etc.)
• Provide instructions for tool access and setup
  
  

Culture and connection

• Send a welcome message from the hiring manager or team lead
• Share an employee handbook or culture deck
• Introduce them to a buddy or mentor
• Invite them to relevant Slack channels or community groups
  
  

Learning and preparation

• Share a company overview (i.e., mission, values, and product)
• Provide organizational charts and team introductions
• Recommend any relevant pre-reading or light training (optional)
  
  

Logistics

• Confirm the first-day agenda and calendar invites
• Share any office or remote meeting links and expectations
• Provide key contacts for HR, IT, and support

You can adapt this checklist based on the role, seniority, and location of the hire, especially when managing distributed employees.

How to ensure a smooth preboarding process

To help ensure an effective and successful preboarding process, consider adopting some of these best practices:

Automate where possible, but keep it human. Use a HRIS tool to manage paperwork and task tracking, but make space for genuine human moments like a personal note or even a short video. When I first joined Remote, for instance, I received several messages following up on my welfare when there was severe weather in my area.

Treat preboarding as part of onboarding, not an extra. Instead of separating the two, think of preboarding as phase one. This mindset helps you build a smoother, more cohesive new hire experience.

Be consistent, but stay flexible. Standardize your core processes, but allow for customization. This is especially true for distributed teams. For example, a designer in Brazil will have different needs than a software engineer in Canada.

Keep the momentum going. Check in regularly between acceptance and day one. A simple message like “We’re excited to have you join us!” goes a long way.

Collaborate across teams. Preboarding isn’t just HR’s job. IT, managers, recruiters, and even peers all play a role in delivering a great experience.

A note on remote-friendly preboarding

For distributed workforces, the preboarding process is even more critical. Without an office tour or hallway chats, new hires need more structure and intentional touchpoints.

At Remote, we often use asynchronous welcome videos, culture handbooks, and automated task checklists to ensure a smooth global experience, regardless of timezone.

To learn more about onboarding remote employees, get key insights and advice from our Remote experts.

How can Remote help?

Preboarding isn’t just a box to tick. It’s a powerful way to build engagement, reduce risk, and show new employees that you truly value them, all before they even clock in.

As a result, creating a smooth preboarding experience is critical. And when you hire with Remote’s employer of record (EOR) service, we take the heavy lifting off your plate, allowing you to focus on welcoming new hires, not wrestling with admin.

With Remote, you can:

• Get new hires set up faster with instant, automated access to their personalized employee accounts. There’s no manual back-and-forth required.
• Stay in control with a clear, trackable onboarding checklist tailored to each employee, giving you full visibility into their progress before day one.
• Offload the admin, with Remote handling local payroll, taxes, benefits, and compliance, wherever your hire is based.
• Keep everything organized with centralized document management. Contracts, IDs, and employment history are all easy to access when you need them.

Whether you're scaling in one country or twenty, Remote helps you deliver a world-class preboarding experience, efficiently, compliantly, and with a human touch.

To learn more, speak to one of our friendly experts today.