Onboarding and training are essential for new employees to feel welcomed, confident, and productive in their roles. At Seibert, we use Confluence to streamline these processes, ensuring that new hires are well-supported and equipped with the resources they need. With Confluence’s robust features, HR teams can centralize onboarding and training, fostering a seamless integration into both the company’s culture and operations.
In this guide, we’ll explore how HR teams can use Confluence to create effective onboarding and training programs, incorporating tools like templates, personalized flightplans, and integrations with platforms like Loom and Mantra.
Leverage Confluence Templates for Consistency
Confluence templates simplify and standardize onboarding, ensuring a consistent experience for all new hires. At Seibert, templates play a crucial role in our onboarding process by providing clear, structured steps for new employees to follow.
At Seibert, incorporating templates into our onboarding processes has streamlined communication, reduced administrative overhead, and provided new hires with a sense of clarity and direction.
Creating a custom template in Confluence for onboarding will save you time. Here is a simple step-by-step guide to creating your custom templates in Confluence.
- Navigate to Confluence and open it.
- Go to the space in Confluence where you want to create your new template.
- Click on space settings on the left side bar.
- Select the Templates from the look and feel card.
- Click on create a new template!
You can edit your template by adding in things such as variables. To do this, type in /variable and you’ll be prompted to add in a variable where you can then proceed to edit it. The variable can add text, multilevel text or a list.
When someone generates a page using this template, they will be prompted to input text into the areas where the variables are displayed.
Once you’ve customized your template, click the “Save” button, give it a descriptive name, and utilize your template!
Structured Onboarding Checklists
Templates are preconfigured with onboarding checklists that guide new employees through tasks such as:
- Setting up accounts and accessing tools
- Reviewing company policies and compliance requirements
- Completing initial training modules
For instance, a checklist template in Confluence might include placeholders for key tasks and deadlines, ensuring no critical steps are missed. This organized approach helps new hires feel supported and minimizes the likelihood of onboarding gaps.
Personalized Welcome Pages
Using Confluence templates, teams create personalized onboarding pages with placeholders for employee details, introductions to team members, and links to key resources. These pages give each new hire a tailored experience and set the tone for their journey within the organization.
Team Introductions and Role Overviews
Templates also help clarify team structures and individual roles. For example, a “Meet the Team” template might include profiles of team members, their responsibilities, and contact details. This ensures that new hires quickly understand their team’s dynamics and know who to reach out to for support.
Create Personalized “Flightplans” for New Hires
At Seibert, we enhance the onboarding experience with personalized “flightplans” in Confluence. These serve as roadmaps, guiding new employees through their first days, weeks, and months.
A typical flightplan begins with a warm welcome, such as:
“This is now your new workplace, and we are very happy to be working together from now on - welcome to our team! To help you adjust and find your way around as soon as possible, we’ve created a personalized flight plan. This will be your starting point to explore our galaxy and understand what makes us tick, where you’ll find what, and get to know the people and tools you’ll be working with here.”
Flightplans in Confluence typically include the following elements:
- Company Overview and Mission: An introduction to the organization’s vision, values, and goals.
- Team Introductions and Contacts: Profiles of team members and departments, helping new hires build connections.
- Role-Specific Tasks and Resources: Checklists of job-specific responsibilities, tools, and best practices.
- HR Policies and Benefits: Clear documentation of workplace policies, perks, and benefits.
- Tools and Software Tutorials: Links to resources or guides for navigating company systems.
Flightplans allow new hires to move at their own pace, ensuring they feel neither overwhelmed nor under informed. This personalized approach helps employees acclimate quickly and engage effectively.
Integrate Mantra for Engagement and Collaboration
Mantra, Seibert’s customizable intranet app, is seamlessly integrated into Confluence, serving as a hub for employee engagement and collaboration. Mantra enhances onboarding by organizing training materials and creating a dynamic environment for new hires.
Personalized Dashboards
New employees gain access to dashboards featuring:
- Quick links to essential resources
- Updates about company news, events, and celebrations
- Tailored onboarding tasks and reminders
These dashboards provide a centralized starting point for new hires, helping them stay informed and organized.
People Directory and Welcome Buddies
Mantra’s people directory allows new hires to search for colleagues by skills, languages, or departments. This feature simplifies networking and ensures new employees know who to approach for assistance.
At Seibert, each new hire is paired with a “welcome buddy”—a designated team member who serves as a guide during the onboarding process. Using the people directory, HR teams can assign buddies based on shared skills or interests, creating a more personalized and effective experience.
Interactive Features for Engagement
Mantra fosters interaction and collaboration through features like:
- Communities: Employees can join work-related or interest-based groups, building connections and fostering camaraderie.
- Posts and Discussions: New hires can ask questions, share ideas, and contribute to ongoing projects.
- Polls and Praise: HR teams can gather feedback through polls or recognize achievements with praise posts, encouraging a positive and participatory culture.
This integration of Mantra into Confluence ensures that new hires feel connected to their colleagues and the company’s goals.
Enhance Training with Loom Videos
Loom is a versatile video recording tool that integrates seamlessly with Confluence, making it easy to create and share engaging training content. At Seibert, Loom plays a key role in onboarding and training by providing visual, on-demand resources for new hires.
- Onboarding Walkthroughs: Managers and teams can record walkthroughs of essential tools and processes, such as navigating Confluence, using Mantra, or submitting requests. Embedding these videos into Confluence pages ensures that all training materials are easily accessible.
- Role-Specific Tutorials: Loom enables teams to create tailored video content for individual hires, such as tutorials for job-specific tasks or troubleshooting common issues. This personalized approach helps employees quickly build confidence in their roles.
- Knowledge Sharing Across Teams: Loom simplifies knowledge sharing by allowing employees to record explainer videos for best practices or workflows. For example, team members can demonstrate innovative approaches to tasks or answer frequently asked questions in a video format.
By combining Loom’s capabilities with Confluence’s centralized platform, Seibert ensures that new hires have a comprehensive and user-friendly training experience.
Conclusion
At Seibert, onboarding and training are more than just processes—they’re opportunities to set new employees up for success. By leveraging Confluence templates, personalized flightplans, and integrations with tools like Mantra and Loom, HR teams can create an engaging, organized, and supportive onboarding experience.
Using these strategies, Seibert has built a dynamic onboarding program that helps new hires quickly adapt, feel confident in their roles, and thrive within the company.
By incorporating these practices into your own onboarding processes, you too can ensure a smooth and impactful transition for every new team member. Contact us at Seibert Solutions, by filling out the form below, to get help with setting up your employee onboarding and training processes in Confluence.