Contemporary research has revealed that diversity in terms of race, ethnicity, and gender orientation within an organization enhances creativity, uncovers novel perspectives, and leads to more informed decision-making and innovation. However, to reap the benefits of diversity, business leaders must ensure there’s inclusive onboarding and that every person in the room feels comfortable expressing themselves, and the workplace needs to be inclusive as well.
In an inclusive workplace, employees are more engaged with their work and team, meaning they are more likely to stay with the company for a longer period of time. It results in higher retention rates, lower turnover, and increased productivity.
Beyond retention, inclusive workplaces find it easier to recruit incredible talent. Moreover, the company’s referrals increase, the employer brand is improved, and candidates are more likely to accept offers because engaged employees conduct better interviews, enriching the overall candidate experience.
Onboarding is the first interaction an employee has with the organization; hence, it is essential that the employees feel valued and seen from the first day. It is the pivotal moment for the employees, as it sets the tone for a person’s tenure at the company.
Unfortunately, onboarding isn’t always inclusive because the focus is on getting new hires ramped up and contributing rather than settled in. It can quickly become more about process than experience, and in doing so, the companies fail to connect new hires to their new role. As a result, employees are hesitant to commit to a long-term career at the company.
Instead of leaving employees confused and disconnected, it is important to offer an inclusive and meaningful onboarding experience. It means slowing down, making adjustments, and including your new hire. Brasstacks can help you transform your onboarding process by creating tailored courses.
Our bite-sized microlearning courses ensure higher completion rates and retention, leading to an inclusive and accessible onboarding experience that allows everyone to complete the course at their own pace. The following blog elaborates on how inclusive onboarding fosters belonging, boosts employee engagement, and helps new hires thrive in the workplace.
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The first 90 days of a new hire’s journey are transformative because they form lasting impressions about whether the organization truly lives up to its stated values on diversity and inclusion. During this transitory phase, employees decide if they can envision themselves growing with the company in the long term or if they need to start looking elsewhere.
For employees from minority groups, this window is especially important: they are more likely to notice subtle cues and whether their perspectives are acknowledged, whether managers and business leaders genuinely support inclusivity, and whether the workplace culture provides them with psychological safety.
An inclusive onboarding process can:
To summarize, the first 90 days are not just about integrating new hires into the workflow; they are about signaling whether your company’s commitment to diversity is genuine or performative. Inclusive onboarding transforms diversity from a statement into a lived employee experience.
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Employee onboarding is the process of welcoming new colleagues to the organization. It involves sharing the culture and values of the company and providing context to the new colleague to help them understand the specifics of the role. Onboarding also provides practical information, training, and tools needed to effectively get the job done. It’s also an important opportunity for the new joiner to ask questions and get to know their new team members.
A clear and chaos-free onboarding experience helps resolve a lot of that stress and uncertainty. There are many ways to make your onboarding process inclusive, from the company level to the team and individual level. Here are a few ways you can make employees feel like they belong at your organization from day one.
For onboarding to truly be inclusive, new hires need to feel from day one that their individuality is valued and acknowledged. The most effective way to accomplish this is by clearly communicating your company’s commitment to diversity and inclusion throughout the onboarding process. Hosting a dedicated Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) onboarding session signals to employees that inclusion isn’t just a buzzword; it's a core value that shapes the organizational culture and decision-making.
It is equally important to showcase to employees how they can contribute to cultivating this culture. Share resources that outline opportunities for involvement, whether through Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), allyship programs, or initiatives that specifically support minority groups. By introducing these touchpoints early, you can make it clear that every employee has a role to play in shaping a workplace where different perspectives are celebrated. When new hires see that inclusion is not just stated but actively practiced and supported with resources, they are more likely to feel engaged, respected, and motivated to authentically contribute.
The foundation of an inclusive workplace is built during onboarding. If new hires don’t observe and feel the company’s commitment to inclusion from the beginning, it’s easy for them to assume it’s not a true priority but a marketing gimmick. That’s why communicating the importance of inclusion early on is essential for shaping a culture where everyone feels valued.
When onboarding a new employee, approach them with empathy and cultivate a safe space where new hires can share their thoughts openly. You can do this by sharing your organization’s current strategic roadmap to give every new hire an understanding of what the team does and its priorities at the moment. Moreover, providing an organizational chart or explanation of how the team shares responsibilities is a great way to let each new hire know how they fit in the bigger picture.
Managers and team members often forget how overwhelming it feels to be new, especially without the benefit of institutional knowledge. Inclusion also means removing guesswork around collaboration. Be transparent about how your team communicates, whether that’s assigning tasks in a project management tool or sending quick updates on Slack. When new employees comprehend both the “what” and the “how” of working together, they are more confident and better equipped to integrate with the workforce.
By painting a clear picture of how the team functions and where new hires fit, you’re not just onboarding them, but you’re affirming that they belong and have a significant impact from the beginning.
Onboarding a new hire into a team doesn’t just add another set of hands; it transforms the group dynamic. To make onboarding truly inclusive, it's important to prepare your existing team in advance so they know how the new member fits in, what responsibilities they’ll have, and how collaboration will shift. Transparency in these areas reduces confusion and ensures a smoother transition.
Inclusion goes beyond logistics. New hires will look to their teammates for signals about whether they truly belong. That’s why it’s critical to set the expectation that inclusivity is everyone’s responsibility, not just HR’s or the team leader’s. Motivate your team to be intentional in welcoming the new colleague, offering support, and creating space for their perspectives.
By aligning your team on both the practical and cultural aspects of onboarding, you create an environment where the new hire feels valued from the start and your team sees themselves as active partners in building an inclusive culture.
One of the quickest ways a new employee can feel like an outsider is by not understanding the corporate language their colleagues speak. Every organization has its nomenclature: acronyms, phrases, or even cultural references that can startle the new hires. When they don’t understand, they may hesitate to speak up, which undermines confidence and slows down integration.
To make onboarding truly inclusive, ensure that all employees are equipped to “speak the same language.” This could mean providing a glossary of company terms, explaining common acronyms, or offering guidance on how your organization approaches sensitive or challenging conversations. For instance, some companies introduce diversity trainings that give everyone a shared vocabulary for navigating conflict or collaboration.
By mitigating barriers created by insider language, you help new hires feel like full participants in conversations rather than observers. The simple step ensures that communication builds connection instead of exclusion, ensuring inclusion not just as an ideal, but a lived experience from day one.
For onboarding to feel inclusive, new hires need more than just tasks and preliminary guides; they need context that helps them feel connected and supported from the start. Without it, they can feel isolated or unsure of where they fit in, which makes it harder for them to engage completely.
One powerful way to provide this context is by introducing a buddy system, where each new hire is paired with a more experienced colleague. A buddy acts as both a guide and a companion, answering questions, easing first-day nerves, and helping them navigate the company’s culture.
Another approach is to batch start dates, allowing new hires to begin alongside peers. This fosters shared experiences and creates an instant support network that extends beyond the first weeks of work. You can also accelerate inclusion by arranging one-on-one lunches or team building sessions with people across the organization, whether colleagues who share similar interests or team members they will collaborate with closely.
By giving new hires meaningful context and opportunities to connect, you transform their onboarding experience into a meaningful one that says: you’re not just here to do a job, you’re part of a community where you belong.
It is said that timing is everything, and with new hires, this is especially true. You can optimize new hire start dates by having them join at a time when they can contribute most effectively and when their team is available and present.
For instance, having a new hire start over the holidays or right before their manager goes out on leave means they have less of a support system. This can make them feel left out or like their arrival at the company isn’t a priority. Inclusive onboarding means that employees feel that they have been hired at the right place and their efforts are valued.
Part of creating an inclusive onboarding experience is acknowledging that not everyone takes in information the same way. Giving each new hire the time and space to hear and digest all the new information about their role and the company is one of the best ways you can make someone feel welcome.
This doesn’t mean extending your onboarding process to last forever. Instead, make onboarding content, like your employee handbook or process documents, available to new hires, ask them to complete the courses or readings in the first few weeks and ask follow-up questions, and make sure there’s clarity around where resources can be found. You can also create a tailored, inclusive onboarding course through Brasstacks, and your team can complete it at their own pace and time.
You can empower the employees with the space to absorb all the new information they’re getting and offer the opportunity to feel comfortable asking questions, follow their learning styles, and feel like part of the team.
Onboarding is an overwhelming process and, at times, transactional in nature. Filling out paperwork, getting up to speed, and attending information sessions can leave new hires feeling exhausted in their first few weeks. To overcome this and create a welcoming environment, you must personalize your onboarding experience. One of the most recommended ways to personalize the onboarding is through Brasstack’s premier onboarding experience. It offers an accessible and convenient opportunity to onboard and learn about the company at their own pace.
Instead of relying on surveys and paperwork, schedule check-ins for your new hires to meet with their managers and recruiters to get to know each other better. Rather than routing template emails to welcome new hires, customize their emails and welcome them with a personalized note. On the first day, provide a warm welcome, whether it’s greeting them with a sign at reception or a token of appreciation on their desk.
Adding a personal touch to the onboarding experience can make an employee feel like they’ve found a home at the company. It especially helps with feelings of inclusion. Whether they are discovering allies at an ERG or reconnecting with their recruiter over coffee, taking things offline makes the onboarding process much more inclusive.
As a business leader, it’s important to strike a balance between enabling a new employee to contribute immediately and feel included in the workplace. Unfortunately, focusing too much on one can lead to an employee feeling like they aren’t making an impact, on the other hand, or like they don’t belong on the other.
Instead, an ideal approach is to create space for small wins so that new employees can gain confidence early on (like working on small, meaningful projects).
Finally, feedback is critical for crafting the most inclusive onboarding experience for your new hires. Keep multiple channels open for receiving feedback (anonymously, in person, online, etc.) so that new hires can share their experience and you can work to improve upon it for future new hires.
It is recommended to have formal avenues for feedback, like a check-in survey at 30, 60, and 90 days, as well as more informal, in-person opportunities for new hires to let you know how their experience is going, like coffee with their recruiter or manager, or lunch with the line managers. Be sure to provide different ways for new hires to give feedback so that everyone can choose the way they’re most comfortable sharing their thoughts.
Inclusion isn’t only important because of the feel-good feeling and global recognition it creates: it also impacts employee engagement, retention, innovation, and recruitment. It also has the potential to improve your business results.
Most importantly, an inclusive onboarding experience sets each employee up for success, regardless of their background, experience, or personality. Once onboarded, employees should feel that they made the right decision to join your company and that they belong here.
Inclusive onboarding is more than a nice-to-have HR initiative; it’s a business imperative. When new hires feel welcomed, valued, and supported from day one, they engage faster, build stronger connections with their team, and bring their authentic perspectives to the table.
Furthermore, it has a ripple effect, as it enhances individual confidence and retention, catalyzes collaboration, innovation, and productivity across the organization. By weaving inclusion into every stage of onboarding through communication, context, connection, and culture, you lay the groundwork for long-term employee success. The payoff is evident: stronger employee branding, higher involvement, and a workforce that is motivated to contribute.
In a nutshell, inclusive onboarding doesn’t just shape the employee experience; it directly strengthens organizational performance. Companies that prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion will see the difference not only in their culture but also in the frontline workers.
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