Why does onboarding bring the same questions every time?
In the first week a new hire must get into many different systems, fill in several forms and learn how the team works. The knowledge tends to sit in people’s heads, old emails and messy folders. The result is that the same question is asked again for every new person.
An onboarding process needs two things to work: a list of what must be done (an onboarding checklist) and short guides showing how each item is done. The list says what, the guides say how.
Which guides should you prepare for a new hire?
| Area | Example guides | Typical owner |
|---|---|---|
| Accounts and access | First login to company email, two-factor setup, VPN connection | IT |
| HR tasks | Request leave, access payslips and personnel files, submit an expense form | HR |
| Team tools | Create a task in the project tool, shared drive layout, book a meeting room | Team lead |
| Role tasks | Create a customer record in the CRM, close a support ticket, export a report | Role owner |
| Compliance | Start the security awareness course, acknowledge the data policy | Compliance / IT |
Keep each guide to one task. An “everything in one document” approach hurts the new hire, who cannot find the step they need. Tie the small guides to the items of a checklist.
How do you set up an onboarding guide library?
- Look back at the last three hires. What did they ask, where did they get stuck, whom did they ask for help? That list is your first set of guide candidates.
- Group by day one, week one and month one. Day one is access and basic tools only; role tasks wait for the first week.
- Record each guide with the person who does the task. HR records the leave request, IT records account setup, the team lead records task creation. One person guessing at all of them produces mistakes.
- Use a test account. New hires should not see real employee data on screen; hide whatever remains when the recording is done.
- Tie guides to the checklist. Put a link to the matching guide next to every item.
- Try it with the next hire and ask for feedback. Every place they get stuck is missing information.
- Assign an owner and a review date. Tools change and guides age; decide who updates them up front (see keeping docs current).
What mistakes are common in onboarding documentation?
- Piling everything onto day one. A new hire gets overloaded and remembers little. Leave role tasks for later.
- Only a “who is who” deck. An org chart is needed but does not teach access to systems.
- Tying knowledge to one person. If only one person knows a guide, onboarding stops when they are away.
- Forgetting updates. An old screenshot shakes a new hire’s confidence on day one.
- Putting sensitive content behind a public link. When sharing internal screens, limit the link to workspace members.
How do you build onboarding guides with Izly?
Most onboarding guides are tasks in a web interface: signing in to a portal, filling in a form, switching on a setting. You record them once with Izly.
- Start the Chrome extension and do the task as usual. Each click becomes a step with a marked screenshot.
- In the editor, fix the text, reorder steps and add tip and warning blocks (for example “You will be asked to change your password at first login”).
- Redact visible employee data by hand. Redaction permanently replaces the pixels.
- Share the guide only with workspace members or send the link to the new hire. You can revoke a link at any time.
- Add the guides as links on your checklist; every new hire opens the same current guide.
People who only read guides need no seat: seats are for the people who record. Izly records tasks in the browser, in Chrome; it cannot record desktop programs. See pricing or start free.
Frequently asked questions
How many guides does onboarding need?
There is no fixed number. Start with the tasks that drew the most questions from the last three hires; account and access setup, HR tasks and the first two or three role tasks are usually a good start. Let need decide the count.
Should I make the guides with the new hire or with the team?
Record them with the person who does the task and test them with the new hire. The places where the new hire gets stuck show what the document lacks, but someone doing the task for the first time cannot produce the right recording.
Does this work for remote teams?
Yes; with nobody sitting next to them, remote hires need written, illustrated guides even more. Send a link and ask them to work through the checklist.
Is an onboarding checklist the same as a guide?
No. A checklist lists what must be done and gets ticked off; a guide shows how to do one item step by step. The two work together.
Related pages
Record it once and let the guide write itself
With Izly you do the task once in the browser. Clicks and screenshots become a step-by-step guide that you edit and share by link.