Having been in a human resources environment for nearly the last year and working within the industry, I’ve gotten a taste for just how crucial the onboarding process is for new employees. While I was in college, I took one HR class (the only one that was offered and required) and after finishing that course, I still didn’t have a clear idea of what HR did. In fact, maybe it’s because their responsibilities span beyond the norm of just making sure employees are taken care of. We forget that under the HR umbrella comes payroll, benefits, recruiting, employee relations, and if not one of the most important components – the very first day. There are so many different types of software, from somewhere like Fleetsmith, that could be helpful to HR when it comes to new employees.

This morning I read an article on the Times called “Getting New Employees Off To A Good Start” detailing how many companies these days are re-structuring the onboarding process in order to get their new members ramped up quickly and feeling like a part of the team. Too often, I have witnessed people on the first day kind of flailing and not having that structure the first day or first week being left to fend for themselves. It’s refreshing to see that companies are considering this a higher priority. So which of my favorite companies are paving the way? None other than Warby Parker, Birchbox, Thrillist, and a couple others!