Employee Onboarding Email Template: Why You Need it

Jun 16, 2022 10 min reading

Are you an HR manager or a recruiter responsible for recruiting and onboarding new employees at your company?

Is one of your tasks to create and send out a welcome email for new hires?

Do you not quite get the idea behind them and need some guidance on how to create effective emails without too much effort?

If the answer to any of the questions is yes, you’ve come to the right place.

Today’s article focuses on employee onboarding emails: what they are, why sending them is important, and how to actually create them.

Let’s get right into it.

What is an employee onboarding email?

An employee onboarding email is one of the first emails that you send out to the people that successfully passed the recruitment process at your company.

It is a part of the new employee onboarding process and includes essential information about everything that their job entails.

These people are now your employees, and sending new employee onboarding emails officially begins their career at your company.

Such emails are usually sent after a successful interview process (if the corporate email is not yet established, then you can use an email finder tool to send the emails out) and before the first day of a job.

The purpose of an onboarding email is to welcome new employees and provide them with information about their benefits, policies, and other important information, like dress code for example.

Why should you send these emails? What should such emails look like? What elements should you include?

Read on to find out.

Why should you send employee onboarding emails?

Sending a new employee a welcome email is something extremely important if your goal is to make a good impression right off the bat.

Once the recruitment process finishes, your new employees will be patiently looking out for details about their new role.

Employee onboarding emails are important because they help new employees get to know the company better and understand what their responsibilities are.

You must therefore send them to make sure that they have all the necessary information from the beginning so they can start working right away with maximum efficiency.

How to create the perfect new employee emails? 9 top must-have elements

Employee onboarding emails should be short and concise, with an emphasis on the benefits of working at your company and detailing all the necessary information.

The email should also be personalized, in a way that it reflects the company culture and work environment of your organization.

It should not just be a generic email sent out to every new employee.

Here are our suggested, essential elements with all the information that your new employee onboarding emails should include:

Email subject line

Before your new employee opens your introduction email, the very first thing that they will see is the email subject line.

Your email subject line is the very first step to reach this goal, as well as build excitement around the new job offer.

Depending on whether you want to sound formal or friendly, you could use some of these examples:

“Welcome aboard, Emma!”
“Welcome to X (company name), the whole team is glad to have you!”
“Welcome to the team, exciting times ahead!”
“A warm welcome from X (company name) and all your new colleagues!”
“X (company name) says hello, new projects are waiting!”
“Good morning, X (company name) employee!”

Choose a title that will reflect your communication style and email format you want to keep with your new employees.

Employee name

Depending on your work culture, you may choose to address the new employee in a more or less formal way.

Important note: Always make sure that you don’t make any spelling mistakes in the employee’s name to provide as flawless an onboarding experience as possible. Such a spelling mistake could leave a bad impression on your new employees from day one.

Additionally, it could show a sign of disrespect and lack of attention to detail.

Here we have some tips for you on how to properly contact your new employees in emails from your company:

use the appropriate salutation
follow the salutation with a new employee’s title and name
spell their name correctly
capitalize and punctuate your salutation
switch to more informal greetings in later emails, when suitable
change the salutation only when your relationship changes

When using these tips, all of your emails will start with a proper introduction.

Welcome words and interview highlights which contributed to the new hire landing the role- give a reason to feel special

After addressing your new hire in the best way possible, it is time to share some welcome words regarding the new role.

Together with that, you could mention some of the interview process highlights that contributed to new employees getting this particular position.

As for the nice words of welcome, you could say something like:

“Congratulations on getting this role, well done!”
“I am writing to congratulate you on securing this position at our company”
“I am pleased to congratulate you on becoming our employee – welcome to the team and we look forward to having you on board!”

This bit is all about expressing your excitement about welcoming new team members and congratulating them on successfully passing the recruitment process and accepting the job offer.

When it comes to going back to the interview with this particular employee, it’s always nice to mention some highlights that you remember from it.

This is actually more important than you think as many employees value recognition highly, according to research. This also contributes to new employee retention, so keep this in mind.

Work day start date and time

Another important piece of information to include in your new employee welcome emails is the work day start date and time.

You certainly don’t want your new employee to miss their first day at your company or be confused because they weren’t informed about it.

If you want to save yourself from making extra calls, be sure to include these details in the new employee onboarding email.

Plus, it’s always worth having important details communicated in writing – there is a smaller chance that they will be lost or forgotten.

Here, you can also include details like lunch break times, business office hours, when certain amenities are open, and so on.

Basically, anything that your new hire might need to know time-wise.

We know that time is money – so treat it with respect and be communicative about it.

Dress code

Moving on, let’s talk about the dress code or the lack thereof.

Depending on the type of company you work in, your workplace may require a certain dress code.

To be sure that your new hire acknowledges the right dress code straight away, you have to include details about it in the welcome email.

This requirement also applies even if this topic was brought up during the job interview.

With key information like that, you should make sure that you communicate them in writing in your welcome email.

In general, anything between 1 to 2 sentences about the expected dress code should be more than enough.

In fact, a simple “Please note that our company’s dress code is x (name the dress code).” should do the job.

Side note: be respectful about the way you communicate what the dress code is – you don’t want to offend anyone or come off as rude or demanding.

Making your new employee feel terrible as part of the welcome package is the last thing that you want. Instead, show them that they are a valuable asset!

P.S. You can ignore this bit if your company operates on a fully remote basis.

Responsibilities description

Going further, a significant part of your welcome email sent to new hires is one outlining the role responsibilities.

While this information most likely already is in the contract that your new hire has or is still yet to sign, it’s always good to write a few paragraphs with the expectations and responsibilities.

Doing this will not only remind the new hire about their responsibilities but also give you the chance to once again communicate your expectations in a clear, consistent way.

In this section, you could write a few sentences about what the daily and monthly tasks are, what the deadlines are and what is expected from the new hire.

Try to be direct and clear about the responsibilities – don’t beat around the bush and just cut to the chase in your welcome email.

Kind greeting

Moving on, don’t forget good manners!

If you started an email with some warm welcome words, it’s as important to properly finish it.

To do this, make sure your email template ends with a nice greeting. It could be something like:

“We’re looking forward to working with you”
“We’re excited about you joining our team”
“Best greetings and see you on Monday”
“Kind greetings from the whole HR team”
“Best regards and good luck in your new position”
“Kind regards, Emma! I and other co-workers are looking forward to working closely!”

Whatever you decide to say, make sure it leaves a good impression.

People pay attention to this type of thing, especially when you’re only making your first impressions.

Don’t neglect this and finish your new hire onboarding emails with some proper greetings – they really will make your new employee feel good!

Email signature and contact information

Finally, once you have included all the necessary information, now’s the time to sign your email.

When you do this, make sure you sign it using the version of your name that you are okay with a new employee speaking to you with.

Also, be sure to include your work title – so that the new hire knows who just sent them a new employee welcome email and can also recognize you.

Another important element to include is some contact details.

When people start a new job, they usually tend to have a lot of questions to ask their recruiter or hiring manager.

To make the communication smooth and easy, don’t forget to include your contact information, such as email address, WhatsApp or Viber number, or any other type of alternative communication.

And that would basically be it!

In just 8 steps, you can create the perfect new employee onboarding emails and send messages that leave a great impression.

How Sloneek can help you communicate with your new employees during the onboarding process

Now, we’d like to introduce Sloneek – a tool that will make your onboarding even smoother.

Sloneek is an HR management system made specifically for managers, team leaders and key decision-makers in organizations.

Anyone looking to improve the efficiency of their current workflows in the company culture will be more than satisfied with what Sloneek offers.

With rich administration features, managing contracts and other documents is much simpler – say “no” to all the paperwork that is boring and time-consuming.

It’s also safer as you’re not sending important papers through email, which guarantees security.

Sloneek is also a tool that offers great time and people management options.

They will make it easy for you to tick all the tasks from your onboarding checklist very quickly using creative ways.

What’s more, you don’t need to stop using Sloneek when you finish the onboarding process at your company.

Actually, it’s kind of the opposite. Sloneek can be your helping hand all the time in your company: before, during, and of course after your onboard new employees.

If all this isn’t enough, you will be pleased to read that there are many integrations included, and the security level offered is just top-notch.

If this sounds tempting, be sure to give Sloneek’s free trial a try.