Keeping Onboarding Materials Relevant: Tips and Processes
Maintaining up-to-date onboarding materials is crucial for any organization’s success. This article presents practical strategies to ensure your onboarding content remains relevant and effective. Drawing from expert insights, we’ll explore seven key approaches to keep your onboarding process sharp and impactful.
- Implement Regular Documentation Review Cycles
- Link Materials to Tasks for Immediate Updates
- Gather Feedback and Track Performance Metrics
- Conduct Quarterly Evaluations with Department Heads
- Update Onboarding Videos for Engaging Content
- Treat Onboarding Content as Versioned Software
- Learn from Diverse Client Onboarding Needs
Implement Regular Documentation Review Cycles
We have weekly and monthly check-ins on existing documentation. Weekly check-ins could simply involve relating industry updates and how they change hiring requirements to the necessary amendments of onboarding documents. These are typically smaller updates week-to-week.
Monthly, we have more of an internal meeting approach. We run through industry updates as a team, forecast how industry changes are going to affect hiring and onboarding, and then map out what these required updates are likely to be.
Wendy Makinson
HR Manager, Joloda Hydraroll
Link Materials to Tasks for Immediate Updates
We keep onboarding materials current by tying them to repeatable tasks. Every time someone onboards a new client or team member, they follow a checklist that links directly to those materials. If something doesn’t match reality, it gets flagged and fixed immediately—not later.
We also review our SOPs quarterly as part of our internal sprint planning. If a process has changed or a tool has been updated, we revise the document and notify the team. This way, onboarding stays accurate without relying on someone remembering to update it after the fact.
Andrew Peluso
Founder, What Kind Of Bug Is This
Gather Feedback and Track Performance Metrics
Ensuring onboarding materials are up-to-date and relevant is an ongoing process that requires careful attention to detail and a commitment to continuous improvement. I start by regularly reviewing the materials to ensure they reflect the latest company policies, industry standards, and client expectations. Staying informed about new trends and tools in event planning and artistic design is also crucial to keeping the information current.
My process begins with gathering feedback from new hires and existing team members who use the onboarding materials. Their input helps identify any gaps or areas that could be improved. I then update the content to include practical examples and real-life scenarios that align with the values and practices of KetieStory. Additionally, I ensure the materials are visually engaging and easy to understand, incorporating our brand’s aesthetic to maintain consistency.
I assess the effectiveness of the onboarding process by tracking new team members’ performance and satisfaction levels. This approach has helped me create a smooth onboarding experience that connects new hires to the company’s goals and sets them up for success.
Ketie Zhang
Founder, Ketie Story
Conduct Quarterly Evaluations with Department Heads
On a quarterly basis, we evaluate onboarding materials for QA and relevance. I meet with the department heads as a resource for new hires to discuss any updates that have occurred since they’ve been away—new tools, policies, procedures, and workflows. Furthermore, new hires provide their recommendations, which are implemented for positive change. Positive changes are compiled in a document, filed, authorized, and distributed through a central repository so everyone is aware. Intradepartmental and extradepartmental consistency is key.
Chris Hunter
Director of Customer Relations, ServiceTitan
Update Onboarding Videos for Engaging Content
I focus on updating onboarding videos. They’re easier for new hires to follow and more engaging than documentation. Every time our process changes, I rewatch the current video as a new team member would. If anything feels off or outdated, I flag it. Then I script a new version, film it, and swap it in.
One time, we changed how we assign UGC projects to creators. The old video caused confusion, and I noticed new hires were asking the same questions. Instead of patching it with a note, I redid the video from scratch with real examples and a quick screen recording of the new process. Since then, onboarding questions have decreased, and people have started creating better briefs on day one.
Natalia Lavrenenko
Ugc Manager/Marketing Manager, Rathly
Treat Onboarding Content as Versioned Software
We treat onboarding content like software: versioned, scheduled for review, and co-owned by the people who use it. Every quarter, we assign a team lead to ‘QA’ their department’s materials as if they’re onboarding for the first time. If it feels clunky or out of date, it gets revised immediately. We also integrate feedback into the onboarding process. New hires complete a report after 30 days, highlighting anything confusing, broken, or useless. It’s part therapy, part goldmine.
Patrick Carver
CEO & Founder, Constellation Marketing
Learn from Diverse Client Onboarding Needs
One of the things we’ve found as we’ve grown into our niche in the recruiting market is that many of our customers also need help not just with the paperwork side of enrolling their new hires, but also with onboarding work. While we can’t provide company-specific training, we can handle most legally required content as well as training in popular productivity apps. Because we work with so many different businesses and know their needs, we take what works from each to build our own approach.
Hayden Cohen
CEO, Hire With Near