Onboarding begins as soon as the candidate accepts an offer of employment, and includes processes to help them understand how our organization operates and conducts business.

According to the research and consulting firm, Gallup, five questions that need to be addressed at the onboarding stage of the employee lifecycle:

1. What do we believe in around here?
2. What are my strengths?
3. What is my role?
4. Who are my partners?
5. What does my future here look like?

If done effectively, the onboarding process should clarify an employee’s role, build confidence in their ability to do their job well, and support them with developing professional relationships and new information networks at NYCPS.

Although we may think of onboarding as the first days or weeks of an employee’s time in a new role, a strong onboarding experience that lasts for 12 months is key to engaging and retaining talent. Onboarding may last even longer than 12 months for some roles, e.g., managers in certain types of work.

The Onboarding Toolkit

The updated (summer 2020 version) of the Onboarding Toolkit provides a collection of advice, tips, milestones, and discussion guides to help hiring managers, HR directors, and onboarding support teams create a welcoming and productive onboarding experience for all new and transitioning NYCPS hires. Here is a snapshot of the guidance and resources you will find in the toolkit:

• The Importance of Onboarding: General information and statistics about onboarding you can use to help make the case for increased onboarding activities in your office or team.
• The DOE Onboarding Mix: Details about the unique combination of people, information, and activities used to create a positive and effective onboarding experience for new hires at the DOE.
• The Hiring Manager Onboarding Guide: A collection of resources to help the hiring manager prepare for your new hire’s arrival and manage daily tasks, projects, and subsequent milestones. 
• The HR Director Onboarding Guide: Several helpful resources to help HR directors facilitate the key milestones along the new hire’s onboarding journey.

For questions about the Onboarding Toolkit, please contact DHR@schools.nyc.gov.

The New Hire Welcome Packet

The New Hire Welcome Packet is another tool that you should use to support the onboarding of your team’s newest members. It includes a host of resources to help your new hire learn about NYCPS and their new role. The Division of Human Resources (DHR) created this tool to help create a more defined mechanism for communicating with new hires during the period between when they are cleared to begin work at NYCPS and their first few weeks on the job.

Among the editable tools and resources, you will find in the welcome packet are a fully customizable new hire welcome letter template to make your newest team member feel welcomed and valued from day one, and a day one agenda which contains an overview of activities for your new employee’s first day.

Review and personalize the New Hire Welcome Packet to meet the needs of your team. When customizing the welcome packet, consider the following:

• Define your objectives and give careful thought to what new hires need to know about your team, the way you work together, and their new role.
• Identify key players on your team who will support your new hires' onboarding–your “onboarding support team.” This group of colleagues will take ownership of their part in the process by contributing content, serving as mentors, and building connections with new hires.
• Remember to update the “Day One Agenda,” “Our Team,” and the “Key Platforms and Systems” sections with your team-specific information. Also, feel free to add additional pages and resources that would be helpful for your new hire.
• Stay engaged with your new hire even after the “honeymoon” period is over. Onboarding is an essential process that can last up to a year.
• Keep tweaking your team’s personalized New Hire Welcome Packet by gathering feedback from each new hire about how the onboarding process worked for them and how it can be improved.

For questions about the Onboarding Toolkit, please contact DHR@schools.nyc.gov.

The Importance of Feedback

Feedback is essential for addressing the five questions that need to be addressed in effective onboarding. It is also an important part of the employee experience throughout the lifecycle, to drive ongoing performance and development, and support the later stages of the lifecycle—support and grow, evaluate and grow, and celebrate successes. The Employee Feedback Cycle (EFC) harnesses the power of coaching and goal-setting throughout the school year. EFC carves out the space for employees to hold honest, open conversations with their supervisors regularly—helping employees (in this case, new employees) to achieve professional goals while fostering a more positive, trusting workplace for everyone.

Visit the Employee Feedback Cycle page for more information and tools for EFC conversations.

Engaging and Developing New Hires

The NYCPS offers several professional development and employee engagement opportunities specifically intended for central, borough/citywide, and district office employees. In addition to visiting the pages highlighted below, review the Employee Engagement & Development Activity Policy and be sure to periodically check the Central Employees page for updates.

• The Central Resources Hub hosts a wealth of resources in the areas of health and wellness, guidance for managers and leaders, and general resources and tips.
• DOE All Stars is an online platform created to recognize and show appreciation for your colleagues throughout the DOE. Any employee can use the platform to create a personalized message and/or provide in-the-moment "shout-outs".
• Employee Resource Groups, or ERGs, are voluntary, employee-led groups formed around a common set of interests to promote diversity and inclusion by facilitating networking, personal and professional development, and information sharing for DOE employees.

Employee Engagement and Development Participation and Timekeeping Policy for Central, District and Borough Office Employees: Guidance for supervisors and employees to promote reasonable employee involvement in employee engagement and development activities.   

Other Important Information and Resources

In addition to other important HR and onboarding resources referenced on the other pages in this section, the InfoHub resources below may be helpful during the employee’s first 12 months:

• HR Forms: Pre- and post-arrival employee forms for all stages of onboarding, such as personal and tax data change forms, direct deposit, and fingerprinting transfer forms.
• Payroll Documents: Key payroll-related documents, forms, payroll calendars, guides & FAQ’s.
• Rules and Regulations for Administrative Employees
• Workers' Compensation Information: Guidance regarding absences relating to work-related injuries and applying for leave of absence without pay through workers' compensation.
• Rights of Nursing Mothers in the Workplace: NYCPS employees needing to express breast milk at work have the right to request a lactation space. All managers should proactively identify a lactation space that could be made available if an employee needing to express breast milk at work requests a lactation space through the process set forth in the policy. Personnel Memorandum #1, 2024-2025, describes this process, as well as the requirements that this lactation space must meet. More information about the rights of nursing mothers in the workplace is available on the rights of nursing mothers in the workplace page.

If you are an employee in the onboarding stage and have questions, please reach out to your supervisor or your Human Resources Director.