What is Leadership Insights?
We heard from stakeholders throughout the organization that there was desire for more guidance for
supervisors and managers on how to navigate their roles, relationships, and the various systems we use.
Leadership Insights is a biweekly newsletter that we in HR will be providing to you, our leaders at
Middlebury, that will contain guidance and resources for topics that will affect you and your employees.
The goal is to give you the tools you need to be successful and to not only provide the “how” but also
the “why,” of good leadership.
In this Leadership Insight you will find:
• Onboarding 101
• Brief Outline of the Hiring Process at Middlebury
• New Hire Sequence of Events
• The Employee’s Checklist
• The Manager’s Checklist
• Additional Resources
• Your HR Onboarding Toolkit
• Manager’s Pulse Survey
Onboarding 101: Setting your new employee up for success
Congratulations – you made it through the vacancy request and interviewing process, and you've hired
an excellent candidate! Let’s keep the positive momentum going! As a leader, you directly impact your
new employee’s onboarding experience. It’s important that individuals feel supported in understanding
their role and organizational expectations & policies. You’ve worked so hard to recruit and hire them,
now let’s talk about the immediate onboarding task next steps so that we can set your stellar new hire
up for success.
Why? You will never have your employee’s more complete attention than in their first days in their role
and you only get one chance to make a first impression. This is when they will learn most about your
organization and its operation and a disjointed or disconnected onboarding could lead to a bad
impression that colors their future experiences at Middlebury. In fact, studies show that:
• 69 percent of employees are more likely to stay with a company for three years if they
experienced great onboarding.
• New employees who went through a structured onboarding program
were 58 percent more
likely to be with the organization after three years.
• Organizations with a standard onboarding process experience 50 percent greater new-hire
productivity.
In brief, good onboarding saves you and your department time and money, and allows you to recruit,
hire, grow and retain your best employees.
However, we understand that the new hire process and onboarding can feel a little overwhelming.
Here’s an overview and various tools to help explain the process and recent updates to the onboarding
checklists within HCM to streamline the new hire onboarding process.
Brief Outline of the Hiring Process at Middlebury
In addition to the information here, we have prepared a reference guide for how to navigate and
complete the tasks that have been assigned to you for your new hires, as well as a detailed training and
walkthrough video.
New Hire Sequence of Events
First, a brief outline of the hiring process and the timing of various steps:
Once a candidate has been selected and approved, separate processes are initiated for I-9 verification
and Oracle HCM Entry.
I-9 Verification Process
The candidate will receive an email invitation from HireRight to their personal email with instructions on
completing Section 1 of their I-9, which should be completed before their start date. Any time after
completing Section 1 but no later than 3 days after their start date they will be required to bring
original identifying documents to the Human Resources office to complete Section 2 of the I-9.
Oracle HCM and Account Activation
Once a candidate’s information is entered into Oracle HCM, they will receive two automated emails
regarding onboarding tasks. A similar email will be sent to the line manager.
Before being able to log in to HCM, the employee will receive an email from the ITS Helpdesk with
information and instructions on activating their Middlebury account, setting up Multi-Factor
Authentication (MFA), and accessing their account. Once they have activated this account, they will be
able to log in to HCM using these same credentials.
The Employee’s Checklist
The above graphic is a list and brief description of the onboarding checklist items that are assigned to
new employees. The employee can log in to Oracle any time after activating their account, even before
their hire date,* to get started on these tasks.
*Certain tasks are only available to complete on the day of hire – W4, Direct Deposit, and Benefits Enrollment.
• Acknowledgement – This task will present the employee with several documents to review and
then the employee will complete the assessment saying they have reviewed all materials.
• Benefit Enrollment – Applicable only to Benefit-Eligible employees and is available on the
employee’s first day of employment. This is where they will make their selections for insurance
plans/HSA/FSA, etc.
• COVID-19 Vaccine Status Verification – this is an FYI on our vaccine policy and that the employee
will be receiving an email from Sentry MD
• Contact Information – this task will take the employee to their contact information in Oracle,
here they can update their address, phone number, etc.
• Family & Emergency Contact – similar to contact information, this will take them to their Family
and Emergency contact page in Oracle where they can add their contacts’ information.
• Health Declaration – must be completed by all VT residents. Employees may download the
document and then upload it to their document of record. Instructions are included in the task.
• I-9 Sections 1 & 2 – this is a reminder for the employee to complete their I-9 with instructions
about completing Section 2 in person and the list of acceptable documents.
• New Employee Resources – this task has resources for Parking and IDs. Employees now need to
upload a photo before going to Public Safety to get their ID. There are instructions for uploading
their photo in the task. There is also a link to request a parking permit
• Personal Information – similar to the contact info and emergency contact task – this will bring
the employee to a screen where they can enter education details, demographic info, etc.
• Required Training – this will direct employees to go to their “My Learning” to look for their
required trainings to complete. All employees must complete Sexual Harassment, Title IX, and
Cybersecurity trainings.
• Direct Deposit – Can be accessed on or after the employee’s start date, for entering bank
information and setting direct deposit as their payment method.
• W-4 – Can be accessed on or after the employee’s start date, for specifying additional tax
withholding beyond the default values.
The Manager’s Checklist
The individual’s manager will also be assigned a checklist in HCM to guide you through the steps you are
responsible for completing.
The above graphic shows the checklist items that you as the line manager can expect to receive for your
new hire. Not all will be applicable to every hire, and you are welcome to mark “not applicable” as
necessary.
• IT Setup – Brings you to a form where you can request any tech/electronic needs and
telephone number
• I-9 Reminder – Includes information about the I-9 and is a reminder to let your new
employee know they need to complete it
• System Access – Only applicable if the new employee needs administrative access to
Banner
• Workspace, Midd ID, and Parking – Information for requesting workspace, keys, name plate,
etc. And includes information about Parking and IDs, this is a good reference if your new
employee comes to you with questions
We hope that these resources help de-mystify some of the new onboarding tasks you and your
employees have been receiving! If you have any questions please email us at hr@middlebury.edu.
Additional Resources
SHRM: Don’t Underestimate the Importance of Good Onboarding
Linkedin Learning: Onboarding New Hires as a Manager
Ted Ideas: It’s not enough to hire great people; you need to graft them onto your team
Ted Ideas: Starting a Job Is Stressful. But what if there was a better way to do it?
Your Leadership Toolkit
Detailed training and walkthrough video.
Onboarding Reference guide
Hiring a Candidate in PeopleAdmin
Manager’s Tips on Oracle
