At the very least, the best employee onboarding software optimizes the first steps of an employee’s lifecycle with your company. Most free software solutions offer the basic needs of automating paperwork, streamlining the training process, and organizing HR workflows. But the key benefit from an employee onboarding solution should be a great new employee experience that translates into a long fruitful career within your organization.

Here are some additional features that our listed free vendors offer that we think are useful.

• Email & Text Capabilities: Streamlining communications with new employees by automating emails and texts. Email templates and calendar syncing allow you to efficiently take care of administrative work.
• Training: You can create training materials and even facilitate training sessions so new hires can learn everything they need to know about your company, from mission and values to their work function and key clients. There are often test and quiz capabilities as well for increased accountability.
• Performance Management: Some employee onboarding systems offer performance management features that let you set team and company goals to track progress. This can be incredibly useful for new hires as well, as they can immediately get tuned into how they can immediately impact your company.
• 30/60/90 days: Hiring managers should have a measurable plan for the first 30, 60, and 90 days of a new employee's time with their company. Onboarding software usually comes with templates to help keep track of those metrics. 
• ATS & Recruiting: Some employee onboarding software has applicant tracking components that help streamline your hiring process even further. If you’re curious about ATS’s, check out our landscape of free applicant tracking systems.

It’s important to note that free software offerings might not have every feature on the above list. Figure out what’s most important to your organization and seek out vendors based on your preferences.

What is employee onboarding?

Employee onboarding is the process of adding a new employee into the organization. This involves introducing a new hire with the company culture, filling out documentation such as payroll and benefits information, distributing handbooks and tools, and connecting them with other employees.

What are free employee onboarding tools?

Employee onboarding tools are software solutions designed to streamline the onboarding process.

What features do free onboarding tools have?

Onboarding tools have many useful features, including automated workflows, email and text capabilities, legal documentation and other paperwork, training modules, performance management functions, ATS components, employer branding, background checks, and offer letter management.

What benefits do free onboarding tools provide?

Some benefits of onboarding tools include better retention, heightened employee engagement, and more streamlined HR processes.

What considerations should I think about when getting a free employee onboarding software?

When considering purchasing employee onboarding software, make sure that the solution you get is going to enhance your current procedure. Don’t end up paying for extra features that you aren’t going to use.