At HireJustNow, we’re privileged to support the onboarding of many South African employees every year.
We have seen first-hand the difference a great onboarding experience can make, and unfortunately, we’ve also seen the issues that arise when it’s rushed or overlooked. While the overall responsibility for onboarding lies with each client and their team, HJN is instrumental in the initial stages and is always happy to share what works, what doesn’t, and how to make onboarding a tool for long-term success.
HJN typically ensures the initial stages of onboarding, from offer letters and contracts to payroll and tax setup, leave management, and any additional company benefits. We also facilitate initial check-ins with employees to ensure a strong working relationship and a clear mutual understanding of the EOR model and each party’s responsibilities from the start. We are more than willing to help and support you and your employees throughout the onboarding journey. As always, our heart is to empower global businesses with South African talent.
This guide is for any onboarding manager welcoming a South African employee into their team, whether it’s your first hire in the country or one of many. It focuses on two principles that underpin great onboarding: building trust and creating clarity.
Be Realistic About Your Context
Every company is different. Before you start ticking boxes, ask yourself:
- What does a successful onboarding look like for you and your team?
A 100-person business will run onboarding differently from a five-person remote team. Consider: team size and maturity, remote, in-office, or hybrid structure, role seniority and complexity, whether it’s the first hire for this type of role, the capacity of your internal team, and whether you have an onboarding manager who has onboarded South African employees before. Be transparent with your new hire and encourage them to co-create an onboarding experience that works for both of you.
Even though there are many onboarding tactics and checklists out there, we recommend you anchor your onboarding in two core principles:
1. Building Trust with Onboarding
Framework Reference: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni
Trust is the foundation of high-performing teams. Without it, communication, accountability, and results will suffer.
Ask yourself: Are our onboarding actions making trust deposits or trust withdrawals?
2. Creating Clarity through the Onboarding Process
Framework Reference: The Advantage, Patrick Lencioni
Lencioni’s six clarity questions help new hires understand the company and their role:
- Why do we exist? (Purpose)
- How do we behave? (Values)
- What do we do? (Product/service)
- How will we succeed? (Strategy)
- What’s most important right now? (Priority)
- Who must do what? (Roles and responsibilities)
5 Onboarding Practices to Build Trust and Create Clarity
Use these alongside your standard onboarding steps. You don’t need to implement all of them at once — experiment with them in your next onboarding and see the impact on your team.
1. Start With a Personal Histories Session
Kick off onboarding with a one-hour session to genuinely get to know your new team member. Ask about their location, where they grew up, siblings, and a personal challenge they’ve overcome. As the direct supervisor, go first and share your own experience — vulnerability builds trust.
2. Understanding Our Company Session
Share your company’s origin story: why it was started, who the founders are, and how long current leaders have been on board. This sets the stage for “this is how we do things here”. Include your core values and be transparent about any “accidental values” behaviours that exist but aren’t part of the culture you want to build.
3. Understanding the Team Session
Introduce a personality or working style assessment such as 16 Personalities, Belbin or Working Genius. These tools help the team understand one another’s working styles, strengths, and development areas. Refresh these sessions every six months, especially when new joiners come on board.
4. Understanding Your Role Session
Once the employee has a handle on tools and processes, revisit their job description and key responsibilities. Co-create what success looks like in their role. This forms the foundation for effective performance management later — you can’t measure success if the expectations were never clear.
5. Schedule 30-60-90 Day Check-Ins
From day one, schedule 30, 60, and 90-day check-ins. Use the Stop, Start, Continue framework: What’s working well that we should continue? What can we start doing? What should we stop doing? These sessions create consistent feedback loops and help identify early if the hire is the right fit. Always document a high-level summary of these conversations.
At the end of each onboarding journey, ask the employee to complete a short survey. This feedback loop ensures your onboarding experience improves continuously.
Conclusion
At HireJustNow, we’re passionate about helping global employers experience the skill, commitment, and excellence of South African professionals.
Sometimes, onboarding confirms you’ve found the right person for the right seat. Other times, it reveals that it’s not the right match. The key is to create a structured onboarding experience that provides feedback early on. South Africa is full of incredible talent, and if this isn’t your experience, it’s critical to identify it during the initial probation period.
We hope this blog has helped you see the value of grounding your onboarding in principles, not just ticking boxes. At the end of the day, we believe you’ve achieved great onboarding when a new employee becomes a trusted, high-performing team member. If you’re excited to experience South African talent and onboard your first South African employee, don’t hesitate to reach out so we can connect and set up a discovery call.