A well-built onboarding packet does more than hand over a stack of forms — it tells a new employee whether they made the right decision. New hire retention research from AIHR shows that 86% of new hires decide how long they'll stay with a company within the first six months, and four in five workers say they'd remain longer if onboarding were better. For Greater Burlington's 600-plus chamber member businesses — from manufacturing and healthcare employers along the river corridor to downtown shops and service providers — that early signal carries real bottom-line weight.
Building a packet that actually works isn't complicated, but it does require intentionality. Here's what to include, how to deliver it, and why the details matter.
Before culture decks and welcome videos, there are forms that simply must be completed. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, every new employee must complete a W-4 for tax withholding and a Form I-9 to verify work eligibility — both are non-negotiable components of any compliant onboarding packet. This trips up small employers more often than you'd expect, especially when a new hire is scheduled to start on a busy Monday and the paperwork gets pushed to "later in the week."
It doesn't get later. Collect these on day one.
Compliance forms are the floor, not the ceiling. ADP's small business onboarding guide lays out a more complete picture: effective onboarding starts before day one and must include a welcome note with logistics, workspace setup, a policy walkthrough, benefits enrollment, and a clear discussion of what success looks like in the role.
A packet that covers all of these usually contains:
• Welcome letter with first-day logistics (parking, dress code, where to report)
• Company policies — attendance, communication norms, PTO accrual
• Benefits summary with enrollment deadlines clearly marked
• Role expectations — what does "good" look like at 30, 60, and 90 days?
• Org chart and key contacts so they know who to call for what
• Required compliance forms (W-4, I-9, direct deposit authorization)
The goal is that a new hire can read the packet before their first day and arrive with context instead of questions.
Here's a formatting problem that costs more goodwill than it should: a new hire opens a Word document on their laptop and the tables are broken, the fonts are off, and the policy language is buried in a layout that didn't survive the trip. Sending documents as PDFs eliminates this entirely.
If your onboarding materials live in Word, converting them before sending is a simple step — this is worth considering as a standard step before distributing any document to new hires. Adobe Acrobat's online converter handles DOC, DOCX, RTF, and TXT files in two clicks with no software required. The result is a finalized version that looks identical on every device, which matters when someone is reviewing their offer letter or benefits summary on a phone.
Most employers do. Devlin Peck reports that 53% of organizations run onboarding programs lasting less than one week, even though extended, structured programs are linked to 52% higher retention, 60% higher productivity, and 53% better job satisfaction. The packet is the starting point, not the whole program.
In practice: Spread onboarding over 30 to 90 days. Use the packet to anchor the first week, then schedule structured check-ins, training milestones, and role-specific benchmarks across the first quarter. A calendar of what's coming — included in the packet — removes the anxiety of the unknown.
One of the highest-return additions to any onboarding program is also one of the simplest. According to eduMe, 56% of new employees who are assigned an onboarding mentor acclimate faster to company culture, make fewer mistakes, and reach productivity sooner. The mentor doesn't need to be senior — just someone who knows how things actually work and is willing to answer questions without judgment.
Include the buddy's name and contact information in the packet itself so the connection is established from day one.
If any of your team members are starting remotely — whether they're commuting in from across the river or working from another state entirely — the standard in-office packet isn't enough. A 2026 Yomly report found that 60% of remote hires felt disoriented during onboarding and 37.4% of HR professionals call it their top challenge. The upside: remote workers who receive complete, structured onboarding report 20% higher job satisfaction than those who don't.
For remote hires specifically, the packet should include technology setup instructions, a list of communication tools with access links, and a schedule of virtual introductions. Great Place To Work also recommends doubling one-on-one check-ins with remote new hires for the first 90 days, since informal connection-building that happens naturally in an office must be deliberately engineered in a virtual setting.
Burlington's business community spans industries with very different hiring rhythms — a healthcare employer filling a clinical role has different onboarding needs than a manufacturer adding a second shift, or a downtown retailer gearing up for the spring season. What's consistent is the core logic: a thoughtful packet sets expectations, builds confidence, and reduces the ramp-up time that costs every employer real money.
For Greater Burlington Partnership member businesses looking to develop or improve their onboarding materials, the chamber's business resource network is a practical starting point. Chamber Business After Hours events and the Downtown Burlington Open House (April 27, 1–3 PM) are both good opportunities to compare notes with other local employers who have already built processes worth borrowing.
The packet is one document. The impression it leaves is lasting.
Bottom line: An onboarding packet isn't a formality — it's one of the highest-leverage tools a small employer has for retention and productivity. The businesses on Burlington's chamber rolls that invest a few hours building one will see it pay back many times over.
