onboarding

noun

on·​board·​ing ˈȯn-ˌbȯr-diŋ 

ˈän-

1

: the act or process of orienting and training a new employee

… good onboarding leads to higher employee engagement and greater retention rates.

—Joyce E. A. Russell

2

: the act or process of familiarizing a new customer with one's products or services

Customer onboarding primarily involves answering customers' questions and addressing their concerns so they have a smooth, positive experience with your product or service.

—Aaron Agius

3

: the act or process of converting data to digital form

While many retailers are coming to terms with the need for data onboarding and management, there is still a massive chasm between collecting data and using it to the fullest advantage.

—Larisa Bedgood

onboard

ˈȯn-ˌbȯrd 

ˈän-

transitive verb

onboarded; onboarding

The workflow chart that was pinned to the wall was an excellent orientation for me, as a new employee, and anyone else being onboarded.

—Jill Duffy

It's easy to forget how difficult hiring people is and getting them onboarded and effective in their job.

—Sue Gilbert

Once a customer is onboarded, they can immediately start using the account for remittance payments …

—Richard Gluyas

Examples of onboarding in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Glaser has been a manager off and on for the last 20 years and leads the onboarding, training and leadership development for some 150,000 employees worldwide. —Jennifer Liu, CNBC, 28 Nov. 2025

Zoho Desk's live onboarding sessions make its support options feel more extensive than those of Freshdesk, but the latter does provide 24/7 support for all its subscribers. —PC Magazine, 21 Nov. 2025

Principal Financial has also made AI training a component of new employee onboarding, and in 2026, intends to offer more comprehensive and specialized training for different job functions. —John Kell, Fortune, 21 Nov. 2025

Companies try to fix this with detailed onboarding playbooks and armies of human agents to guide customers through the process. —Daniel Fusch, USA Today, 12 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1988, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for onboarding

• according
• affording
• awarding
• keyboarding
• recording
• rewarding
• skateboarding
• snowboarding
• boarding
• cording
• fording
• hoarding