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Onboarding Tasks

The Onboarding Tasks web part gives new starters a clear, week-by-week checklist of the tasks they need to complete as they settle into their role. It is designed for onboarding hubs, HR portals, department landing pages, and manager-led onboarding pages where employees need one place to see what to do next.

In SharePoint, the web part appears as Onboarding Tasks. Once added to a page, employees see an Onboarding Journey with their current progress, weekly task groups, due dates, supporting links, and related pages.

What Employees See​

  • A personal welcome message at the top of the web part.
  • An overall progress bar showing how much of the onboarding journey has been completed.
  • Week tabs such as Week 1, Week 2, and Week 3, each with a completed/total count.
  • Task cards with a title, description, category, due date, and optional link.
  • Related pages attached to a task, so employees can open supporting policies, guides, or reference pages.
  • A completion message when all tasks in a week are finished.

Adding the Web Part​

  1. Go to the SharePoint page where you want the onboarding checklist to appear.
  2. Click Edit.
  3. Click the + icon to add a web part.
  4. Search for Onboarding Tasks.
  5. Select the web part and publish the page when you are ready.

Setting Up Onboarding Tasks​

Site owners manage onboarding content from the web part settings.

  1. Edit the page that contains the Onboarding Tasks web part.
  2. Select the web part and open the property pane.
  3. Click Manage Settings.
  4. Create a new onboarding task list or select an existing one.
  5. Confirm the paired progress list.
  6. Add starter tasks if you want example tasks to build from.
  7. Add, edit, reorder, or remove tasks as needed.
  8. Publish the page when the onboarding journey is ready for employees.

The task list stores the tasks employees need to complete. The progress list stores each employee's completion status.

Creating Tasks​

Each onboarding task can include:

FieldDescription
TitleThe task name employees see in the checklist. Keep it short and action-focused.
DescriptionExtra context or instructions for completing the task.
WeekThe week where the task should appear.
CategoryA label such as HR, IT, Finance, Legal, Operations, or Sales.
Due dateOptional target date for completing the task.
Audience targetingShow the task to everyone, or target it to selected users, Microsoft 365 groups, or SharePoint groups.
Link URLOptional link to a form, system, page, document, or external resource.
Related pagesSupporting SharePoint pages shown with the task.
ActiveTurn a task off without deleting it. Inactive tasks are hidden from employees.

Reordering Tasks​

In Manage Settings, tasks are grouped by week. Drag tasks within a week to change their order, or move a task into another week to adjust the onboarding flow.

If you are filtering the task list with search, clear the search first before reordering tasks.

Using Starter Tasks​

If you are setting up the web part for the first time, use Add sample tasks or Import starter tasks to create example onboarding tasks. You can then edit those tasks to match your organisation's process.

Starter tasks are only added when the selected task list is empty.

Tips​

  • Keep each task focused on one action.
  • Use categories to help employees understand which team owns each task.
  • Add related pages for policies, benefits guides, security instructions, or team introductions.
  • Use audience targeting for role-specific tasks, such as IT setup for a technical role or compliance tasks for a regulated team.
  • Keep inactive tasks instead of deleting them if you may need them again later.

FAQs​

What is the difference between the task list and progress list?​

The task list contains the onboarding tasks. The progress list records which employees have completed which tasks.

Can different employees see different tasks?​

Yes. Use audience targeting to show tasks to selected users, Microsoft 365 groups, or SharePoint groups. Leave the audience empty if a task should be shown to everyone.

Can I link a task to another page or resource?​

Yes. Add a Link URL to open a page, form, system, or resource. You can also attach Related pages for supporting SharePoint content.

Can I hide a task without deleting it?​

Yes. Turn Active off for the task. The task remains in the admin settings but is hidden from employees.

What happens when an employee completes a week?​

When every task in the selected week is completed, the web part shows a completion message for that week.