Onboarding : An investigation of onboarding processes in a Swedish grocery store

This thesis aims to examine and analyse the department head's perspective on the onboarding process, as well as the new employees' experience of the onboarding process at a well- established Swedish grocery store. A semi-structured interview, as well as semi-structured focus group interviews were completed in order to gain an understanding of the onboarding process within the organisation. An analysis of the result presents an understanding of the complexities of the onboarding process that the organisation undergoes in comparison to three well- established models on the subject. The models were also used to form the focus group questions and also helped in determining seven themes to be analysed. The organisation garners a complex onboarding process that encompasses both formal and informal processes that aid the newcomer’s assimilation into the organisation. Despite this, there are areas for improvement. Furthermore, despite a functioning onboarding process, different agents have different understandings of when the onboarding process starts.