Preboarding: Welcome new hires before their first day

Preboarding lets you start welcoming a new hire before their first day, when they don’t yet have a work account or Slack access. Doozy reaches them at their personal email, so paperwork reminders, a warm welcome, and a heads-up on what to expect can land in the weeks before they start. On their first day they move into your normal Slack onboarding automatically, with no manual handoff.

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How preboarding works

A preboarder is a new hire who’s set up in Doozy before their first day. They can’t sign in or use Doozy yet, and they’re not in your Slack workspace. The only way to reach them is their personal email, so everything you send before they start goes there. The handoff to their first day happens on its own:

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How preboarders are added

There are two ways someone becomes a preboarder:

• From your HRIS. Once preboarding is on for your account, a new hire synced from your HRIS with a future start date is brought in as a preboarder automatically. This works the same for any connected HRIS.
• Added by hand. Owners can add a preboarder directly, filling in their name, personal email, and first day. Use this for a hire who isn’t coming through your HRIS.

To receive pre-start emails, a preboarder needs a personal email on file. If one is missing, Doozy flags it for you (see Preboarders that need your attention).

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What you need to turn it on

Doozy turns preboarding on for your account. On your side, two things need to be in place before pre-start content can send:

• A connected HRIS, so start dates are accurate and new hires can be brought in ahead of their first day.
• Email delivery enabled, so Doozy can send pre-start content.

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Preboarding in tracks

Preboarding uses the tracks you already know. There’s no separate preboarding trigger: a preboarding track is a normal first day track with steps scheduled before the first day. When you build the track, you add a day before their first day and put your pre-start steps there. Because a preboarder isn’t in Slack yet, those before-first-day steps go to their personal email. The rest of the track (everything from their first day on) runs in Slack as usual.

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Preboarding in cohorts

Preboarders can be part of a cohort, the same as anyone else who starts around the same time. They receive their pre-start content by email, then join the cohort’s Slack channel and group onboarding on their first day.

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Preboarders that need your attention

Doozy flags any preboarder it can’t move forward on its own. Two cases:

• No personal email. A preboarder with no personal email can’t receive pre-start content. Their steps wait, and Doozy flags them so you can add an address.
• Started, not yet in Slack. If someone’s start date passes but no work email has come through, Doozy flags them so you can enter their work email and move them into Slack onboarding.

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