Onboarding isn’t just for new hires — it helps you build relationships in your community, too

This is a series on Better News to a) showcase innovative/experimental ideas that emerge from the Knight-Lenfest Newsroom Initiative and b) share replicable tactics that benefit the news industry as a whole.

This piece was inspired by the American Press Institute’s Connection + Collaboration Learning Cohort and Revenue Experiments Learning Cohort, both held in 2025 for alumni of the U.S.-based Table Stakes Local News Transformation Program.

More from API’s 2025 learning cohorts for Table Stakes alumni:

• 8 revenue experiments you can replicate in your news organization
• 8 ways to build staff engagement in your news organization
• Experiments don’t always go according to plan. Here’s how to keep projects on track.

We often think of onboarding as a new employee’s first two weeks on the job, filled with training and paperwork.

But onboarding is not only a human resources process — it’s the foundation for building lasting relationships both within and outside an organization. This applies to new employees, transfers and interns, as well as community members and potential sponsors. 

Inside and outside of the newsroom, onboarding needs to be a pillar of your culture. If someone feels like they belong and that they are valued, they’re more likely to stay on, whether as a journalist, an audience member or an advertiser.

“Taking the time to [onboard] properly is one of the most powerful things that you can do for newsroom culture,” said Priska Neely, training manager at Report for America.

Neely believes in building systems to support onboarding. As the founding managing editor of the Gulf States Newsroom, Neely hired and onboarded the whole staff after developing a thorough process. Onboarding, to her, is about setting expectations for everyone. Who is this person? What do they do here? Why should I talk to them?

In short, first impressions do matter. And starting off on the right foot requires thinking, planning and intention.

Building internal onboarding processes

“Onboarding, when done properly, forces the manager, the newsroom (and) the organization to reckon with what we do and why,” Neely said.

Creating an onboarding process can be a lot of work initially, but it will be replicable from then on out.

First, set up a schedule for any new hire.

At Knox News in Tennessee, the team set up a bingo card for new employees with some key things to do in their first few weeks, such as meetings to attend or places to try. The card was built off past experiences from the group of what they wish they had known when they started.

“A lot of these are things that we’re wondering but might not be confident enough yet to ask,” reporter Allie Feinberg said.

A team of reporters in Knoxville who worked on building more connection in their newsroom also made it lighthearted by supplying new hires with stickers for the card.

“It will be a really fun way for people to start off in the newsroom” and see how they progress over time, reporter Devarrick Turner said.

Another way to ensure people meet one another is by using a buddy system to give the new hire a friendly face when they have small questions (“Where is the best burrito around here?” “Where do I find the style guide login?”)

Neely also had a staff guide with photos of every person, their role and what someone could come to them for in their job and otherwise (restaurant recommendations, photo assignments, etc.).

Learn more: User manuals can help establish empathy and shift team dynamics

In Knoxville, the team created beat guides with a dossier of institutional knowledge about any given beat.

“If a reporter had to cover something that’s not their beat, here’s a one-stop shop if no one’s around to answer their questions,” Feinberg said.

The guides are meant to help new employees and current staff, as well as an acknowledgment that beats overlap. Sometimes a restaurant reporter might need to call the city planning commission, for example. In these cases, the guides help reporters figure out who is the best person to call, providing contact information and details about possible sources.

Having an onboarding process says something about how your newsroom values what you do as a journalist. It shows that every person brings value and is needed. And it respects the craft of journalism, Neely said.

“Saying that you don’t need onboarding is a disrespect to what you are doing,” she said. “It’s saying that what you’re doing is easy and doesn’t need explanation.”

Bringing people together in a distributed world

Forming connections with colleagues can be even more difficult post-pandemic, when a good portion of social interaction might be virtual in some way.

KERA, the NPR and PBS affiliate in North Texas, split its newsroom into three locations this year as it builds its new headquarters. Retaining a hybrid work structure means that connecting employees matters now more than ever. The People & Culture team organized “KERA Connect Week,” a series of events designed to bring people together physically.

“Everyone can feel belonging and connection differently. Some people are more introverted, some people are more extroverted, some people land somewhere in the middle,” said Jeana Nuñez, KERA’s people & culture manager. “I think that it is really important to create these intentional moments where you can interact with people, especially in your organization, who you might not normally have contact with on a daily basis.”

Nuñez said creating culture in a distributed office goes beyond individual contributors.

“Working with managers and getting buy-in from managers and leadership is really important, too,” Nuñez said.

Carve out some time during the work week to gather in person as a newsroom, if you can. Also consider how remote employees can be included and acknowledged. If the newsroom is having a catered lunch, look into sending remote folks a gift card to buy themselves lunch.

Equity is also important to keep in mind. One of KERA’s current office spaces is newer, with gym access and other amenities. The People & Culture team made sure everyone has access to the space, regardless of their home office.

“We are trying to go out there and assess what they need and what we can do to make them feel they have what they need to do their job,” Nuñez said.

The team made a point of planning events in-office for KERA Connect Week, with listening sessions and events at each location, encouraging staff to visit the other offices to see colleagues.

“It was actually voiced from a lot of folks, especially the ones who are not at our central location, how important it is or how important it was to them and how included it made them feel,” said Valerie Morales, KERA’s administrative assistant for people & culture.

Onboarding outside the newsroom

Effective onboarding can help new employees better understand their role in the organization and share the organization’s values and mission in their interactions with community members.

“A good onboarding plan is a reflection, because if you have your stuff together, then you’ll be able to reflect that back onto someone else,” Report for America’s Neely said.

It helps people in all roles, from revenue to reporting, by keeping the organization’s mission top of mind — especially as they do outreach and spend time with audiences.

The Atlanta Voice found that centering its mission in sponsor and audience communications brought excitement and more participation from the whole organization.

To celebrate its 60th anniversary, The Voice launched a campaign to highlight the impact of Black-owned businesses in the Atlanta area. The idea allowed them to build new relationships — and sometimes ignite old ones. The Voice has deep roots in the community and the campaign ”seemed so aligned with who we are culturally,” said Jazmine Brazier, development specialist.

In some cases, Brazier was able to sit down and talk to other leaders of longtime family-owned businesses about the relationship their businesses might have had with The Voice since the publication started in 1966. Several relationships were reignited, like one with a local funeral home, whose founder knew The Voice co-founder J. Lowell Ware and cherished the publication.

“We are the new generation of some of these legacy family businesses that are able to connect in a different way,” Brazier said.

Finding and telling those stories is something the whole organization loves to do, so going deeper into something they already knew well brought the sales and editorial team of The Voice together, changing how they approached the community.

“We’re trying to put the story first and the numbers later,” Brazier said.

The Atlanta Voice spent time visiting all the businesses in their first cohort of business profiles, enabling them to re-establish relationships and generate more buy-in from businesses.

“It opened the door for other opportunities,” Brazier said.

In Knoxville, creating ways for audiences to encounter journalists eased some of the pressure behind community engagement. Journalists were given baseball cards with local landmarks and handed them out at Smokies games. The cards were conversation starters and put journalists in front of audiences in ways other than reporting. The goal was to spend time in the community, just getting to know others.

“I think a big part of it is showing that we’re part of this community, too, and we don’t just want a quote from you,” reporter Feinberg said. “We live in the same place you do. We pay tax dollars here, too. We go to the same places as you.”

According to Feinberg, creating community connection is the responsibility of the journalists, not the audiences.

Making a lasting impression

After a relationship starts, that’s not the end of onboarding. Reiterating your purpose and message will help you stick in people’s minds.

Inside the newsroom, reflecting back on earlier conversations can help set someone up for longer-term success. And while it feels repetitive, having multiple ways of accessing crucial internal information makes it easier to find overall. Think of the 5×5 rule: Change happens when the new thing is reaffirmed five different times, five different ways. Overcommunication works.

Another way of making a lasting impression is a marketing technique Boise State Public Radio learned during their experiment in API’s revenue learning cohort: Brick, feather, feather.

The strategy entails spending a marketing budget in parts: Spend a large portion of your budget on one marketing tactic (your brick) and then take the remainder of the budget and put out feathers, or lighter, easier marketing tactics, like social media.

In their case, that meant a big spend on a series of messages on the local bus system, then smaller spends — like a partnership with another local outlet, BoiseDev, and on social media marketing.

“They have to see you more than one time. Maybe they don’t love the bus system and don’t pay attention to the bus when it drives by. But maybe they read BoiseDev every morning, and if not, maybe they’re scrolling Facebook or Instagram,” said Kristin Jackson, development director. “Somehow we’re going to get in front of their faces.”

Learn more: How to win the loyalty of new subscribers through great onboarding

Five things you can do to make onboarding better

There are plenty of ways to improve your onboarding process, both for the newsroom and in the community. Think through these tips as you plan ahead:

In your organization, especially for leadership

1. Create a schedule for the first two weeks: That gives new hires structure, time to learn about how the newsroom does things and the opportunity to meet with people across departments.
2. Pair people to share the knowledge: Having someone who is ready and happy to answer small questions takes some of the anxiety out of being new.
3. Build excitement around new hires: Everything you do as a person leaves? Do that when they start, too. Throw them a small party. Give them small gifts, especially if they’re new to the area.
4. Build a relationship between management and the new hire immediately: Make sure there is time for them to sit down with their manager and answer reflective questions about their goals and who they are as a person. In turn, it’s an opportunity for a manager to talk about their expectations and what is important to them. Announce them internally and externally. Include what they’ve done before, and what they’re here to do. Consider crafting a plan with reporters to announce them to the community as well.
5. Create repositories for knowledge: Have a wiki or some other easily accessible place to find things like links to important sites and calendars, instructions on setting up different accounts and newsroom favorites. (Where do locals suggest getting lunch? What’s a good bar? And other tips about living in the area.)

In your community

1. Introduce yourself and know what you’re going to say: Your first conversations should find some alignment through sharing goals and ideas. Know you are representing the whole organization, so you might get questions beyond your job’s scope. If you’ve been onboarded well, you can answer most of it.
2. Meet people in person: Whether for reporting or sales calls, you’ll have more impact in person than via email or phone.
3. Follow up: What wasn’t answered in that first interaction? Seeking clarity is the perfect reason to follow up.
4. Make it fun: Knox News gave staffers fun “baseball cards” to hand out to the community as a conversation starter. What can your team do to spark delight?
5. Celebration lifts all boats: The Atlanta Voice found that focusing on celebrating local Black-owned businesses was exciting inside and outside the newsroom, because it highlighted people within the community. How can you celebrate the people who support your organization?