A strong onboarding experience sets the tone for an employee’s success. New hires need clarity, structure, and the ability to learn at their own pace. When information is scattered across emails, shared drives, and chats, onboarding becomes confusing and slow.

This is where Confluence plays a critical role. Confluence is Atlassian’s collaboration and knowledge‑sharing tool, built for teams that need a central place to create, organize, and maintain information. It’s used by HR teams, managers, engineers, and business teams alike to document processes, share knowledge, and collaborate in one shared workspace.

For onboarding, Confluence works especially well because it combines documentation, guidance, tasks, and collaboration in a single platform. Instead of sending new hires through emails, shared drives, and disconnected tools, organizations can give them one starting point that explains how the company works, what their role involves, and where to go for help.

Because Confluence is flexible and easy to update, onboarding content stays current as teams, tools, and processes change. This makes it well‑suited for organizations that want a consistent onboarding experience without rigid systems or manual coordination.

Below are practical ways to use Confluence to build an effective onboarding experience.

Illustration of employees completing onboarding paperwork at a desk.

1. Create a dedicated onboarding space

The foundation of onboarding in Confluence is a dedicated onboarding space. This space acts as a central hub where all onboarding information lives. Instead of sending new hires multiple links, managers can point them to one location that contains everything they need.

A well‑designed onboarding space typically includes:

Pre‑boarding information
Company introduction and culture
Role‑specific guidance
Training and learning materials

Many organizations go a step further and create job‑specific sections within the onboarding space. Each role has its own group of pages that explain responsibilities, tools, workflows, and expectations. This helps new hires focus only on what is relevant to their role.

Once the space is ready, new employees can explore it at their own pace while managers maintain consistency across hires.

2. Structure content for clarity and reuse

Content quality matters as much as content location. Each onboarding section should follow a clear structure:

A landing page that explains what the section covers and how to use it
Child pages that dive into specific topics, such as processes, tools, or best practices

Good structure helps new employees understand where to start and what to read next. Confluence also makes it easy to reuse existing content. Most organizations already have pages describing workflows, FAQs, or internal standards. Instead of rewriting them, you can link or embed those pages directly into the onboarding flow. This keeps information current and avoids duplication.

3. Use Confluence templates to save time

Confluence includes built‑in templates that are especially useful for onboarding.

Popular options include:

30‑60‑90 day plans
HR and onboarding templates
Team introduction pages

The 90‑day plan template streamlines onboarding by giving it a clear structure and purpose. It helps introduce new employees to company values, points them to key people and resources, and outlines goals and milestones for their first weeks and months. Everything a new hire needs to get up to speed lives in one organized place.

The template is divided into two practical sections:

Quick links at the top, which provide immediate access to essentials such as IT support, payroll and benefits systems, and the people directory
A resources section at the bottom, which includes links to Slack channels, internal glossaries, team documentation, and culture resources

This structure helps new employees quickly find what they need on day one, while also guiding them through deeper learning over time. Managers can customize the template for different roles or teams, ensuring consistency while still allowing flexibility.

You can also create custom templates for roles or departments. Instead of creating onboarding pages from scratch each time, managers can start with a proven structure and tailor it as needed.

4. Provide a personalized welcome experience

First impressions matter. Confluence allows teams to create a welcome package that helps new hires feel included from day one. This can be a single page or a small group of pages that introduce:

The company’s mission and values
The team and key contacts
Working norms and communication expectations

Some teams also include welcome videos, virtual office tours, or leadership messages. Because everything lives in Confluence, the welcome experience remains consistent while still feeling personal.

5. Create onboarding checklists to guide progress

New hires often ask the same question: “What should I be doing next?”

An onboarding checklist answers that question clearly. In Confluence, a checklist can be built as a page that includes:

Links to onboarding pages
Checkboxes to mark steps as complete
Optional notes or instructions

Each role can have its own checklist. When a new employee joins, the manager simply copies a blank checklist or uses a page template. This keeps onboarding organized and gives employees a sense of progress.

Because the checklist links directly to the content, employees don’t have to search or guess what to read next.

6. Assign tasks and responsibilities

Onboarding is not only the responsibility of the new hire. Confluence allows managers to assign tasks to team members, such as:

Scheduling introductions
Reviewing completed training
Providing access to tools

Tasks can include due dates and assignees, making responsibilities visible and trackable. This reduces back‑and‑forth communication and ensures nothing falls through the cracks.

7. Build role‑based training and onboarding courses

Confluence can also support structured learning. Teams can create onboarding courses made up of:

Pages that explain concepts and processes
Quizzes to check understanding

Courses can be organized by role or department. Managers can enroll new employees or allow them to self‑enroll through a clear navigation path, such as a “Learning” or “Onboarding” section. Existing Confluence pages can be reused inside courses, which keeps content consistent. Managers can also use course reports to track progress without manual check‑ins.

This approach removes the need for separate learning tools and keeps onboarding simple and centralized.

8. Encourage collaboration and connection

Onboarding is more effective when new employees feel connected. Confluence supports collaboration through:

Team spaces for sharing ideas
Commenting and feedback on pages
Shared documentation and discussions

Encouraging new hires to ask questions or contribute early helps them feel comfortable and engaged. It also reinforces that Confluence is not just a reference tool, but a place where work happens.

9. Monitor onboarding progress and improve over time

Visibility is key to improving onboarding. Confluence makes it easy to:

Track checklist completion
Review course progress
Identify where new hires get stuck

Managers can use this insight to improve content, adjust timelines, and refine the onboarding experience for future employees.

Final Perspective

A well‑designed onboarding experience gives new employees confidence, clarity, and momentum from day one. Confluence makes this possible by bringing onboarding content, guidance, and collaboration into a single, structured workspace.

By using dedicated onboarding spaces, templates like the 90‑day plan, checklists, training resources, and collaborative team areas, organizations can create an onboarding process that is consistent yet flexible. Without being overwhelmed, new hires know where to start, what to focus on, and how to find support.

When onboarding is built in Confluence, it scales naturally as teams grow, stays current as processes evolve, and reduces the manual effort required from managers and HR teams. The result is a smoother transition for new employees and a faster path to meaningful contribution.

The Role of Atlas Bench

As an Atlassian Platinum Solution Partner, we focus exclusively on helping teams get real value from Atlassian tools, including Jira, Confluence, Jira Service Management, and Atlassian Cloud. Our work is grounded in a strong understanding of how these tools are designed to work together and how they are actually used in day‑to‑day environments. In addition to advisory and implementation work, Atlas Bench also builds practical solutions that help teams get more value from Atlassian tools. Our Support Agent for Confluence provides instant answers to Confluence questions from an AI trained on official Atlassian documentation, helping teams resolve questions quickly without searching through pages or interrupting others.

Interested in learning more? Connect with Atlas Bench to book a complimentary consultation with our Certified Atlassian Experts.

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How to Use Confluence for Onboarding New Employees