FlowBuilder

Employee onboarding flowchart

Onboarding is a natural swimlane process because three teams hand work to each other. Laying it out by lane makes gaps visible, such as a laptop that was never ordered because nobody owned that step.

How to write steps
  • One step per line. Lines connect top to bottom.
  • End a line with ? to make a decision. Indent the answers under it: yes: Ship it, no: Refund.
  • Indent more lines under an answer to continue that branch.
  • -> Step name jumps back to an earlier step (a loop). no -> Step name works inside a decision.
  • Start, End, Done or Stop become rounded start/end shapes.
  • Shape tags: [input] [output] [doc] [db] [sub] [manual] [delay].
  • lane: Sales on its own line puts the next steps in a swimlane.
  • Or paste Mermaid code starting with flowchart TD. It’s detected automatically.

Mermaid code for this chart
flowchart TD
  subgraph L1["HR"]
    direction TB
    n1(["Start"])
    n2["Send offer letter"]
    n3{"Offer signed?"}
    n4["Close the vacancy"]
    n5(["End"])
    n6@{ shape: doc, label: "Collect contract and tax forms" }
  end
  subgraph L2["IT"]
    direction TB
    n7["Create accounts and email"]
    n8["Ship laptop"]
  end
  subgraph L3["Manager"]
    direction TB
    n9["Plan first-week tasks"]
    n10["Assign an onboarding buddy"]
    n11["Day-one welcome meeting"]
    n12(["Done"])
  end
  n1 --> n2
  n2 --> n3
  n3 -->|"no"| n4
  n4 --> n5
  n3 -->|"yes"| n6
  n6 --> n7
  n7 --> n8
  n8 --> n9
  n9 --> n10
  n10 --> n11
  n11 --> n12

The steps as text

This is the source of the chart above, so the template is readable even without the diagram.

lane: HR
Start
Send offer letter
Offer signed?
  no: Close the vacancy
    End
  yes: [doc] Collect contract and tax forms
lane: IT
Create accounts and email
Ship laptop
lane: Manager
Plan first-week tasks
Assign an onboarding buddy
Day-one welcome meeting
Done

More flowchart examples

Online order fulfilmentFrom checkout to delivery, including payment failure and stock checks.Customer support ticketTriage, escalate and close a support ticket with a satisfaction check.Hiring processScreen, interview and offer, with clear reject points.Expense approvalSubmit, approve and reimburse an expense claim with a manager threshold.

Questions people ask

How do I edit this employee onboarding flowchart?

Change the text in the editor. Each line is a step, lines ending in “?” are decisions, and indented lines are the answers. The chart redraws as you type and is saved in your browser.

Can I download it?

Yes: PNG for documents and slides, SVG for sharp printing, or Mermaid code for GitHub, Notion and Obsidian.