Starting a new job can be likened to be thrown into the deep end of a pool and being expected to swim with no prior lessons. Not only is this practice dangerous at actual swimming pools it is also detrimental in the workforce. Student Affairs is a high turnover field with over 50% of new employees leaving the field completely within the first 5 years (Tull, 2006). Onboarding to a new work environment serves multiple purposes ranging from socializing new employees on organizational culture (Klein, Polin, & Sutton, 2015) to maintaining compliance (Bailey, 2016). Onboarding is considered a high-impact practice that leads to high performance in employees (Selden & Sowa, 2015). Researchers (ACPA & NASPA, 2015; Cooper & Miller, 1998; Klein et al., 2015; Schmidt et al., 2009; Tull, 2006) have noted when practices such mentoring, coaching, and ongoing professional development are embedded in onboarding there are benefits such as increased job performance and lower turnover rates. The study of employee onboarding practices within Student Affairs is limited (Tull, 2006). A team of action researchers at Border University, a pseudonym for study site, set out to discover and implement methods to increase support in the first year of employment to enhance employee onboarding among staff in the Division of Enrollment and Student Affairs. The question this research attempted to answer was what is learned at the individual, group, and system levels in a higher education work setting using action research when a division embraces onboarding for new employee development? From the action research project, we saw that a.) Connections are made from a result of onboarding that led to better experiences for employees (new and supervisors); b.) It takes a dedicated village to onboard new employees; c.) More training is needed on what onboarding is and how to do it properly; d.) The Inform-Welcome-Guide framework (Klein & Heuser, 2008) provides a structure for student affairs to create a divisional new employee onboarding process. Final conclusions include the need to create an environment where staff learning is encouraged and shared throughout the onboarding process from all levels. In addition, this information must be made accessible in a practical way for future student affairs professionals to implement. This dissertation is presented as the final requirement for graduation and provides future direction for creating, implementing, and assessing onboarding programs designed specifically for employees within Student Affairs in a higher education work setting. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]