PeopleMuster

Employee onboarding checklist

Onboarding goes wrong in the gaps between owners. HR assumed IT had the laptop. IT was waiting for a start date nobody sent them.

For the fortnight around a new joiner's start date, from signed contract to the thirty-day conversation. Internal moves need a shorter version, since most access and equipment already exist.

ONBOARDING SOP — [Company name]
Subject: [joiner name] · Start date: [date] · Initiator: [HR]

BEFORE DAY ONE
  [ ] Signed contract on file                          HR
  [ ] Start date confirmed to IT and the manager       HR
  [ ] Employee record created, code issued             HR
  [ ] Laptop prepared, imaged, serial recorded         IT
  [ ] Accounts created: email, chat, code, design      IT
  [ ] Desk, access card or door code arranged          Admin
  [ ] Buddy named and told                             Manager
  [ ] First-week plan written                          Manager

DAY ONE
  [ ] Welcome and a tour of the floor                  Buddy
  [ ] Laptop handed over, handover form signed         IT
  [ ] Enrolled on the attendance terminal              HR
  [ ] Shift assigned and leave quota allocated         HR
  [ ] Added to team channels and the calendar          Manager
  [ ] Handbook and policies sent to read               HR

WEEK ONE
  [ ] Policies read and acknowledged                   Joiner
  [ ] Added to the project board with a first task     Manager
  [ ] Tools and repository access checked working      Joiner
  [ ] Payroll details submitted                        Joiner
  [ ] Benefits enrolment completed                     HR
  [ ] End-of-week check-in held                        Manager

MONTH ONE
  [ ] Thirty-day conversation held and noted           Manager
  [ ] Any missing access chased and closed             IT
  [ ] Probation dates and criteria confirmed in writing HR
  [ ] Joiner asked what was missing from this list     HR

CLOSING THE PROCESS
Every line has one owner and one date. An unticked line on day thirty is a
question for its owner, not for the joiner. Close the process only when the
list is complete, and add whatever the joiner said was missing.

Before you send it

  • One owner per line, always. A line owned by two departments is the line that never gets done.
  • Run the last item for real. Asking the joiner what was missing is how the list improves, and it is the step most teams drop first.
  • Split by day rather than by department. A joiner experiences time, and a list grouped by owner hides the fact that nothing happens on their second morning.
  • Give the payroll and benefits lines a firm date. They are the only steps on the list with a hard monthly deadline behind them.
  • PeopleMuster runs a list like this as a template, started against one person. The same SOP becomes a tracked process. It carries an assignee, an initiator, and a resolved count such as four of eleven.

How SOP templates become tracked processes

Questions people ask about this letter

How far ahead should onboarding start?

The moment the contract is signed. Hardware and accounts are the long poles, and both need a confirmed start date before anyone can act.

Should the joiner see the whole checklist?

Show them their own lines. Seeing the internal steps too is usually reassuring rather than confusing, and it tells them who to chase.

What is the point of a thirty-day check-in?

Thirty days is when a bad fit is still fixable and a good joiner still remembers what confused them. Later than that and both signals have faded.

Other templates