A new hire onboarding checklist should run from preboarding to the 90-day mark, and the first decision is the work arrangement: in-office, hybrid and remote hires need separate steps.
Use this guide to choose where to start. If paperwork is your gap, go straight to the new hire onboarding documents. If the first weeks feel improvised, begin with a new hire training plan and work outward from there.
Start with three decisions
Onboarding is the process of turning a signed offer into a productive, settled employee, and three choices shape everything after it: the work arrangement, who owns each stage, and how much the new hire already knows. Settle these before you copy any template, because they decide which checklist items you keep.
Work arrangement
Rightworks advises building separate onboarding steps for in-office, hybrid, and remote hires. The reasoning is practical. A person sitting near their team absorbs introductions and norms informally, while a remote hire needs those same things scheduled. Smartsheet describes its remote and hybrid checklist as working well for onboarding remote and hybrid new hires to promote engagement and retention. If you hire in more than one arrangement, keep one core checklist and add a short layer for each. The guide on how to onboard remote employees covers the remote layer in more depth.
Who owns each stage
Rightworks recommends that you assemble a cross-functional onboarding team before you extend an offer. In practice, that means naming the person responsible for paperwork, the person who prepares equipment and access, the hiring manager who owns the plan, and a buddy or mentor. Without named owners, items on a checklist tend to wait for someone to notice them.
Experienced hire or new graduate
A new graduate has usually never been through a workplace onboarding before, so the checklist should explain what experienced hires take for granted: how meetings work, how to ask for help, and how feedback is given. A returning intern needs less orientation but still needs a fresh plan, because the role and expectations have changed. Both cases are covered further down.
Preboarding: the period between offer and day one
Preboarding covers everything that happens after the offer is accepted and before the first day. Rightworks describes a complete checklist as covering six stages: pre-onboarding, a welcome letter, orientation and the stages that follow, so the work starts well before the new hire walks in.
The most useful preboarding step is a welcome message. Smartsheet suggests onboarding communication beginning one to two weeks before an employee starts, or right after the offer is accepted. A good welcome email to new employee gives the start time, the place or login details, who they will meet first, and what to bring. Keep it short and specific, because anxious new hires read every line.
Preboarding is also the time to send forms that can be completed in advance, to order equipment, and to tell the team who is joining. A longer treatment of preboarding new hires explains how to keep contact warm without asking for unpaid work.
Day one onboarding tasks and paperwork
Day one should leave the new hire with working access, a clear picture of the first week and the legal paperwork started. Aim for a calm day rather than a full one, since a new hire who has completed forms and met a few people is better placed than one who sat through every presentation.
Paperwork that belongs on the first day
The US Chamber of Commerce notes that for Form I-9, both the new hire and the employer must fill out sections, starting on the first day of employment. Treat that as the anchor of your new hire paperwork checklist and schedule time for it rather than handing over a stack of forms.
A second employer-side duty follows soon after. The same source says that in most states, employers must submit new hire information within 20 days of the start date. Because state rules differ, confirm the deadline with your state agency and put it on the checklist as an HR task rather than a new hire task.
Keep your own list of internal documents, such as policy acknowledgements and benefit forms, in one place. The page on new hire onboarding documents sets out how to organise them.
Practical items for the first day
- Working equipment and logins. Have these ready before arrival, so the first hour is not spent waiting.
- A named point of contact. The new hire should know who to ask about small questions, even if the buddy has not been formally introduced yet.
- A written outline of the week. It removes guesswork about where to be and when.
- A lunch or coffee with the manager. It lets the new hire ask informal questions that a meeting room discourages.
First week checklist for new employees
The first week is about connection and orientation more than output. Staffbase advises that you assign a mentor or culture buddy to guide the new hire during this period, and also schedule regular check-ins, weekly in the first month.
A solid first week includes these elements:
- Introductions with a reason. Say why each person matters to the new hire’s work, not just their title. The guide on how to introduce a new employee to the team shows how to do this without a forced round of handshakes.
- A first small task. A modest, finishable assignment gives the new hire a sense of progress and gives you an early look at how they work.
- An orientation to how the team works. Cover meeting rhythms, communication channels and where decisions are made.
- The first one-on-one. Hold it early and use it to agree on how you will work together.
Mentoring and buddies
Mentoring pairs a new hire with someone who has been in the organisation longer, and the pairing can serve different purposes. Choose according to what your new hire most needs.
- A buddy suits culture and logistics. A peer answers the questions that feel too small to bring to a manager. The onboarding buddy program page explains how to select and brief a buddy.
- A mentor suits career growth. A more senior person can talk about direction, skills and how the organisation works at a wider level.
- Shadowing suits learning the job quickly. SHRM describes an arrangement at MD Anderson in which a new manager is matched with a senior manager for two weeks to experience the culture. The example involves managers, but the idea of structured time beside an experienced colleague transfers to other roles.
Whichever you pick, make the pairing explicit and give the pair a purpose. A buddy who has not been told what the role involves tends to become a name on a list.
Training and onboarding tools
Training turns a new hire from informed to capable. A written new hire training plan lists what must be learned, who teaches it, and how you will know it has landed. Without that structure, training becomes whatever the new hire’s calendar happens to hold.
Group sessions and individual coaching
Use group sessions for content that is the same for everyone and does not change often. Use individual coaching for anything tied to the role. Mixing the two keeps the new hire from sitting through irrelevant material while still getting personal attention where it counts.
When software is worth it
Small teams can run onboarding well from a shared checklist. Software starts to pay off when several hires arrive at once, when tasks pass between departments, or when you need to track completion. If you reach that point, the comparison of the best employee onboarding software sets out the options. Smartsheet also publishes free onboarding checklists and templates that suit teams who are not ready to buy a system.
What is a 30-60-90 day plan?
A 30-60-90 day plan is a written roadmap for a new hire’s first three blocks of time, covering the first 30, 60 and 90 days. Smartsheet’s template is designed for planning and tracking professional development, goals, and performance. Rightworks gives the same structure in simpler terms: build a plan broken into 30-day increments.
The format works because it turns a vague expectation into dated, checkable goals. A sensible way to use it:
- The first 30 days: learn. Goals focus on understanding the role, the people, the tools and the way work is done.
- The 60-day block: contribute. The new hire takes on real tasks with support and begins to work more independently.
- The 90-day block: own. The new hire carries a piece of work from start to finish and talks with the manager about what comes next.
Write the plan with the new hire, not for them. Agreeing the goals together makes them easier to hold each other to, and it shows early whether the two of you understand the job in the same way. Keep each block to a small number of goals; a long list at the start of a job usually means none get proper attention.
One-on-one meetings and check-ins
One-on-one meetings are the manager’s main tool during onboarding, because they give the new hire a protected space to ask questions and raise problems. Rightworks recommends that you check in weekly for the first ninety days, then move to every other week or monthly. Staffbase agrees that regular check-ins and feedback sessions should be weekly in the early period.
How to run an effective one-on-one
The meeting works best when it belongs to the new hire. These habits help:
- Keep the slot fixed. Cancelling or moving it tells the new hire that they are a low priority. Treat it as protected time.
- Share the agenda. Let the new hire add topics before the meeting and put theirs first.
- Ask open questions. Prompts such as what is unclear, what is going well and what would help most invite more than a yes or no. The page of new hire check in questions offers a longer list.
- Give specific feedback. Point to a task and say what worked and what to change, rather than offering general praise.
- Write down actions. Record what each of you agreed to do, and begin the next meeting by checking it.
Why the manager’s role matters so much
SHRM, citing Gallup, states that managers are accountable for 70 percent of employee engagement variance, and it cites a study finding that half of employees leave their jobs to get away from their managers. Treat those as signals about where the manager’s attention pays off rather than as promises about any one team. The consistent one-on-one is the cheapest way to act on them.
Performance review and feedback
Staffbase recommends that you conduct a formal performance review to evaluate the new hire later in the onboarding period. Because weekly check-ins have already surfaced most issues, the review should contain no surprises. Its job is to record progress against the 30-60-90 day plan, confirm what the new hire does well and agree the goals that follow.
Collect the new hire’s view as well as your own. An onboarding survey asks what helped, what was missing and what they would change. The page of onboarding survey questions gives wording that produces useful answers, and the guide on how to measure onboarding success explains how to turn the answers into a measure you can track from one cohort to the next.
Onboarding a new graduate or intern
You onboard a new graduate hire with the same stages as any other hire, but you explain more and assume less. Smartsheet’s checklist spans tasks from preboarding to the first day to the 90-day mark, and that full span suits someone entering their first role.
- Explain the unwritten rules. Cover how to ask for help, how to prepare for meetings, and how feedback works. Experienced hires pick these up from earlier jobs, while graduates may not have met them yet.
- Pair them early. A buddy in the first week and a mentor soon after give the graduate people to ask who are not their manager.
- Use the 30-60-90 day plan. Early goals give a first-time employee a clear measure of progress.
- Convert interns with a fresh plan. A returning intern knows the building but not the permanent role. Write a new plan rather than assuming the internship carried over. The intern onboarding plan and the guide on how to manage interns cover the internship itself.
Keeping early career employees from leaving
Early career retention starts in the first weeks, because the cost of getting it wrong is high. SHRM predicts that the cost of replacing a professional or executive-level employee may be as much as twice her annual salary. That is a ceiling for senior roles rather than a typical figure for graduates, but it shows why losing someone you have only just trained is expensive.
The same SHRM piece reports that one-third of executives miss expectations within the first two years. It concerns executives, not graduates, but it supports the point that early support matters at every level.
Four practices carry most of the weight:
- Keep the check-ins going. The weekly rhythm in the first 90 days is a retention measure as well as a management one.
- Talk about growth early. Staffbase suggests you discuss career development plans and opportunities for growth during the second and third months. Graduates who can see a path are less likely to look elsewhere.
- Give them a person, not only a process. A mentor or buddy who stays in contact beyond the first week makes the workplace feel less anonymous.
- Fix what the survey tells you. If new hires repeatedly report the same gap, change the checklist for the next cohort.
For a fuller plan, see how to retain new hires. If you suspect your own process has holes, common onboarding mistakes lists the usual ones to check first.
The first 90 days at a glance
This table puts the main milestones in order so you can check your own checklist against them. Adjust the timing to your role and team.
| Stage | What happens | Planning use |
|---|---|---|
| First week | Assign a mentor or culture buddy | Name the person before the start date so the introduction happens on day one or soon after. |
| First month | Weekly check-ins and feedback sessions | Put the recurring slot in both calendars before the new hire arrives. |
| Through the 90-day mark | Weekly check-ins continue, then every other week or monthly | Move to a lighter rhythm only when the new hire is working independently. |
| Months two and three | Career development discussion | Prepare questions about interests and strengths before the conversation. |
| Month three | Formal performance review | Use the 30-60-90 day plan as the record of what was agreed. |
| Whole period | A plan broken into 30-day increments | Write it with the new hire and revisit it at each block. |
Timings are drawn from Staffbase’s onboarding checklist and Rightworks’ new hire guidance.
Frequently asked questions
Do contractors go through the same paperwork as employees?
No. Contractors are treated differently for tax purposes. The US Chamber of Commerce says that they may receive Form 1099-NEC if they are paid $2,000 or more during the tax year, so they sit outside the employee paperwork described above.
Which employers must ask for voluntary self-identification?
According to the US Chamber of Commerce, requests for EEOC voluntary self-identification apply to typically those with 100+ employees (or federal contractors with 50+ employees). Check your own obligations with HR or counsel before adding the form.
How long does a new manager take to feel settled?
SHRM says that on average it may take 12 to 24 months for a new manager to reach a comfort level. That is a reason to continue supporting first-time managers well beyond the usual 90-day onboarding window.
How much should an organisation invest in developing managers?
SHRM’s piece says healthy organisations invest about 35 percent of a manager’s salary on his development. Treat it as a benchmark for how seriously strong organisations take the role, not as a target every team can match.
