Guide · People
The Employee Onboarding Process
A working employee onboarding process runs in four phases: pre-start setup before day one, a structured first day, a first week of supervised work and reading, and a 30/60/90-day plan with scheduled check-ins. Each phase has named owners and written expectations so competence, not just paperwork, is the outcome.
Updated August 2026
Step by step
1. Pre-start: finish the setup before they arrive
- Order equipment and uniform the day the offer is accepted.
- Request every account and test that each login works.
- Send logistics: arrival time, place, parking, who greets them, what to bring.
- Assign a buddy and brief them on what the first week looks like.
2. Day one: orientation, not overload
Aim for a welcome, a tour, the safety and practical basics, an introduction to the people they will work with weekly, and one small real task completed successfully. Do not schedule eight hours of documents; retention on day one is low and the goal is belonging plus a first win.
3. Week one: supervised work and written expectations
Give them two or three procedures to read and then perform under supervision. Hand over the written expectations for days 30, 60 and 90 during week one so the target is visible from the start rather than revealed at the first review.
4. The 30/60/90-day plan
- Day 30 — knows the core process, completes routine work with light review.
- Day 60 — works independently on the majority of the role, handles common exceptions.
- Day 90 — fully accountable for the role's outcomes, contributing improvements.
- Each milestone gets a booked check-in with the manager, not an ad-hoc chat.
5. Collect feedback and improve the process
At day 90, ask what was confusing, what was missing and what was useful. The new hire is the only person who can see your onboarding clearly, and that visibility disappears after about three months.
Worked example
Example
Worked example: onboarding a second cleaner in a two-person business
- Pre-start — keys cut, DBS check confirmed, uniform and supplies kit assembled, route app account created and tested.
- Day one — 7:30 meet at the first site, work alongside the owner all day, finish by 14:00 with a short debrief.
- Week one — shadow all six recurring sites, read the two SOPs for clinical and office sites, complete one site solo with a photo check.
- Day 30 — runs three sites unsupervised, photo quality checks pass on first submission.
- Day 60 — runs the full weekday route, orders own supplies within an agreed limit.
- Day 90 — owns the route, trains the next hire on two sites, feedback collected on the onboarding.
Common mistakes
- Starting the process on day one instead of at offer acceptance.
- Confusing paperwork completion with onboarding.
- Leaving expectations verbal and vague.
- No check-ins between week one and the six-month mark.
- Never asking the new hire how the process felt.
Use the free template
Frequently asked questions
- How much time should a manager spend on onboarding?
- Budget roughly a full day across week one and two hours a week for the next month. That investment is smaller than the cost of a hire who fails at month four.
- What if we are too small for a formal process?
- Small teams benefit most because there is no HR safety net. A one-page checklist and three booked check-ins is a formal enough process.
- How do we onboard remote or field-based hires?
- Increase deliberate contact. Daily short calls in week one, a named buddy, and written expectations matter more when there is no shared room to absorb context in.
Related resources
Employee Onboarding Checklist
An employee onboarding checklist tracks everything that has to happen from the moment an offer is accepted through the first 90 days: paperwork, equipment, access, introductions, training and check-ins.
Open Free templateNew Hire Checklist
A new hire checklist is the short setup list a manager works through so a new employee arrives to a working desk, van or account on day one.
Open Free templateJob Description Template
A job description template structures a role in a way that helps you hire and manage: the purpose of the role, the outcomes it owns, the day-to-day responsibilities, the requirements that genuinely matter, and the practical working conditions.
Open GuideHow to Write an SOP
To write an SOP, pick one repeatable task, perform it while recording each action, then write those actions as numbered single-verb steps with an owner, prerequisites, decision points and a definition of done.
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