Employee onboarding checklists
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Written by:
Paddy Morrison
Onboarding is a crucial part of any new hire’s journey through a company and as the person responsible for HR, it’s your role to make it go as smoothly as possible.
However, the process is made of many steps that can be easily forgotten if you’ve already got a lot on your mind.
That’s where an onboarding checklist template becomes essential to make sure you don’t leave anything out and set up your new hires for success.
Get the onboarding checklists you need to start onboarding like a pro
Rather get straight to the onboarding checklists? No problem.
5 Essential Employee Onboarding Checklists
There’s no “right” onboarding checklist. All companies are different and will use a multitude of methods to onboard team members.
However, when it comes to onboarding processes for small businesses in the UK, there are a lot of similar aspects to consider.
But first, let’s have a look at what the 4 onboarding checklists you need look like:
- Pre-onboarding – preparation before the new hire’s first day
- First day – when the new hire starts their job
- First month – an important part of the employee’s journey to set them on the course to success
- End of probation – crucial to ensure each onboarding step has been successfully completed and the new hire is ready to successfully take on their role
Checklist 1
Before the new hire’s first day
The onboarding plan starts way before your new hire’s start date and directly after they’ve accepted the job offer.
The quicker you are to process all their information and get all the onboarding tasks ready, the more confident they’ll feel about joining your business and starting their new job.
Here’s roughly what your new hire checklist should include – you can of course cut or add to it depending on your situation:
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Send contract and have it signed
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Set up email address
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Invite them on Slack
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Order laptop
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Set up desk
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Order office access and fob
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Inform payroll of new hire
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Email first-day agenda
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Invite to company meetings
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Assign an onboarding buddy
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Book introduction meetings with key people in the business
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Send welcome email/letter a few days before they start
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Book probation meeting in advance
You can also choose to download a Google Doc version of this checklist to make it your own, convert it into PDF or download it under whatever format you feel is the right one. Simply click the link below.
Get your pre-onboarding checklist
Of course, getting an employee onboarding checklist template is important, but you won’t be the only person involved in the process.
Bear in mind that you’ll have to account for the new hire’s manager, their coworkers, the IT team and anyone who needs to help you set up an effective onboarding experience.
Perhaps that’s where automation can come in to help. With onboarding software like CharlieHR, for example, you can create checklists from scratch, assign them to coworkers and set a due date – they get automatic reminders so there’s never a need to chase.
Maybe have a look for yourself and start a free trial today.
Checklist 2
New hire’s first day
First days can be nerve-wracking – both for you and your new hire. That’s why getting that day right is important to make a good first impression.
To ensure your new team member feels confident in their new role, you‘ll be responsible to give them an onboarding experience that’s as smooth as possible.
So get your employee onboarding right to strike the right balance between an informative and welcoming first day.
Here’s the list of things you should aim for:
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Complete new starter document or get their P45
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Check their passport
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Complete any other hiring paperwork you might have on top
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Book a coffee with them to make the process more welcoming
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Organise a welcome lunch with their team
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Give them an office tour
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Get the hiring manager to book a welcome meeting
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Show them how to book time off
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Give them access to your employee handbook so they can familiarise themselves with your company policies
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Ask the manager to give an overview of the regular meetings the new hire will be attending
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Get manager to set a one-to-one for the end of the week
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Ask managers to share goals for the rest of the week
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Give them a run-through of your HR software
Get your new hire’s first day checklist
First days can be overwhelming and an employee onboarding checklist template will help, but it won’t remove the mental load that goes with onboarding.
With CharlieHR, you can make that process effortless by creating a custom onboarding flow that guarantees hiring compliance and lets you oversee the process.
Maybe have a look for yourself and start a free trial today.
Checklist 3
New hire’s first month
Just because you’ve got your new hire on board, that’s not why you should get them out of your sight. You’ll still need to overlook their onboarding process and make sure everything is going smoothly.
Here’s what your checklist should include:
First week
- Manager to provide concrete information about the role
- Manager to set goals for next week and start involving new hire in team work
- Check in with manager on how the new hire is doing
Second week
- Manager to discuss performance and goals for the next three months until end of probation
- Manager to set clear expectations about what is expected at the end of probation
Third week
- Give feedback on how their work is going and what they could improve
- Provide support on areas where it’s needed
- Collect feedback from other team members on quality of work
- Gauge whether passing probation is likely to happen or not
- Organise a team event to make new hire feel welcome
- Check in with manager on how new hire is doing
Fourth week
- Check all documentation is in check before payday
Get your new hire's first month checklist now
Checklist 4
End of probation checklist
The end of onboarding means checking whether the performance of your new hire is up to scratch. Clearly, that’s the whole mission your employee onboarding checklist has been fulfilling ever since, and it’s time to reap the rewards of your onboarding process.
Here are a few things you can’t miss for your end of probation checklist:
- Put together notes about the way they work and make sure you hired the right person
- Invite new hire to share feedback during their meeting
- Make final decision before probation meeting
- If extending or terminating probation, prepare notes and explanations – have a process at the ready
- Announce decision to new hire
If new hire passed probation
- Collect feedback about onboarding
- Start creating a plan for their progression
Get your end of probation checklist now
Checklist 5
Employee onboarding checklist Excel template
Perhaps you’re fond of keeping it all in print and the employee onboarding checklists you downloaded before are enough, but you could also get an all-in-one template.
We’ve created this Excel checklist template so you can keep track of all your team members, assign tasks to coworkers and mark them as not done, completed or in-progress.
Get your employee onboarding checklist Excel template now
FAQ - Employee onboarding checklist
There are several onboarding steps you should follow and many reasons why you shouldn’t dive right into it without an idea of what the process looks like:
- Getting all the onboarding steps right, even if it’s a small one or if you think you already know all about the onboarding process, it’s important to ensure you don’t miss any
- Ensuring your new hires know they’re in good hands with a well-rounded process
- Streamlining your processes to save as much time as you need and repeat the process indefinitely
These are all great ways to make your onboarding as effective as possible for your business.
Perhaps you need to tailor the content of your onboarding checklist template, and you’re not sure whether the options we got above are suitable to your business.
To make your own onboarding checklist, you’ve got tons of solutions available:
- Free checklist app – a simple tool that will allow you to create or copy processes, including onboarding checklists, share it with other team members and track the progress they’re making towards it.
- Excel/Word documents – if you’re into more traditional methods, maybe you can try a hand at making your own checklist on Excel or Word.
- HR software – an all-in-one solution where you can create checklists, assign task to people, upload documents, create deadlines, get automatic reminders and have the rest of your HR on the same platform
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