New Hire Onboarding — Week 1

HRIS employee record complete with all documents collected. Access provisioned and verified on Day 1. Week 1 calendar built with all intro meetings and training sessions. Compliance training assigned and completion tracked. End-of-week pulse survey sent and results shared with manager. Onboarding checklist fully checked off and archived in employee folder. Week 4 check-in scheduled.

Before you start

Offer letter signed and start date confirmed
IT provisioning request submitted 5 business days before start
Onboarding checklist approved by People Ops and hiring manager
New hire details: name, role, department, manager, start date, work location (remote/onsite)
Systems access list approved by manager and IT
First-week schedule: orientation meetings, intro sessions, and training modules

The steps

Pre-start: send welcome email and collect documents — Five days out, send start time and location or call link, the manager's name and Slack handle, IT setup instructions, the first-day agenda, and the HR portal link. Ask for I-9, direct deposit, emergency contact and state tax forms before Day 1. Confirm equipment shipped, with tracking.
Day 1 morning: confirm access and welcome — Before 9am, confirm email, Slack, the HRIS profile and calendar all work. Broken access on Day 1 is the most common onboarding failure — escalate to IT immediately, not after orientation. Then post the welcome in the team channel, naming their role and what they will focus on.
Day 1: conduct HR orientation — Sixty minutes: mission and values, org chart and team leads, benefits with the enrolment deadline, PTO and how to request it, payroll and pay stubs, code of conduct, and IT security including MFA. Ten minutes each on the first three. Drop every document in their folder afterwards.
Day 1-2: schedule intro meetings — Thirty minutes with the manager on Day 1 for expectations and the 30-60-90. Fifteen minutes with each team member on Days 2-3. Cross-functional partners the manager names, Days 3-5. For remote hires add a coffee with someone outside their team. Put an agenda in every invite.
Day 2-3: complete compliance training — Assign harassment prevention, data security, and any role-specific module — SOC 2 awareness for engineers, financial controls for finance. Most US states require harassment training within 30 days; California companies over 50 people need it sooner. Set the deadline and chase at Day 5.
Day 3-5: role-specific system training — Book a 30-45 minute walkthrough per tool with whoever owns it internally, and leave a Loom or doc link for later. Cap it at the three or four systems they will actually touch in month one — beyond that, none of it sticks.
End of Week 1: manager check-in and pulse — Three questions by Slack: what did you need this week and not have? Was the pace too fast, too slow, or about right? Who else should you meet? Send the answers to the manager, book the Week 4 check-in now, and clear any access gaps before Monday.

If it goes wrong

IT equipment delayed — remote new hire has no laptop on Day 1

Equipment must be shipped 7 business days before start (not 5). If delayed, contact IT lead 3 days before start when delay is confirmed — do not discover it on Day 1. BYOD bridge is an emergency fallback only, not a plan.

New hire overwhelmed by too many meetings and tools in Week 1

Cap intro meetings at 3 per day. Limit system training to tools needed in first 30 days. Build in at least 2 hours of unstructured 'explore' time each day — new hires need time to absorb what they're hearing.

Hiring manager not available during new hire's first week

If manager is traveling or OOO in new hire's Week 1, designate a Day 1 buddy from the team who is briefed and available. Manager must still complete a 30-minute video call in the first 5 days regardless of schedule.

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