01_new_employee_onboarding_checklist

New Employee Onboarding Checklist

This checklist provides a structured process for onboarding a new employee to ensure they have a smooth and welcoming start.

Week Before Start Date

• Paperwork: HR to send and receive all necessary employment contracts and paperwork.
• Hardware:
  • Order and configure a new laptop.
  • Order any other required hardware (monitor, keyboard, mouse).
• Account Creation:
  • Create company email address.
  • Create accounts for core services:
    • Slack
    • Google Workspace
    • Project Management tool (Jira/Asana)
    • Company password manager
    • GitHub
• Internal Announcement: Announce the new hire in the company-wide Slack channel, including their name, role, and start date.
• Assign a Buddy: Assign an onboarding buddy to help the new hire navigate their first few weeks.
• Schedule First Week Meetings:
  • Schedule a welcome meeting with their manager.
  • Schedule a team introduction meeting.
  • Schedule 1-on-1s with key team members.
  • Schedule an onboarding session to walk through company culture and tools.

Day 1

• Welcome:
  • The new hire’s manager should be available to greet them (virtually or in person).
  • Post a welcome message in the team’s Slack channel.
• Hardware Setup: Ensure the new hire can log in to their new laptop and has all the necessary hardware.
• Account Access:
  • Walk the new hire through logging into their key accounts.
  • Help them set up 2-Factor Authentication (2FA) on all accounts.
  • Provide access to the company password manager.
• Introduction to Tools:
  • Give a high-level overview of how we use Slack, Google Workspace, etc.
• Team Lunch: The team should have a welcome lunch with the new hire (virtual or in person).

First Week

• Onboarding Buddy: The buddy should check in daily.
• Developer Setup: For technical roles, the new hire should follow the Developer Machine Setup Guide to get their computer ready for development.
• First Task: Assign a small, well-defined first task to help the new hire get familiar with the codebase and our workflow. This could be a small bug fix or a documentation improvement.
• Project Overviews: The manager or a senior team member should provide an overview of the key projects the new hire will be working on.
• Review Key SOPs: Point the new hire to the main SOPs README and ask them to familiarize themselves with our processes. Pay special attention to our Git Workflow and Security Best Practices.
• End of Week Check-in: The manager should have a 1-on-1 at the end of the week to see how things are going and answer any questions.

First Month

• Regular 1-on-1s: The manager should have weekly 1-on-1s with the new hire.
• Feedback: Provide regular feedback on their work.
• Social Integration: Continue to ensure the new hire feels part of the team.
• 30-Day Review: At the end of the first month, the manager should hold a more formal review to discuss progress, set goals for the next couple of months, and gather feedback on the onboarding process.