Employee Onboarding Checklist
A free employee onboarding checklist from contract to day 90: paperwork, accounts, first-week plan and check-ins, so no new hire slips through the cracks.
- Typical schedule per new hire
- The checklist 5 sections, 25 items
- Variables
{{employee_name}}{{role}}{{start_date}}{{manager}} - Start from CI
Auf Deutsch lesen: Onboarding-Checkliste für neue Mitarbeitende
Use this checklist for every new permanent hire, from the day the contract is signed until the end of the first three months. It suits small companies where onboarding is shared between HR or an office manager, IT and the hiring manager, and where nobody owns the whole picture by default.
Who owns it
The hiring manager owns the run. HR or operations handles contracts, payroll and equipment, and IT creates the accounts, but the manager is the one who notices when the new person is stuck. Assign each section to the person who does it, so the record shows who confirmed what.
Common pitfalls
- Starting the work on day one. Laptops, accounts and access requests take days. Start the run as soon as the contract is signed, not on the first morning.
- An empty first week. A new hire who reads wiki pages for five days quietly decides they made a mistake. Plan a small, real task they can finish in week one.
- Access by copy-paste. Cloning another employee's permissions gives the new person access they should not have. Grant access per role.
- No check-in after week two. Most onboarding effort happens before day one. The questions come later, so book the 30, 60 and 90 day conversations up front.
- Forgetting the paperwork deadlines. Tax, social insurance and right-to-work registrations have local deadlines. Adapt this to your jurisdiction; it is a practical checklist, not legal advice.
You can start the run automatically when the contract is signed in your HR tool, so the clock starts on time and every hire gets the same steps.
The checklist: Onboard {{employee_name}} as {{role}}
After the contract is signed
-
Signed contract for
{{employee_name}}is filed in the personnel record -
Personal details, bank account and tax information collected through a secure form
Do not collect ID copies or bank details by plain email.
-
Employee registered for payroll and social insurance before
{{start_date}} -
Right-to-work or work-permit documents checked and recorded optional
Needed when the hire is not a citizen of the country of employment, or where local law requires checks for everyone.
-
Welcome email sent with start time, address or video link, and who to ask for
-
Onboarding buddy chosen and briefed (someone other than
{{manager}})
Equipment and accounts
-
Laptop and accessories ordered or prepared, with disk encryption enabled
-
Company email and single sign-on account created (e.g. Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Okta)
-
Access granted to the tools listed for the
{{role}}role, and nothing moreUse a role list, not a copy of another person's permissions.
-
Added to the right team channels, mailing lists and calendars
-
Building access card, keys or desk arranged optional
First day
-
{{manager}}is available in person or on video for the first hour -
Laptop handed over, first login and password manager setup completed together
-
Introduced to the team and to the buddy
-
Walk-through of the company handbook, working hours and leave rules
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Security and data protection basics covered, and the acknowledgement signed
First week
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Written 30/60/90 day plan shared with
{{employee_name}}List concrete outcomes, not activities. Agree them together in the first week.
-
First small, real task assigned and finished
-
Short meetings held with the key people outside the team
-
Recurring 1:1 with
{{manager}}booked -
Mandatory training completed (e.g. security awareness, workplace safety) optional
First 90 days
-
30-day check-in held and notes recorded
-
60-day check-in held, goals adjusted if needed
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90-day or end-of-probation review held and the outcome documented
-
Feedback on the onboarding itself collected from
{{employee_name}}Ask what was missing or confusing, and update this template.
Checklist as Markdown
Start this checklist from your pipeline
When a hire is marked as signed in your HR system, POST /api/v1/runs with template "Onboard {{employee_name}} as {{role}}" and the start date.
curl -X POST https://runbook.metastic.ch/api/v1/runs \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $RUNBOOK_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"template": "Onboard {{employee_name}} as {{role}}", "variables": {"employee_name": "…", "role": "…", "start_date": "…", "manager": "…"}}'Frequently asked questions
What should an employee onboarding checklist include?
It should cover four phases: paperwork after signing, equipment and accounts before the start date, the first day and week, and check-ins up to day 90. Each item should name a concrete action and an owner. Leave out general advice like "make them feel welcome" and write down what that means in practice.
How long should employee onboarding take?
The practical part, with accounts, equipment and introductions, is mostly done in the first week. Real onboarding, where the person works independently and knows who to ask, usually takes about three months, which is why this checklist runs until day 90. Senior or highly specialised roles can take longer.
Who is responsible for onboarding, HR or the manager?
Both, with different parts. HR or operations owns contracts, payroll and compliance steps. The manager owns the plan, the first tasks and the check-ins. Assigning each section to a named person in one shared checklist avoids the gap where each side assumes the other has done it.
Can I start an onboarding checklist automatically?
Yes. Many HR tools can call a webhook when a candidate is marked as hired. Point that webhook, or a small
script, at POST /api/v1/runs with the employee name, role and start date, and the run is created with
every item ready to assign.
Updated