Use this checklist to onboard a new hire from offer accept through day 90. Adapt the sections to match your stack and policies.
Before day one
- Send signed offer + employment contract
- Collect right-to-work + bank details
- Provision email, SSO, password manager, project tools
- Order equipment (laptop, peripherals, access cards)
- Schedule day-one calendar (welcome, intros, manager 1:1)
- Notify the team and assign a buddy
Day one
- Welcome message + tour of the office or virtual workspace
- Hand over equipment + walk-through of accounts
- Share the company handbook, values, and code of conduct
- Introduce direct team and key cross-functional partners
- Manager 1:1: explain the role, the first-week plan, and how success is measured
Week one
- Complete required compliance training (data protection, security, code of conduct)
- Shadow 2–3 customer / product / ops calls
- Read internal documentation and complete tooling tutorials
- Set up first-week deliverable (small, real, shippable)
- End-of-week check-in: blockers, surprises, what was missing
30 / 60 / 90 day goals
Concrete, written outcomes for each milestone. Examples:
- 30 days: ramped on tools and team rituals; first small contribution shipped.
- 60 days: independently owning a meaningful slice of the role; able to onboard the next hire on basics.
- 90 days: fully owning core responsibilities; performance review conversation initiated.
Pro tip: assign a "first-week buddy" who is not the manager — peer relationships drive belonging much faster than top-down ones.