Build a First Day Onboarding Plan

88% of employees think their employer did a poor job with the onboarding process. (Gallup, 2017)

Your team is expanding and you just hired your first direct report. How do you ensure they have a great first day and a good impression of your company and team?

Create a first day onboarding plan to make sure everything goes as planned and you set up your new hire for success.

Watch this video to see a few examples of the difference between good vs bad onboarding.

Let's dive into each of these areas a bit more to ensure your new hire ends the day sending a text message that says, "I had the best day ever!" 🙌

First impressions are important, so make sure you make a good one.

Be ready to meet your new hire on time and make them feel welcome. Show them where they can grab a drink as you give them a quick tour of the office.

If the job is remote:

Make sure they have the link and login details for where to go to start their day. Schedule a welcome email or chat message so it's waiting for them when they first login.

Before your new hire arrives, make sure everything they need is set up at their workstation. This includes:

• Computer and phone

• Login credentials

• Links to internal resources

If the job is remote:

Make sure all equipment is shipped to the new hire and login instructions emailed to their personal email before their first day.

Schedule a one-on-one meeting with your new hire to orient them to the team and their role. Some topics to include:

• Performance expectations

• Training to complete and due dates

• Overview of tools and processes

• List of people to meet

• Q&A session

If the job is remote:

Schedule meetings via video conferencing to go over this content while sharing your screen.

Share documents with some of this information for the new hire to review on their own, then schedule a meeting to answer their questions.

Take the new hire to lunch to build rapport and get to know them better.

Introduce them to key people to help them start putting faces to names and know who to follow up with in the weeks to come.

If the job is remote:

Ship the new hire a welcome kit that includes a gift card for lunch delivery and schedule a virtual meet & greet to introduce them to the key people.

To ensure everything goes as planned, create a "First Day Onboarding Checklist" to share with your new hire to keep both of you accountable and ensure they have a good first impression and a great first day.

What will you include in your "First Day Onboarding Checklist" for each of these sections?

• Welcome

• Setup Equipment

• Orientation

• Meet & Greet