Onboarding is a long-term process that begins before your new employee arrives. It should continue for at least the first six months, and, ideally, through the first year. The idea is to improve your new employees’ initial experience working in your organi­zation. By engaging in this process, you jump start their ability to contribute to your organi­zat­ion’s goals and increase the likelihood that your employees will stay.

This checklist is designed to help you plan for a new employee’s arrival. Once your employee starts, you can work together to complete the checklist. Keep in mind - this checklist is a template. You should customize it to fit your needs.

 Contact (prefe­rably by telephone) your new employee after HR has confirmed the new employee’s start date
 Contact new employee (by telephone and/or email) period­ically to “touch base”
 ­ ­ ­ - Make yourself available to answer your new employee’s questions
 ­ ­ ­ - Provide inform­ation about transp­ort­ation options, commuting options, rideshare website inform­ation, etc.
 Determine what your new employee needs to know to become productive as quickly as possible

 Prepare on-boa­rding packet to supplement agency orient­ation packet provided by the human resources office (e.g., organi­zat­ional charts, job-sp­ecific inform­ation, resources list, websites and other reference sources used)
 Schedule of key meetings for your new employee
 Clearly define the career path for your new employee (discuss during first week)
 Create a training schedule for first year
 Create milestones for first year

 Send email to staff introd­ucing new employee
 Set-up welcome lunch with team
 Identify employee sponsor (“buddy”) & provide sponsor checklist
 Welcome and escort your new employee to the organi­zat­ion’s Employee Orient­ation
 Lunch for you, your new employee, and your team (if employee orient­ation is all day, then team lunch during the first week)

 Identify and prepare employee’s work area
 Order/­set-up computer workst­ation
 Arrange for phone and voice mail and other equipment
 Determ­ine­/order optional items (e.g., cell phone, mobile device, laptop, printer)
 Identify and label office mailbox
 Order office supplies and put in work area
 Complete security badge form
 Identify which offices, conference rooms, spaces for which access is required
 Send inform­ation technology (IT) access request to IT department for access (e.g., specify shared drives)
 Request employee be added to internal email distri­bution groups
 Ensure any accomm­oda­tions needed are ready

 Explain the work of your unit, the employee’s role, and working relati­onships
 Review organi­zat­ional chart
 Describe the organi­zation and its functions
 Explain levels of superv­ision in the unit
 Explain to whom the employee reports and who, if anyone, reports to the employee
 Have the current job descri­ption available for discussion
 Explain the employee’s position in the unit and describe the relation of his/her work to that of others in the unit
 Explain how the employee’s job duties relate to the unit’s mission, the agency’s mission.
 Explain the work of other agency organi­zations

 Describe the facility layout­/co­nduct a tour
 Work areas
 Restro­oms­/water founta­ins­/water cooler­/ki­tchen areas
 Cafeteria, snack bar(s), break rooms, vending machines
 Health unit
 Security
 Location of copiers and fax machines and passwords, printers, etc.
 Conference rooms and how to reserve them
 Office supply areas
 Restau­rants and local amenities (e.g., ATM, post office, pharmacy)

 Review telephone inform­ation and procedures
 Phone numbers
 Dialing instru­ctions for local/long distance calls
 Telephone features (e.g., voice mail, confer­enc­ing); provide manual if you have one
 Personal use policies

 Review inform­ation technology (IT) procedures
 Network access (including remote email access)
 Intranet  IT support
 IT use policy and IT security training

 Review physical securi­ty/­eme­rgency procedures
 Ensure employee has ID badge
 Provide office keys/codes
 Ensure access to all necessary rooms
 Emergency evacua­tio­n/d­ism­issal procedures
 Inclement weather polici­es/­pro­cedures
 Discuss procedures for reporting potential hazards and actions to be taken if injured or if someone is hurt

 Review travel inform­ati­on/­pol­icies and procedures
 Travel reimbu­rsement procedures
 Travel credit card (as applic­able)

 Ensure Personal Identity Verifi­cation (PIV) card access to conference rooms and other entry doors, as applicable
 Go over Federal and organi­zat­ional acronyms
 Ensure employee has completed any mandatory training required to start

 Job
 Training requir­ements
 Position descri­ption
 Job expect­ations
 Individual goals and objectives
 Milestones
 Clearly define the career path
 Review calendar of events
 Set 30 day priorities

 Explain the duties to employee
 Identify approp­riate assign­ments the employee can start immedi­ately
 Discuss specific duties and respon­sib­ilities of the job
 Explain quality and quantity requir­ements
 Provide learning aids and resources (e.g., work samples, forms, manuals, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), access to shared direct­ories, etc.)
 Indicate whom to contact for help when needed

 Review HR/Adm­ini­str­ative Policies and Procedures
 Work schedu­les­/core work hours  Office coverage
 Overti­me/­com­pen­satory time policies
 Telework policy
 Altern­ative work schedules
 Lunch/­break periods
 Timeke­epi­ng/work reporting procedures
 Procedures for requesting leave and reporting illnes­s/e­mer­gencies
 Respon­sib­ilities regarding personally identi­fiable inform­ation (PII)
 Encourage employee to discuss benefits with HR

 Provide feedback on the new employee’s perfor­mance and also solicit feedback from the employee to gauge whether the job experience meets what was expected
 Solicit informal feedback from peers who have been working with the new employee
 Continue to look for opport­unities to integrate your new employee with the work groups­/teams, and into the organi­zation as a whole
 Encourage your new employee to share ideas for improving the operat­ions, strate­gies, work, and/or culture of the organi­zation