Hiring · Onboarding
The First-Week Onboarding Checklist for a Small Team
A new starter's first week sets how quickly they become useful and how long they stay. Here are the eight things to have ready, in the order they matter.
- (Author)
- Esther Mwangi
- (Published)
- (Reading)
- 3 min
- (Section)
- Hiring
In this guide 8 sections
In a small company nobody's full-time job is onboarding, so it tends to happen by accident: a laptop that arrives on day three, a login nobody can find, a week of reading old documents. None of it is malicious, but it costs weeks of productivity and quietly tells the new person how organised you are. These eight items fix most of it.
1. Paperwork done before day one
Contracts, tax forms and bank details should be complete before the start date. In the UK, employees are entitled to a written statement of employment particulars from day one; in the US, new employees fill in Form W-4 for tax withholding. Whatever applies where you are, get it out of the way early.
2. Equipment and accounts ready
The laptop should be set up, and email, chat and every tool the role needs should have working logins on the morning they arrive. Keep a list per role so nothing depends on memory.
3. A written first-week plan
One page, day by day: who they meet, what they read, what they do. It gives the new starter something to hold on to and stops the week dissolving into "have a look around".
4. A buddy who is not their manager
Someone they can ask the small questions: where things are, who decides what, how the coffee machine works. It takes pressure off the manager and makes the person feel part of the team faster.
5. The procedures they will use
Point them to the written processes for their role. If those do not exist yet, the first week is a good time to start them; our guide to writing SOPs people follow explains how, and a newcomer is the perfect tester.
6. One real task to finish
Nothing builds confidence like shipping something. Choose a small, real piece of work they can complete by the end of the week and show to someone.
7. How work is tracked
Show them where tasks live and how hand-offs work, whether that is a spreadsheet or a project tool. If you are not sure your current setup is working, see when to move off spreadsheets.
8. Check-ins on the calendar
Book fifteen minutes at the end of week one and half an hour at day 30. Ask what has been confusing and what they would change. New people see your processes more clearly than anyone, briefly.
A new starter notices every gap in your processes for about a month. Ask them before they stop noticing.
If the new person is a contractor rather than an employee, most of this list still applies; the paperwork is different. Our comparison of contractors and employees covers how to decide.
