New Hire Onboarding Checklist (Free Printable)

A new hire onboarding checklist is the manager's half of a first week: who owns the desk and the accounts, what happens on day 1, who answers questions in week 1. These two printable pages hold all of it in one place. Page 1 runs from the day before the start date through the first Friday. Page 2 holds the buddy system, the 30-60-90 goal lines and a feedback box. Print it, write on it, reprint one sheet per hire. The full kit with the 45-step PDF and a fill-in handbook is linked at the bottom.

How to use this page: print at 100% scale, both pages come out on two sheets. Fill the name and start-date lines, then work the sheet in order: pre-start before day 1, day-1 items on the day, week-1 rows as they close. Tick the box when a step is done and put the date next to it. The kit's own instruction for the finished page: keep this sheet in the employee's personnel record. Page 2 takes about ten minutes at the end of week 1.

The two-page new hire onboarding sheet

Everything pre-printed on the sheet comes from the kit's own onboarding checklist. The write-in lines stay blank on purpose: no preset targets, no system names, and nothing gets tracked that you did not write. One sheet per hire, undated, so the dates come from the hires.

New hire onboarding checklist - page 1

Setup moves before the start date; people and paper stay on day 1. Tick the box when done, write the date.

New hire:     Start date:     Manager:  

Pre-start checklist - 6 items, before day 1
#ItemDone (date)
1Workspace and equipment set up and tested
2Accounts, email and tool access confirmed working
3Signed offer and identity documents ready to collect
4Desk, keys and badge ready
5Handbook copy printed for handover
6First-week schedule drafted
Day-1 checklist - 6 items
#ItemDone (date)
1Welcome and introductions
2Signed offer and identity documents collected and filed
3Handbook given; signed acknowledgment returned
4Team introductions and workplace tour
5Paydays, timesheets and time-off requests explained
6First-week schedule shared; questions invited
Week-1 table - 5 rows
#Week-1 itemOwnerDone (date)
1Role expectations meeting with manager
2Onboarding buddy assigned and introduced
3First small task assigned and completed
4Key contacts map: who to ask for what
5End-of-week check-in: questions answered

New hire onboarding checklist - page 2

The week-1 follow-through: one named person to ask, goal lines both sides agree on, and what feedback actually got said.

Buddy system - 3 lines

Buddy's name and role:

 

First meet-up (day and time):

 

First thing the new hire should ask the buddy:

 
30-60-90 goals - 3 rows, blank on purpose
DayGoals agreed in writingReview held (date)
Day 30
Day 60
Day 90

Feedback box - 3 lines

Feedback the new hire gave (week 1):

 

Feedback given back (week 1):

 

One thing both sides agreed to change before day 30:

 

The pre-start and day-1 items come from the kit's Day One band, split in two: setup happens before the start date, people and paperwork happen on it. Week-1 rows carry an owner column because a row without a name does not get done. The 30-60-90 lines stay blank on purpose: the sheet holds goals you agree on, it does not set them, and no line on this paper predicts how anyone will perform.

4 opinions on running this checklist

  1. Name the buddy before the start date, and write the name down. (Opinion.) The kit puts "Onboarding buddy assigned and introduced" in its Week One band, which is also the step managers postpone the longest. A buddy named on the sheet has a face on day 1; a buddy picked in the hallway on Friday stays a maybe. The three lines on page 2 exist so the pick survives past the conversation.
  2. Keep the sheet where the manager already sits, not in a folder. (Opinion.) A checklist in a drawer dies there. The README's own instruction is to print the checklists and keep them in a binder, one onboarding set per employee. The sheet earns its ticks at arm's reach, and the date column only fills in if the paper is visible on the day the step closes.
  3. Let the new hire write their own 30-60-90 goal lines first. (Opinion.) The kit's 30-day band starts with "30/60/90-day goals written and agreed", and agreed takes both sides. A draft in the hire's words, corrected in a 1:1, lands better than goals handed down. The sheet has three blank lines, and whose handwriting fills them first decides whether the review meetings are conversations or announcements.
  4. Reprint a fresh sheet for every hire. (Opinion.) One sheet per hire keeps the dates honest and leaves you a stack of finished pages that shows how your onboarding actually runs, which is the only version of the process worth improving. The template is undated on purpose; the dates come from the hires, not from the paper.

What the HR Ops Kit adds

This page is the printable onboarding slice. The full product is six templates for the HR jobs a small business runs in its first months, from the README:

"Six paper-ready templates for the HR jobs a small business actually has to do in its first months: hand a new hire a handbook, walk them through 90 days, keep a personnel record, score interviews, run an offboarding, and log incidents. No app, no subscription." - the product README

For the web version of this checklist, the employee onboarding checklist template page covers 25 steps with an equipment-and-access table and a first-week schedule. The free employee handbook template walks through filling the handbook, the interview preparation checklist starts the process one step earlier, and the full catalog lists everything else.

Honest note: this is an organizing template for the HR side of a first week, and it is not legal or HR advice. From the kit's own files: "Template, not legal advice. Employment rules differ by jurisdiction; review with qualified counsel before use." The templates are generic starting points, written without any specific country, state, or province in mind; have a qualified professional review anything you plan to issue as policy. Nothing on this paper assesses an employee, and the tips above are opinions from use, not research findings.

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