Employee Onboarding Checklist Prompt

What it does

Builds a detailed onboarding checklist for a specific role — broken down by timeframe (Day 1, Week 1, 30 days, 60 days, 90 days) and ownership (HR, manager, new hire, IT). The output goes beyond the generic "set up laptop + HR paperwork" list to include role-specific milestones, relationship-building tasks, and success checkpoints that make the difference between a new hire who's productive at 30 days and one who's still lost at 90.

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How to use it

Customize the output for your company's specific tools, culture, and expectations. The AI produces a comprehensive starting structure; you add the company-specific context (specific tool names, internal wiki links, team norms, who to meet with first).

Share the 30/60/90-day section with the new hire on Day 1 so they know what success looks like and can hold themselves accountable.

Example output

Before Day 1 (HR):

• [ ] Send offer letter and complete I-9/background check
• [ ] Set up email, Slack, and access credentials
• [ ] Ship laptop (if remote) — confirm delivery before start date
• [ ] Add to team calendar and recurring meetings
• [ ] Assign a buddy or peer mentor

Day 1 (Manager):

• [ ] Personal welcome + team intro meeting (30 min)
• [ ] Walk through the 30/60/90-day plan together
• [ ] Schedule weekly 1-on-1s for first 90 days
• [ ] Tour of key tools (Slack channels, project management, documentation)

Week 1 (New Hire + Manager):

• [ ] Shadow 3 customer/stakeholder interactions
• [ ] Read [3 specific internal documents]
• [ ] Meet individually with 5 key collaborators
• [ ] Day 5 check-in: what's confusing, what's clear, what do you need?

30-Day Milestone Checkpoint: Can the new hire describe the team's top 3 priorities and their role in each without referring to notes?

Variations

Remote onboarding: Add "This is a fully remote role. Adjust the checklist to replace in-person activities with virtual equivalents. Pay special attention to relationship-building items — those are harder remotely."

Technical role (engineer / data): Add "This is a software engineering role. Include: codebase walkthrough, development environment setup, PR review shadow, and first production contribution timeline."

Executive hire: Add "This is a VP or C-level hire. The checklist should emphasize stakeholder relationship-building and understanding organizational context, not tool setup."

Fast-growth startup: Add "We're a 20-person startup with minimal process. The checklist should be lean and hands-on, not bureaucratic."

Common pitfalls

Only logistics, no learning. A checklist that's all "set up accounts and read the employee handbook" doesn't help the new hire become effective. The 30/60/90-day section needs role-specific milestones.

No ownership. Every item needs an owner. "Schedule introduction meetings" means nothing if it's unclear whether HR, the manager, or the new hire is supposed to do it.

No check-ins. A checklist without scheduled touchpoints sits unread. Build in explicit 1-on-1 check-ins at 1 week, 30 days, and 90 days.

Who uses this prompt

HR managers building onboarding programs for specific roles. Small business owners hiring their first or second employee. Managers setting up a structure for a new direct report. Growing teams that currently onboard ad hoc and want a repeatable process.