The first week gets a new employee through the door. The next three months decide whether they settle. A short plan, written with their manager, tells them what good looks like before they have to guess.
Why write it down
Most new employees do not fail for lack of talent. They fail because nobody told them what was expected until the first review, and by then the habits are set. A written plan turns “settle in” into three short lists you can both check.
Keep it to one page. Three or four goals for each stage is plenty. Write it together in the first week, so it is their plan as much as yours.
A checklist helps, but as Acas, the UK’s workplace advice service, puts it, the induction “should not be about just ticking boxes”. The plan is for the conversations, not instead of them.
Day 30: learn
- Know the people. They have met everyone they work with most, and know who to ask for what.
- Know the work. They can explain what their team does, who it serves and how success is measured.
- Know the tools. Every system they need works, and they have used each one for real.
- Finish one small thing. A real piece of work, done and seen.
Day 60: contribute
- Do the core of the job with help. The everyday tasks, with a colleague checking the tricky parts.
- Bring one fresh idea. New people see what the rest of the team stopped noticing. Ask for it.
- Training done. Whatever the role requires, finished, not started.
Day 90: own
- Run their own work. The core of the job, done without being checked every step.
- Own one result. Something with their name on it that the team relies on.
- Set the next goals. The plan for the next quarter, written by them and agreed with you.
The three check-ins
Put three half-hour meetings in the calendar on the first day: one near each mark. In each, go through the list together. What is done, what is not, and why. Change the plan if the job turned out different from what you both expected. That is normal.
End each one with a question for the manager: “What should I be doing that I am not?” New people rarely ask it unless they are invited.
If they work remotely
Remote employees need the same plan, with more of it written down. Put the goals somewhere both of you can see and update. Book short video calls in the first two weeks with each person on the 30-day list, because they will not meet them by chance in a corridor. And check in more often at the start: a quick message at the end of each day in week one catches problems that would otherwise wait a week.
When it is not going well
If the day-30 check shows real gaps, say so kindly and clearly, and agree what will change. Most early problems come from unclear expectations, missing training or a tool that does not work, not from the person. Fix those first. If it is still not working at day 60, you have a written record of what was agreed and what happened, which is fairer to both of you than a feeling.
Common mistakes
- Too many goals. Twelve goals for the first month means none of them matter.
- A plan nobody opens. If the check-ins are not booked, they will not happen.
- Only tasks, no people. Who they know matters as much as what they can do.
- Silence when it goes well. Say so at each mark. It is the easiest thanks you will ever give.