Onboarding emails are five messages sent on a schedule, and each carries a document from the checklist. The welcome after the offer, with the contract and the handbook to sign. The before-day-one email with the start time, the place or the link, the equipment and the accounts. The day-one email with the schedule and the introductions. The first-week check-in. The thirty-day review invitation with the template. The onboarding checklist on this site prints the schedule the emails follow, free and without an account.
The welcome
Sent when the offer is accepted: warm, short, and carrying the contract and the handbook for signature with a date to return them. The employee contract tool and the employee handbook template on this site print both.
Before day one
Start time, where to go or which link to join, what to bring, who will meet them, the equipment shipped or waiting, the accounts that will work on the day. The email that removes first-day anxiety. Sent two or three days ahead, so there is time to answer the question it prompts.
Day one and the first week
The schedule for the day and the week, the team by name, the buddy, the first task. Then a check-in at the end of the first week asking two questions: what is unclear, and what do you need. The two answers become the next hire's checklist, which is how the checklist improves.
The thirty-day review
The invitation with the review template attached and the self-assessment section to complete first. HeadcountDesk Pro sends the five on the schedule and keeps the signed documents they carry. From the vendors' own pricing pages, cited below: Homebase lists its Essentials plan at $30 per location per month billed monthly or $24 billed annually, with unlimited employees, and a Basic plan at $0 for one location with up to 10 employees; BambooHR starts at $10 per employee per month for Core and $17 for Pro; Deputy's Core plan is $6.50 per user per month. HeadcountDesk Pro is $24 per month per location.
Questions people ask about onboarding emails
Should onboarding emails be templates?
The structure, yes; the names and the details, written each time.
Who sends them?
The manager, in their own name; an email from a system address is read as one.
Is the checklist free?
Yes, without an account.