Onboarding first day is the day the hire decides whether they were right to say yes, and it is decided by whether anyone was ready for them. The greeting by the person named in the email. The equipment issued and signed for. The accounts confirmed working. The handbook walked through, not handed over. The team met by name. Lunch with the buddy. One small real task. A ten-minute check-in at the end. The onboarding checklist on this site prints the day as lines with owners, free and without an account.
Before they arrive
Equipment on the desk or shipped and confirmed delivered, accounts tested by the owner of each line, the schedule sent two days before, the buddy briefed, the first task chosen. The first day fails in the week before it, and the checklist's dates are set to prevent that.
The morning
The greeting, the equipment record signed with the employee ID on it, the accounts opened together, the handbook's key sections read aloud with time for questions, the tour. The handbook acknowledgment is signed here if it was not returned before; the employee handbook template on this site prints it.
The afternoon
Lunch with the buddy, the team introductions with a line about what each person does, the first task, small and real, with the person to ask named. A first day with no real task is a day the hire spends reading policies.
The end of the day
Ten minutes with the manager: what was unclear, what they need tomorrow. The answers become tomorrow's lines. HeadcountDesk Pro keeps the day's lines ticked against the hire; the checklist on this site prints them. 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 first day
Should the first day include training?
The systems they will use tomorrow, briefly; the training plan runs through the month.
What if the manager is away on the first day?
Move the start date; a first day without the manager is a day the hire remembers for the wrong reason.
Is the checklist free?
Yes, without an account.