Your go-to employee onboarding checklist (and templates) for 2023

The first 90 days can make or break a position for a recently hired employee. According to the 2022 Job Seeker Nation Report, one in three new hires will leave their job within the first 30 days.

Unfortunately, only 19% of employees report receiving this ideal onboarding experience. But you can change this.

When it comes to providing your new hires with the ideal onboarding experience, a checklist can be incredibly helpful. A new employee onboarding checklist not only organizes tasks, it also helps new employees feel welcome more quickly. For example, you can set up one-on-one introduction meetings with other employees to provide new hires a space to share a bit about themselves and get to know the team. 

For remote and hybrid teams, an onboarding checklist is crucial because it allows new team members to make connections and start their new job with the information they need to succeed.

What is the purpose of an onboarding checklist, anyway?

An onboarding checklist is used during a new hire's first few months to introduce the employee to—and integrate them into—a new position or organization. The checklist may include things like first-week tasks, bios of your new hire’s teammates, FAQs, and more.

When you create your checklist in a digital shared space like Trello, it also provides a connection point for the employee and their manager to share information, ask and answer questions, and inspire conversations that could shape the new hire’s career trajectory. 

During onboarding, new team members have lots of tasks to complete and not much time to do them. An onboarding checklist helps you monitor their progress and keep them on track. Checklists also lay out what is expected of new hires and give you an easy way to set deadlines.

Most importantly, onboarding is the key to long-term employee success. In fact, BambooHR says employees who feel their onboarding was "effective" are 18 times more likely to feel committed to their company. And the first step toward effective onboarding is a solid plan. Using an onboarding checklist provides the structure for this plan.

Our 90-day onboarding plan serves as a base for your checklist that you can customize for each new hire.

New hire onboarding checklists for the first 90 days

An organized 90-day onboarding plan gives your new hire time to learn about your company and its policies, meet the people they will work with, and discover the day-to-day responsibilities connected to their new role.

The first week

An employee's first day—and the entire first week—will likely focus on administrative tasks, setting up their workspace, learning the parts of their job that weren't in the job description, and getting acclimated to their new environment. Customize your new employee’s checklist with company- and position-specific information. Here are some items you can include in your checklist:

Technology:

• Review building and office access and security

• Set up your phone and voicemail greeting

• Set up your computer

• Make sure you have all necessary hardware (e.g., external monitor, mouse, external keyboard, etc.)

• Make sure you have access to all necessary software (e.g., intranet, online directory, position-specific tools, etc.)

• Set up your email and other internal comms tools, like Slack

• Request access to Trello, Confluence, Jira, and other collaborative tools

• For help, contact IT at the relevant channel in Slack, or at their designated email address

• Access your training modules and/or webinars (provided by your manager)

Team:

• Meet with your mentor or onboarding buddy (assigned by your manager)

• Attend your first team meeting

• Review any ongoing meetings with your manager

• Review company organizational and departmental charts

• Learn about roles of key staff members and teammates you will be interacting with

• Schedule one-on-one meetings with each of your teammates

• Contact your leader or your buddy if you have questions

Benefits:

• Finish all employment paperwork

• Review payroll procedures, expense reporting, and time tracking

• Sign up for health insurance

• Learn about insurance policy, sick and leave time, and benefits

• For help, the relevant channel in Slack, or at their designated email address

The first 30 days

This checklist should focus more on concepts the new hire should strive to become familiar with, people they should meet, and expectations for deliverables.

Seek to understand:

• Company-wide objectives and key results (OKRs)

• Your team’s role in contributing to OKRs

• How your specific role contributes to the company’s OKRs

• Main job duties and performance expectations

• Objectives for the current campaign/project your team is working on

• Your first assignment or task

Meet with:

• HR representative

• Department leadership team

• Your direct manager

• Your teammates

• Team leads from departments you’ll be working with

• Staff members from departments you’ll be working with

Learn:

• Emergency procedures within the office

• Important locations within the office like restrooms and staff break areas

• Parking access

• Policies about data security—especially for remote workers

• Schedules: work hours, lunch, breaks

• Conference room scheduling and access

• Components of company culture

• How to pull campaign/project data from the relevant tools

• Shadow a member of each department to learn how your role fits within the company

• Your strengths and areas for improvement (so far)

Key deliverables:

• Recommendations for campaign/project landing page or website
• Suggested milestones for measuring campaign/project success
• Feedback for your manager about your experience so far; note if you need any additional resources

The top 3 Trello onboarding checklist templates for success

Every business needs a comprehensive onboarding process—however, there's no "one-size-fits-all" checklist. Trello has a variety of board templates you can use to guide your new hire through the onboarding process. 

To help you craft an onboarding checklist that meets your new employee's specific onboarding needs, check out these three templates.

1. The Onboarding Process for New Hires Template

The Onboarding Process for New Hires template ensures every new employee's onboarding experience is meaningful. This template is for leadership teams, not employees. Use this template to build a foundation for your entire new hire checklist.

Trello's Onboarding Process For New Hires board template

New employees move left to right through the tasks on the Trello cards, and everyone sees where they are in the process. Managers can quickly check the Trello board to see where their new hire is within their onboarding journey. Leadership teams can also get a bird's-eye view of any process bottlenecks employees may be facing. And the Card Numbers Power-Up by Reenhanced assigns a unique number to each card for ease of reference.

2. The New Hire Onboarding Template

The New Hire Onboarding template includes tasks that begin before an employee’s first day and leads them through the first week of the onboarding process. The cards in this Trello board detail everything from the equipment each new hire gets to the names and faces of each coworker in the department.

Trello's New Hire Onboarding board template

The cards in this board template focus on the first week, so it’s easy to find answers to common questions with sections titled "Can I Have?" or "Who Do I Talk to About?"

By including a "Company Culture" section along with a "Who's Who" section for employee headshots, names, and relevant information, this template helps new team members become acquainted with their new environment and coworkers—all in one place.

3. The 30/60/90 Day Plan Template

The 30/60/90 Day Plan Template lays out just what you think it will: Onboarding for a new hire's first 90 days. But this three-month onboarding template is more than a to-do list. It’s designed to help develop an employee’s career trajectory and spark discussions between your new hire and their manager.

The 30/60/90 Day Plan Template includes in-depth employee training for your new hire’s role, plus a deep dive into your company’s culture. Encourage your new hire to set SMART goals and develop a growth mindset. They should work with their manager and team members to set goals for learning company- and position-specific tools, software, resources, and career checkpoints.

Trello's 30 60 90 Day Plan Template board

Before getting into the 30-, 60-, and 90-day tasks, this board walks users through "Onboarding essentials" and "Helpful links." Once a new hire completes a card, they simply need to drag it to the "Done" column on the far right of the board. This will free up some space and keep things organized.

When you and/or your teammate’s manager check in with your new hire at 30, 60, and 90 days, you can use the following topics to prompt your discussion:

• Company culture: Does your new hire understand your organization’s culture and how to get work done? How about how your employee’s role fits within the company?
• Employee role: Does your employee understand their role and how to assess their performance? 
• Performance goals: Does your new hire understand the scope of their role and how their team contributes to company goals? Do they know how to use all the tools needed to succeed within their position?
• Tools and resources: Does your employee have all the resources they need to succeed within their position?

Using the tasks within the 30-, 60-, and 90-day cards, this board should help your new hires settle into their roles, develop their company knowledge, and empower them with the tools and resources they need to succeed.

Build an onboarding process that helps new hires thrive

Businesses of all shapes and sizes can benefit from using onboarding checklists for their new hires. And Trello's board templates help organize and track your employee's progress. 

Simplify and streamline your onboarding process with an organized visual layout that keeps your new hire engaged and helps them move through their first 90 days on the job.