Onboarding for human resources

First day employee onboarding checklist

This checklist guides employees through initial setup, ensuring all administrative tasks are sorted and they are connected to the core systems needed to get to work.

Use this template to onboard your employees

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Syncs with HubSpot
Chases up for you
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Checklists work across your team and employees

Onthen Onthen
2 people

First day employee onboarding

Welcome to your first day! This checklist will guide you and our team through your initial setup, ensuring all administrative tasks are sorted and you are connected to the core systems you need to get to work.

No due date

Link tasks to actions, such as completing forms or booking meetings

Administrative setup

Essential paperwork and formal induction steps to get you officially on board and registered with HR.

Verify I-9 documents

Check the new hire's identification documents for I-9 verification.

No due date Team member

Sign employee handbook acknowledgement

Read through the digital employee handbook and sign the acknowledgement form online.

Complete direct deposit and tax forms

Fill out your banking details and W-4 forms in the HR portal to ensure you are registered for payroll.

No due date Upload documents

Tasks can be for the employees being onboarded, or for the team

Core infrastructure and IT setup

Getting your hardware, company accounts, and primary software tools up and running securely.

Handover laptop and hardware

Provide the configured laptop, monitor, and necessary peripherals to the new employee.

No due date Team member

Log in to your email and messaging tools

Activate your corporate email account using the temporary password provided and log in to our internal communication tools.

No due date

Grant permissions to departmental software

Ensure the employee has the correct role-based access for department-specific software or CRMs.

No due date Team member

Set up two-factor authentication

Enroll your mobile device in our identity management system for secure 2FA access to corporate tools.

No due date

First day orientation

Meeting the team, understanding the layout of your new workplace, and settling in.

Complete office tour

Walk the new employee through the office space, pointing out emergency exits, restrooms, and break areas.

No due date Team member

Introduce the new hire to the team

Host a brief morning stand-up or coffee chat to introduce the new employee to their immediate team members.

No due date Team member

Schedule a check-in with your manager

Book a 30-minute slot on your manager's calendar for an end-of-day check-in to wrap up your first day.

Click the button below to edit or add tasks, add due dates, and much more...

Free plan • No credit card needed

Customize this template

Or build your own

How it works

Add employees to your checklist

Just type an email address and we'll do the rest.

We'll create a checklist, invite them in by email, and even sync progress up with your CRM.

Guides employees to take action

Move from to-do to done with task actions.

You can collect data with forms, verify identity, ask for secure uploads, book meetings, and more.

We do the chasing up for you

We'll send friendly nudges and a helpful weekly summary to make sure your tasks get done.

The emails we send have your brand logo and colors.

Free plan • No credit card needed

Customize this template

Or build your own

Packed with useful features

Syncs with HubSpot

We bridge the gap by syncing every onboarding action back to your CRM timeline and custom fields. Works with contacts, deals, and tickets.

  • Manage checklists with the App Card
  • Adds events to your timeline
  • Syncs uploaded files and photos

Add due dates

Set relative due dates for each task, and we'll calculate the actual dates when you start a new checklist.

  • For example, due "2 weeks after the checklist is created".
  • Or, "1 week before a target completion date".

Sequential tasks

Choose how you want each section (or the whole checklist) to be completed.

Either tasks can be tackled in any order (random), or you can make sure tasks are done one after another (sequential).

Branded pages and emails

Every Onthen task page is fully branded so that it becomes a part of your business.

But we also brand the emails we send too, so every interaction with your task page makes the right first impression.

Feature packed dashboard

Not only is it easy for employees to work with your checklists, we give you flexible tools to manage them too.

  • Saved views for frequently accessed lists.
  • Change default columns, sort order, and filtering.
  • Use bulk actions to update many rows at once.

Free plan • No credit card needed

Customize this template

Or build your own

Frequently asked questions

How can I use this template?

Just click Customize this template above and we'll take you through a couple of simple steps to create an Onthen account and copy the first day employee onboarding template into it.

Once that's done we'll take you straight into the template editor where you can customize it to your exact needs (there's bound to be a few things you'll do differently).

Finally, once it's ready you can use it to create individual checklists (we call them 'plans') for each of your employees. Just type their email address and we'll do the rest. As they move through the tasks, you'll see their progress in the dashboard.

Who is this first day employee onboarding checklist for?

If you run a team that needs to onboard employees then the first day employee onboarding template is a perfect starting point.

You'll first be able to tailor the template to your team's needs, by editing, removing or adding tasks to suit your onboarding process. When it's perfect, onthen has all the tools you need to easily invite employees to it and make sure all the tasks get done, on time.

How do employees use it?

First you'll invite employees to the checklist. You can either send an invite manually, through our HubSpot integration, or by using an invite link that lets anyone with the link create a new checklist.

Your employees won't need to create an account or a password, they'll simply access it with a 6-digit code we'll send to their email.

It's really easy to use and there's nothing to navigate, it's a simple single page checklist that looks pretty much like you see above.

If any task gets forgotten about, we'll send email reminders to nudge your employees to complete everything.

Free plan • No credit card needed

Customize this template

Or build your own

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