Checklists are essential to success. If you have not read The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande, do that right after reading this article. Get employees onboard and delivering on why you invested in them quickly. Quick new hire development is something that every business or needs to do well. Follow basic steps, get the work done in the proper manner.

Have you ever experienced a first day at an organization where the receptionist sat you down and then it felt like everybody forgot you were waiting in the lobby? My first full-time job I was brought into an office, given a book about T.4 protocols and V.17 (fax standards), and told my new boss went to an MLB game with ¹⁄₂ of the staff. He had forgotten my start date and oddly HR did too. Not a good sign of how the future will play out.

Keep in mind a bad experience on the first day of a job sticks with them! (see my story above from over 15 years ago) As the manager, it is your duty to ensure they leave their first day with very good first impression.

• Physical Space - desk, phone, laptop
• Access Requirements - what system access, software
• Agenda for today, the first week, the first month
• We have a checklist - Even if none of the above is in place show them the checklist. Ig goes a long way to know there is a plan, even if the organization has not fully executed on it.

Documentation is pivital in data protection strategies, in procedures for compliance, and while on-boarding new hires. Get the basics together of what hardware/software they will be using every day, add in some documentation to read, think about what they should know over the first 90 days and you have a checklist. Voila!