Creating an onboarding plan, templates by industry

In four steps. First set the period; the first 30, 60 and 90 days are usual. Second, note for each section the tasks that have to be in place by then, from workplace access through mandatory instruction to the first independent task. Third, enter a responsible person for each task, otherwise it will be left undone. Fourth, set a fixed date for the review meeting in which the plan is signed off. The seven templates below already bring steps one to three for their industry; you only fill in names and dates.

Because onboarding duties differ enormously between industries. An office template mentions a laptop and SSO, a hospitality template a health certificate (section 43 IfSG) and HACCP, a trades template personal protective equipment and accident prevention instruction. A general template is not concrete enough for anyone, or so overloaded that nobody uses it.

Office and knowledge work: software teams, agencies, consulting, marketing, administration. Retail and sales: branch stores, fashion, lifestyle, specialist retail. Hospitality in service: restaurant, cafe, bar, hotel service. Hospitality in the kitchen: restaurant kitchen, hotel kitchen, canteen, catering. Trades and construction: workshop, building site, installation, service and maintenance businesses. Care: residential facilities and home care services. Practices: doctors', dental and veterinary practices.

Yes. All templates are openly editable: remove tasks, add tasks, adjust owners and deadlines. Save it as your company's master template. For mixed businesses (a hotel with a restaurant, for example) you sensibly combine two templates.

All seven versions share the same 4-phase structure: before day 1 (contract, equipment, access), week 1 (induction, mandatory training, buddy system), month 1 (independent tasks, feedback meeting), month 3 (end of probation). What differs is the concrete tasks per phase and the owners.

You print the PDF version and tick tasks off with a pen, ideal for going through it together with the new employee. The Excel version you maintain digitally per employee with a status dropdown, automatic deadline calculation and a notes field.

MetronHR turns the checklist into a reusable workflow: for a new employee, tasks are distributed automatically to the right owners (HR, IT, site management, branch management), reminders are sent, deadlines are monitored and the status is documented with editor and timestamp in the personnel file.