3 ways to automate staff onboarding

#1 - Simple onboarding

Who it's for: Single-site owners who onboard each new starter themselves. Independent cafés, single pubs, small retail units, or a single care home where the manager runs the week themselves.

What it is: The simplest onboarding that still meets the bar set by CIPD's research on early retention. A new hire who feels set up, introduced, and supported in their first week is roughly 58% more likely to still be there at 90 days. The canvas is grouped into three stages: Starter (name, start date), Day 1 (kit issued, introductions), and Week 1 (tasks shown, buddy assigned, settling-in rating). Each step has a tight definition, so the manager doesn't have to think about what to cover, only whether it's done.

In practice: A single-site café owner uses the canvas on day 1. They walk through six kit items: uniform fitted and labelled, locker assigned, system logins set up, name badge printed, welcome pack handed over, and first-day schedule walked through. They make four introductions: direct manager, buddy, key colleagues they'll work with daily, and the wider team. Through the week, they tick off five main tasks of the role being shown end to end. By Friday the buddy has been confirmed and a 1-5 settling-in rating recorded. That's the end of week 1. It takes maybe 20 minutes a day.

Why it works: Nothing is open-ended. "Day 1 kit issued" is a fixed checklist. "Week 1 tasks shown" caps at five, so the real job gets covered, not a manager's wish list. The settling-in rating is set at 3 = problem to address now, not in 3 months. That pushes the manager to act on a warning sign before the hire leaves.

Steps included:

• Starter: starter name, start date
• Day 1: kit issued (6 items), introductions (4 items)
• Week 1: tasks shown (5 items), buddy assigned, settling-in rating (1 to 5)

#2 - With guidance

Who it's for: Venues with multiple duty managers, where the manager onboarding a new starter on day 3 might not be the one who started them on day 1. Independent groups with 2-5 sites, single venues with rotating shift leads.

What it is: The week-1 plan plus a guidance note next to the relevant step in each of the three stages, explaining what to actually do on the day. The guidance lets the duty manager pick up the canvas mid-week and run the right onboarding without a handover meeting. Roughly 30% of UK hospitality and retail new starters quit within their first 90 days, and CIPD's data shows the first week is where most of that shows up. Written guidance on the canvas turns first-week consistency from a manager's memory into something built into the canvas.

In practice: Take a four-site independent pub group. The owner hires. Three site managers run the first week. A senior server is often the buddy. Without guidance, the first week varies depending on who's on shift. The "Get them set up BEFORE they arrive" panel above the kit checklist removes the day-1 sit-around problem. The "Names AND what each person does" panel above the introductions list stops the "this is Sam" walk-by that doesn't stick. The "Show, then watch them do it, then leave them to do it" panel above the week-1 tasks list stops the demonstrate-and-walk-off habit that leaves new hires unsure of themselves. The "Pick someone who'll actually message them on the way home of day 1" panel above the buddy field turns the buddy from a name on paper into a real first-week relationship.

What it adds to the simple plan:

1. Whoever's on shift can run the right day of onboarding without losing track of where the starter is
2. The day-1 kit gap closes (no more starter arriving, nothing set up, sitting in the back office for an hour)
3. Buddies become real relationships, not labels
4. Week-1 tasks get shown to a standard, not at a pace that changes by the day

Why it works: The "what good looks like" note sits on the canvas at the point each task is run. So whichever manager is on shift gives the same brief without a handover meeting. It turns first-week consistency from something that depends on who's working into something the canvas guarantees.

Steps included:

• Starter: starter name, start date
• Day 1: kit issued (6 items, with guidance), introductions (4 items, with guidance)
• Week 1: tasks shown (5 items, with guidance), buddy assigned (with guidance), settling-in rating (1 to 5, with guidance)

#3 - With sign-off

Who it's for: Multi-site chains with formal probation reviews, supermarket estates, care groups, and hotel chains. Businesses with HR teams that build a probation file on every starter and need records they can defend if a probation extension or dismissal is challenged.

What it is: The week-1 plan plus two signatures. At the end of week 1, the buddy signs to confirm the basics were covered, and the starter signs to confirm they agree the basics were covered. The double signature turns onboarding from a manager's record into a record both sides signed, which is what HR teams want when defending a probation decision.

In practice: Take a 30-site hotel group running 200+ new starters a year. Their HR director needs every probation file to stand up against a tribunal claim that the starter wasn't given a fair chance. Before the signed record, onboarding was a manager's tick-list with no input from the starter. With it, the canvas captures a buddy signature on Friday (proof a colleague engaged with their first week) and a starter signature on Friday (proof the starter saw and agreed the onboarding happened as described). If the starter later claims they were never properly onboarded, that signature on the timestamped canvas is the answer.

What it adds to the simple plan:

1. Buddy signature: proof a named colleague engaged with the first week, not just a name on paper
2. Starter signature: proof the starter saw and agreed the onboarding happened as recorded, which is key for defending probation
3. A complete probation-ready record: both signatures on one timestamped canvas

Why it works: The two end-of-week signatures are captured as the week actually happens, not filled in from memory later. So the record is signed by both sides at the time, not a manager's tick-list completed after the fact. A starter signature is the single strongest answer to a later "I was never properly onboarded" claim.

Steps included:

• Starter: starter name, start date
• Day 1: kit issued (6 items), introductions (4 items)
• Week 1: tasks shown (5 items), buddy assigned, settling-in rating (1 to 5), buddy sign-off, starter sign-off

How to pick the right version

You don't need to know our product to choose. Just answer two questions about how onboarding actually runs in your business.

Will the same manager run the whole week, or will it rotate?

If one person owns the new starter's first week, they carry the plan in their head. If it rotates, a different duty manager on day 3 than day 1, the plan has to live on the screen so nothing gets dropped in the handover. If the same manager runs all week, #1 is enough. If it rotates, #2 adds the guidance that tells whoever's on shift what to cover.

Do you need a record both sides have signed?

A ticked plan shows onboarding happened, from the manager's side. HR teams defending a probation decision want a record the starter also agreed to. If a manager's record is enough, stay on #1 or #2. If you need the buddy and the starter to sign that the basics were covered, #3 adds both signatures.

Need both the guidance and the signatures? Open #3 in the playground and add the guidance from #2 yourself. That is how the product works anyway: every version here is the same plan with steps added.

Related workflows

• Interviews - what happens before the offer is accepted
• One-to-ones - the weekly rhythm that keeps the new hire on track after week 1
• Performance reviews - the structured review at the end of probation

Conclusion

Onboarding is the most important week of a new hire's first year. CIPD's data shows a 58% difference in retention at 90 days based on the first-week experience alone. Businesses running Onboarding #3 turn that first week from a manager's good intention into a record both sides signed. Pick the one your business needs and build on it in the playground.