The onboarding checklist for new hires: What to collect and when

Effective new-hire onboarding asks two important things of HR and people teams at once: full compliance with the documentation required by state and federal law, and anticipation of the team- and role-specific dependencies that must be accounted for to successfully ramp on a new employee. 

Having a checklist keeps these requirements and dependencies on track. New hires start work faster, and your organization avoids the penalties of failing to follow employment laws.

Below, we cover the required documents and notices, how to assign tasks by functional area, the common mistakes to avoid, and what onboarding steps must happen in each stage—from pre-hire to day 90.

Why an onboarding checklist matters

Onboarding checklists matter because they make the process of bringing new hires into the fold structured and repeatable. 

Checklists help teams prevent missed steps and ensure coordination across the various teams responsible for bringing new hires up to speed, including HR, IT, and hiring managers. Teams that adopt hiring checklists also reap tangible benefits, including:

• Faster ramp-on times: Consistent, time-bound goal setting and training help new hires contribute meaningful work faster. 
• Improved new-hire experience: Structured onboarding helps reinforce a consistent new-hire experience, which lifts early engagement and retention.
• Less risk exposure: A checklist helps your team members remember to complete legally required documentation and avoid missed filing deadlines, which can incur penalties, like fines and audits. 

Required new hire documents

Required documents for new hires hinge on a few factors, including state-specific requirements and whether the employee works remotely. Confirm the specific forms needed in your state, as the below list may not be exhaustive. 

Legally required forms and notices

• Form I-9: Used for employment eligibility verification. The employee should fill out Section 1 before concluding their first day of work, although they can do so any time after accepting the offer of employment. Employers must complete Section 2 within three business days of the employee’s start date. 
• Form W-4: The employee’s withholding certificate. This should be collected before running payroll for the first time to ensure withholding is correct from the first paycheck on. 
• State tax withholding forms: Most states with income tax require their own version, although a few also accept the federal W-4 for this purpose. Confirm requirements in your state. 
• ACA notice of coverage options: Required at the time of hiring. The Department of Labor notes that it considers notices to be on time when they’re delivered to the employee within 14 days of their start date. 
• State new-hire reporting: Federal law requires employers to report basic information on new and rehired employees to their state directory within 20 days of hiring; some states set shorter windows. 
• State and local employee disclosures: These include written notices employers must provide to employees; e.g., wage and paid sick leave disclosures. Check local requirements. 

Company and payroll documents

• Signed offer letter or employment contract: Needed for records; complete before sending out other paperwork. 
• Direct deposit authorization: Due before the cutoff for first payroll. 
• Benefits enrollment forms: Enrollment windows can be tight, so send these before the first day. 
• Confidentiality or IP agreements: Must be signed before accessing any proprietary or client data. 
• Employee handbook acknowledgement and emergency contact form: Both needed for employee records.  
• Company property receipts: Log serial numbers for issued hardware. 

Common onboarding document mistakes to avoid

Document mistakes cause confusion, delays, and compliance risks. Check your own process against these common mistakes before finalizing. 

Missing role-specific steps

Different roles have different onboarding and access requirements. Software engineers need access to the code repo, while sales reps need CRM configuration. Using one generic list for all roles leaves role-specific dependencies out of the defined process. 

Outdated links pointing to retired systems

When an onboarding form links to the legacy HRIS you migrated away from last year, the new hire decides to either reach out to HR for help or skip the step completely. Neither is ideal. 

Tasks without named owners

When tasks could plausibly belong to two different owners, teams risk neither taking responsibility. A common example pops up during hardware procurement; HR believes IT has the ticket, and IT thinks HR hasn’t sent it yet. The result? A laptop that doesn’t show up on time for an employee’s start date. 

Disorganized onboarding information

When onboarding documents are scattered across multiple drives, disparate email threads, and private Slack conversations, there’s no single source of truth to understand where the new hire stands in the onboarding process. Consolidate information on one platform for visibility. 

Onboarding checklist by phase

Before day one through first week

Several items in this phase have longer lead times, like purchasing hardware and ordering background checks. Get started as soon as you have a signed offer letter in hand and avoid delays that slow down onboarding.

• Send the welcome message indicating start date, time, and first-day contact. 
• Send the paperwork to be completed before the first day, including Section 1 of the I-9 form and relevant withholding. 
• Order equipment and ensure delivery occurs before day one, allowing for a lead time of at least a week. 
• Request setup for core systems including email, messaging, and any software specific to the role. 
• If the new hire will be working in-person, set up the workspace. If working remotely or in a hybrid capacity, ship the employee’s equipment before their start date or confirm their access to any remote equipment stipends the company offers. 
• Set up orientation, introductions to the team, and onboarding buddies before day one.
• Complete Section 2 of the I-9 within three business days of the start date. 
• Have managers schedule the first 1:1 to cover goals and expectations for the first 30 days. 

First month to first 90 days

After the first 30 days, onboarding tends to quietly taper off. But the first few months are also where early retention is won. 

• Offer role-specific training and allow shadowing opportunities. 
• Set 30/60/90-day targets, and document. Get sign-off from both the manager and the new hire to ensure alignment.  
• Have the hiring manager carry out 1:1s with the new hire every week during the first month, then switch to bi-weekly through the rest of the onboarding period.  
• After the first 30 days, ask for feedback on the onboarding process while it’s still fresh in the new employee’s mind. 
• Carry out a goal completion review after 90 days to assess any additional training or alignment needed. 

Who owns each onboarding task?

Each task needs both an accountable owner and a firm deadline to ensure they’re done consistently. 

When responsibilities appear to overlap, there are a few ways to approach the task of assigning an owner. One school of thought advocates for handing off responsibility to the person with the most authority to carry out the task. Your head of people can request a software license for a new employee, for example, but IT provisions it, so IT should ultimately be responsible for ensuring it gets done. Alternatively, responsibility can also be doled out to whoever touches a task last, or whoever sits closest to the new hire or is their best point of contact in the organization. In any event, each task needs a clear, responsive owner to ensure nothing falls through the cracks. 

Core owners by function

HR is responsible for all documentation and benefit enrollments, as well as for conducting new employee orientation and coordinating all onboarding activities. HR also becomes the escalation point when tasks go stagnant. 

IT is responsible for provisioning all hardware and software, including licensing and access permissions. Because hardware procurement implies delivery delays and other potential blockers, orders should go out as soon as the new employee signs an offer letter. 

Managers are responsible for all team introductions, setting initial goals, and establishing performance review cadences. 

Supporting owners and handoffs

A few specific tasks fall outside the remit of the previously named groups:

• The payroll team processes withholding forms and direct deposit information
• The facilities team handles badge creation and desks for roles in physical offices
• Training teams handle certification and learning for compliance and role-specific enablement 
• Mentors and teammates provide additional support, handling role-specific questions and modeling ideal behavior 

One of the areas where the baton gets dropped is between HR and IT, where even a small delay in submitting a hardware request can be the difference between equipment arriving on time for day one or not. IT-to-manager handoffs also cause problems when the manager doesn’t personally verify the new employee’s credentials for logins. 

To prevent any lapses, make someone the point person for day-one readiness across all functions as a backstop. 

Start onboarding with the right hire

A strong onboarding checklist gets a new hire productive fast, but it can't fix a role that was filled with the wrong person. That part starts upstream, at sourcing. 

Juicebox uses plain-language search across more than 800 million profiles to surface qualified, well-matched candidates, so your onboarding process begins with someone set up to succeed rather than someone you're hoping works out. Try Juicebox free.

Frequently asked questions

What are the onboarding documents required for new hires?

Four federally mandated documents need to be completed for a new hire:

• Form I-9: employment eligibility verification
• Form W-4: Employee’s withholding certificate
• ACA notice of coverage options
• State new hire reporting

When do I need more than one checklist?

Remote hires, internal moves, and different departments all tend to introduce enough new variables into the onboarding process to warrant creating a dedicated checklist for each. 

In the case of remote hires, for example, you’ll need separate line items covering ordering equipment with sufficient lead time, configuring Slack or Teams access, scheduling virtual introductions to the team, and clear remote work expectations.

How long should the onboarding process last?

Ideally, onboarding is a 90-day process. Pre-boarding and the first week include the completion of necessary paperwork and the provisioning of any required tools and access. The following thirty days include role-specific and compliance training. The remaining two months outline goals to be completed by the 90-day review. Retention is typically determined during this first phase of the new hire’s employment, so laying out a process that covers the first 90 days is a useful exercise.