Give every new starter a first week that’s planned

In a small team, onboarding usually lives in one person's head. When that person is busy, the new starter's laptop is not ready and nobody has planned their first week. This kit writes the plan down once so you can reuse it for every new person.

The tracker comes with 34 tasks from a week before day one to day 90, each with an owner and a day number. Add each new person on the Starters tab and mark their tasks Done, Not needed or Waiting. The Person Plan tab turns the task list into real dates for one person and flags what is overdue or due this week. The Dashboard shows everyone's progress and review dates, and the 30-60-90 Goals tab keeps the goals you agree in week one.

Six editable Word templates cover the messages and documents: the welcome email, the first-week schedule, a buddy guide, an equipment and accounts request, a 30/60/90 day plan and a team announcement. For Notion users there is a Markdown checklist and a CSV to import as a database. The guide adds printable pages for the manager and the buddy.

The kit starts once someone has accepted the role. It has no hiring, interview or screening tools. It is not legal or HR advice: employment paperwork and workplace rules depend on your country.

New team members ask the same questions in their first month: when are the core hours, how do I book time off, who do I tell if I am ill, where are the files. A short handbook answers them once, in your own words.

The DOCX outline has twelve sections: welcome and who we are, how we work, meetings and communication, time off and absence, pay and expenses, equipment and security, data protection and confidentiality, respect and conduct, health and safety, learning and feedback, leaving the company, and where to find things. Each section has questions to answer and starter wording with yellow placeholders. Sections that touch on employment law, data protection or safety are marked "Check locally".

The planning workbook (PDF) takes you through each section before you write: how it works today and what is still to decide. It ends with writing tips, a final checklist, a review log and an acknowledgement list.

This is a starting point for your own handbook, not a legal document. Rules on time off, pay, data protection and safety depend on your country and your contracts, so have the "Check locally" sections reviewed by an employment adviser.

Regular 1:1s and a good goodbye are two ends of the same thing: people knowing where they stand. This set gives managers of small teams a simple structure for both.

For 1:1s there is an agenda page where the other person fills in their topics first, a question bank of 18 questions in five groups, a notes log, an action tracker and a quarterly look-back.

For offboarding there is a checklist that starts on the day notice is given, an access and equipment list (use the same list you made during onboarding), a handover plan, a guide for an optional leaving conversation and a farewell message template. The checklist and the handover plan also come as editable Word files.

Final pay, holiday balances, notice periods and references depend on local law and the contract, so the checklist tells you where to check rather than giving rules. Not legal or HR advice.