SOP: How to Onboard a New Employee

Document ID: 001
Owner: Affordable Digital Solutions (ADS)
Effective date: August 3, 2026

1. Purpose

This SOP describes how to onboard a new employee from the time they accept an offer through the end of their first week. Follow it to give every new hire consistent access, equipment and information on day one, and to make sure HR, IT and the hiring manager complete their onboarding tasks on time.

2. Scope

This procedure applies to all full-time and part-time employees hired into any department. It covers onboarding tasks from offer acceptance through the end of the first week.

This procedure does not cover:

Contractor or vendor onboarding
Rehire onboarding for former employees
Ongoing performance management or 90-day reviews

3. Who is responsible

Role	Responsibility
HR Coordinator	Owns the onboarding process end to end. Creates accounts, sends the offer packet and tracks the checklist.
Hiring Manager	Prepares the workstation, assigns a buddy and plans the first-week schedule.
IT Support	Provisions hardware and grants system access by the start date.
New Employee	Completes new-hire paperwork and required training by the stated deadlines.

The HR Coordinator is the single point of contact for this SOP. If a step is blocked, escalate to the People Operations Manager.

4. Prerequisites

Confirm the following before you start the onboarding procedure:

The candidate has signed the offer letter and returned it to HR.
The position is approved and funded in the HR information system (HRIS).
A start date is confirmed with the hiring manager.
The hiring manager has submitted a completed New Hire Request Form.
A desk or remote workstation is assigned.

5. Required accounts and access

Request the following accounts and access at least three business days before the start date. Use the employee's legal name and personal email address for all pre-boarding communications.

System	Requested by	Turnaround
HRIS employee profile	HR Coordinator	1 business day
Company email and calendar	IT Support	2 business days
Single sign-on (SSO) account	IT Support	2 business days
Building access badge	Facilities	2 business days
Payroll and benefits enrolment	HR Coordinator	Before first payroll cutoff
Department-specific tools (e.g. CRM, code repository)	Hiring Manager + IT Support	2 business days
Laptop and peripherals	IT Support	3 business days

6. Step-by-step procedure

Complete the following steps in order. Each phase lists who is responsible and when to complete it.

Phase 1: Before the start date (T-5 to T-1 business days)

HR Coordinator sends the new hire a welcome email with the start date, first-day logistics and a link to the new-hire paperwork portal.
New employee completes Form I-9 (or local equivalent), tax withholding forms and direct deposit setup in the portal.
HR Coordinator creates the employee profile in the HRIS and triggers automated account-provisioning requests to IT and Facilities.
IT Support provisions the laptop, company email, SSO account and department tools, then ships or stages the equipment.
Hiring Manager assigns an onboarding buddy and drafts a first-week schedule, including a welcome meeting and any required training sessions.
HR Coordinator confirms all accounts are active by running the access-verification report one business day before the start date.

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Figure 1. Access-verification report. All rows should show “Active” before the start date.

Phase 2: First day

Hiring Manager greets the new employee and gives a facility or virtual-workspace tour.
New employee signs in to the laptop using the temporary credentials provided by IT Support and completes the mandatory password reset.
HR Coordinator holds a 30-minute orientation covering company policies, benefits overview and where to find the employee handbook.
New employee submits any outstanding I-9 or identity-verification documents in person, if required by local law.
Onboarding buddy walks the new employee through daily tools: email, calendar, chat and the project-tracking system.

[ Screenshot placeholder ]

Figure 2. Employee self-service portal. The new hire should see their name, department and benefits tile.

Phase 3: First week

Hiring Manager holds a one-on-one to review role expectations, 30/60/90-day goals and the team's working norms.
New employee completes required compliance training (security awareness, code of conduct and workplace safety).
HR Coordinator confirms benefits enrolment is submitted before the enrolment deadline.
Hiring Manager schedules introductory meetings with key stakeholders and cross-functional partners.

Phase 4: Close-out

HR Coordinator marks the onboarding record as complete in the HRIS and files signed documents in the employee's personnel file.
Hiring Manager confirms the new employee has everything needed to work independently and schedules a 30-day check-in.

7. Screenshots

This section lists every screenshot referenced in this SOP for quick reference. Replace each placeholder with a current screenshot before publishing, and update it whenever the underlying system's UI changes.

Figure	System	Purpose
Figure 1	HRIS	Confirms all requested accounts show “Active” status before day one.
Figure 2	Employee self-service portal	Confirms first login succeeded and profile data is correct.

8. Troubleshooting

Issue	Likely cause	Resolution
New employee cannot log in to the laptop on day one.	SSO account was not fully provisioned before the start date.	IT Support resets the temporary password and verifies the SSO account status in the admin console. Escalate to the IT Service Desk if the account is missing.
Employee's name is missing or misspelled in the HRIS.	Offer letter data did not match the legal name entered by HR.	HR Coordinator corrects the record in the HRIS and re-triggers the account-provisioning workflow.
Building badge does not grant access.	Facilities request was submitted after the provisioning cutoff.	Facilities issues a temporary paper badge and reprocesses the digital badge request the same day.
Payroll is missing for the new employee's first cycle.	Payroll enrolment was submitted after the payroll cutoff date.	HR Coordinator processes an off-cycle payment and confirms enrolment for the next cycle.
Department tool access (e.g. CRM) is missing in week one.	Tool access request was not included on the New Hire Request Form.	Hiring Manager submits an expedited access request through IT Support and notes the gap for future onboarding forms.

9. Completion checklist

Use this checklist to confirm every step is complete. File the completed checklist in the employee's personnel record.

Offer letter signed and on file
New-hire paperwork (I-9, tax forms, direct deposit) submitted
HRIS employee profile created
Company email, calendar and SSO account active
Building access badge issued
Laptop and peripherals provisioned and shipped or staged
Department-specific tool access granted
Onboarding buddy assigned
First-day orientation completed
Compliance training completed
Benefits enrolment submitted before deadline
30-day check-in scheduled
Onboarding record marked complete in HRIS

10. Revision history

Version	Date	Author	Summary of changes
1.0	2025-02-10	J. Alvarez, HR	Initial SOP published.
1.1	2025-06-03	J. Alvarez, HR	Added department tool access to the required-access table.
2.0	2026-01-15	M. Osei, People Ops	Restructured procedure into four phases; added troubleshooting section.
2.1	2026-08-26	M. Osei, People Ops	Updated screenshots and completion checklist; added scope exclusions.

Document ID: 001 · Sample prepared for portfolio review. Client names and figures are anonymised.