New Starter Onboarding Checklist

This checklist is designed to be copied into your own systems and adapted. It assumes an employee starting in a small Australian business; for contractors, drop the employment-paperwork items and add your services agreement and insurance checks instead. Where paperwork obligations are referenced, the current requirements are published by the Fair Work Ombudsman (employment documents) and the Australian Taxation Office (tax and superannuation forms).

Before day one

• Signed employment contract returned and filed
• Tax file number declaration and superannuation choice forms provided
• Fair Work Information Statement provided (and Casual Employment Information Statement if applicable)
• Payroll set up — bank details, pay cycle, award or agreement classification recorded
• Email account and required system accounts created, least-privilege access
• Added to the systems-and-access register for the role
• Role description finalised and ready to hand over
• First two weeks of tasks selected and sequenced
• Buddy / first point of contact briefed
• Workspace, equipment and any required safety induction prepared

Day one

• Welcome — team introductions, workspace, facilities
• Walk through role description: purpose, outcomes, decision boundaries
• Tour of systems: where procedures live, where files live, how communication works
• Workplace health and safety induction completed and recorded
• One small real task completed end-to-end
• End-of-day check-in: questions, first impressions

First week

• Daily ten-minute check-ins held
• Real work assigned with written procedures alongside
• Documentation gaps the starter finds are logged (and fixed)
• Key contacts introduced — suppliers, clients, or internal, as relevant
• Recurring meetings added to their calendar with context on each

First month

• One-month review held (booked on day one)
• Role description checked against reality and adjusted
• Access reviewed — anything granted “temporarily” removed or confirmed
• Starter added as maintainer of at least one procedure they now run
• Probation expectations and next review date confirmed in writing