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The First 90 Days: From Learning through Executing

Your new employee may feel “new” for some time, but with some guidance, they will grow to be more comfortable, confident and productive.

During the first few months, have one-on-one check-ins, at least weekly, to clarify questions, address concerns and monitor progress. Your feedback can have a considerable impact on your new employee’s self-perception and sense of achievement.

Please keep in mind that these recommendations may not fit all situations. We encourage you to read through the activities, ideas and best practices below. Then, modify and customize the 30-60-90 day template to support the needs of the position, team and unit/department.
 

The First 30 Days: Learning & Belonging


Activities around Learning & Belonging continue through each stage of onboarding and can even continue beyond the first year. In the first 30 days, you, the supervisor or manager, will take a more active role in assigning or arranging learning activities and in facilitating experiences for your new hire to build relationships and deepen their understanding of how their work aligns with the vision, mission and values of the University of California, the unit, department and team.

Ideas and activities on this page can be used alone or in your 30-60-90 Day Onboarding plan. The previous page of this toolkit, Prepare for Your New Employee's Arrival contains more information on using the 30-60-90 Day Onboarding Plan, and includes a downloadable template.

The number of things to do and learn in a new employee's first few weeks can be overwhelming for both you and the new employee. It's difficult to schedule every priority and important item into the first few days, week, or even month.

The First Day

  • Welcome your new employee! 
    • Whether virtual or in-person, start the day strong with a morning welcome. 
      • Ideas include gathering for a team breakfast, having lunch together, a virtual morning coffee break either with you or the team, or a tour if in-person.
      • Health: Employees are often already scheduled for the Health New Employee Welcome, 9 – 11 a.m. on their first day. They can start their day there or with you, just make sure to clarify start time and location in your pre-start communication.
      • Campus: Add signing up for the next New Employee Welcome to their Onboarding Plan.
  • Make an Announcement
    • Formally announce the hiring of your new employee to a wide audience. 
      • Let everyone, including the management team, know when they’re starting and in which position.
      • Include information about your new employee’s background (previous employment, education, experience, interests) and ask others to welcome and show support for your new employee.
  • Meet one-on-one to review:
    • Job description and areas of responsibility: Job Builder
    • Role in the department/unit and organization
    • Onboarding plan 
    • Key information and questions

First Week - 30 Days

What cannot be accomplished on Day 1 can be included in the first week's schedule. The majority of activities in this period focus on mandated and required training and building a sense of belonging through learning the role's purpose, its alignment with the larger organization and building core working relationships.

  • Getting to know your new employee 
  • Particularly in these early stages, make sure your new employee check-ins include general conversation in addition to checking off all the "to-do" boxes. Use open-ended questions and active listening as you begin building a strong working relationship with your new employee. Employees are most engaged and feel a sense of belonging when supervisors and managers show authentic interest and concern for their work, well-being and professional goals.

    In addition to getting to know your employee, it's also important that they get to know you. Use these conversations to ensure transparency and clarity of expectations of your employees, as well as to learn what the new employee's expectations are for you as their supervisor or manager.
  • Active Listening
  • Best practices
    • Use frequent check-ins to review, edit and/or adjust the 30-60-90 Day Onboarding Plan. 
    • In addition to scheduled in-person training, schedule time blocks for completing required online new-hire training and open time for reading, reviewing and absorbing new knowledge.
    • Keep check-ins informal during the first week; the amount of information absorbed in this first week is overwhelming. Set a few quick check-ins to see how they’re doing, if you can answer questions or help with anything.

30-60 Days: Implementing Knowledge

In this stage, new employees begin to apply newly learned information and skills. They continue to develop and grow through more active training experiences and deepening relationships with you and their teammates.

  • Check-ins
    • Establish weekly one-on-one check-in meetings
      • Frequent one-on-one meetings with a new employee's supervisor or manager early in the onboarding process play a significant role in establishing a positive working relationship and building trust, accountability and engagement
      • Review progress on the 30-60-90 day onboarding plan and 90-day goals and make adjustments as needed
      • Continue to clarify role, responsibilities and expectations and be available for questions
  • Continued learning
    • Per the 30-60-90 Day Onboarding Plan, training becomes more role-specific and active in this stage
      • Schedule/assign role-specific training, both formal and informal
      • Pair new employees with colleagues for job shadowing
      • Create opportunities for new employees to demonstrate learned information and skills and receive feedback
  • Belonging
    • Set expectations, introduce team norms or agreements
    • Review internal communication channels and how the team uses them for different types of communication
    • Introduce the University's Principles of Community

60-90 Days: Executing with Independence

New employees are working more independently at this stage. While they continue to need some assistance and questions answered on items not yet encountered, work can be completed with increasing autonomy and decreasing supervision.

  • Evaluate Performance
    • Review 30-60-90 Day Onboarding Plan
      • Check in on employee learning, ask them what they most benefitted from and areas where they want or need more information, training or experience to reach proficiency with confidence
    • Review work and evaluate results on 90-day goals
  • Continue Learning Momentum
    • Identify and provide resources for any remaining and/or advanced training
    • Consider increasing the complexity and scope of work as you assess your new employee’s ability to perform the full range of duties within the position
    • Introduce the Career and Professional Development Plan for ongoing growth and development
      • New goals set at this point can be converted to goals for the annual performance appraisal cycle
  • Belonging
    • Add new employee to current internal or external collaboration/project meetings
    • Ensure employee is receiving messages from appropriate listservs and newsletters
    • Encourage employee to continue deepening and building professional relationships and participating in team, departmental and organizational activities, such as events, committees and continuous learning opportunities

 Resources

 

 THE FIRST SIX MONTHS AND CONTINUOUS LEARNING