# Employee Onboarding SOP — [Company name]

Template status: [Draft / In review / Approved] · Applies from: [date]

## Purpose

Get a new joiner legally employed, paid correctly, equipped and productively
working from day one, with access granted by role rather than by copying the
permissions of whoever sat in the seat before them.

## Scope

Permanent and fixed-term employees, from signed offer to the end of the [90]-day
review, in [jurisdictions covered].

Out of scope: contractors and agency workers ([Contingent worker SOP]), internal
transfers ([Internal move SOP]), and recruitment up to offer acceptance
([Hiring SOP]).

This template is generic. Employment, right-to-work, background-screening and
record-retention rules differ by jurisdiction and by role, so have your version
reviewed by someone qualified in the jurisdictions you hire in before you use
it. Onboarding also collects some of the most sensitive data an employer holds:
every step below states what is collected and why, and a field with no stated
purpose does not get collected.

## Owner

Accountable: [People Operations Partner].
Supporting: [Hiring Manager] for role and access, [IT] for equipment and
accounts, [Payroll] for pay and benefits, [Legal / HR Advisor] for E2 and A4.

## Trigger

Event: candidate accepts and returns the signed offer.
Schedule: the task sequence is anchored to the start date — T-10, T-5, T-1, day
one, day 30, day 90 — not to the acceptance date.

## Inputs

| Input | System of record | Required |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Signed offer and contract | [HR system] | Yes |
| Role definition and reporting line | [HR system] | Yes |
| Right-to-work / employment eligibility documents | [HR system, restricted] | Yes, per jurisdiction |
| Payroll data: bank details, tax identifiers, start date | [Payroll system, restricted] | Yes |
| Access bundle for the role | [Access catalogue] | Yes |
| Equipment specification and delivery address | [IT asset system] | Yes |
| Background screening outcome, where lawful and role-relevant | [Screening provider] | If D3 = yes |

## Prerequisites

- A role-based access catalogue exists. Without it, step 6 becomes "copy
  someone's access", which is how permission creep starts.
- Payroll cut-off dates for the start month are known and the start date is
  checked against them before any promise about the first payslip.
- Right-to-work checking method for the jurisdiction is documented and the
  checker is trained.
- Manager has confirmed the first-week schedule before T-5.

## Steps

1. **Create the employee record** from the signed contract, not from the offer
   conversation. Job title, start date, salary, working pattern, probation
   length and notice period all come from the executed document.
2. **Confirm the start date against payroll cut-off.** If the start date falls
   after cut-off, tell the joiner before they start what their first payslip
   will contain. → Exception **E5** if it moves later.
3. **Collect right-to-work / employment eligibility evidence** by the method
   required in the jurisdiction, on or before the first day as the law requires.
   Store in the restricted area, retain per the retention rule, and record only
   the fact and date of the check where others can see it.
4. **Decide whether background screening applies.** → Decision **D3**. Screening
   runs only where it is lawful, role-relevant and consistently applied.
   Individualised assessment applies before any adverse decision; see the EEOC
   guidance on
   [background checks](https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/background-checks-what-employers-need-know)
   and take local advice.
5. **Order equipment against the role specification.** → Decision **D2** for
   remote versus onsite. Anything above [amount] needs approval **A2**.
6. **Assemble the access bundle from the catalogue.** → Decision **D1**. The
   [Hiring Manager] approves the bundle (**A1**); nobody grants access by
   copying an existing account.
7. **Enrol in payroll and benefits.** Collect only what payroll and the benefits
   provider require. Confirm tax status, pension or retirement enrolment and any
   statutory deductions for the jurisdiction.
8. **Prepare the first week.** Day-one schedule, buddy assigned, manager
   one-to-one booked, mandatory training assigned with due dates, and the
   security and acceptable-use briefing scheduled inside week one.
9. **Day one: verify, do not assume.** Confirm the joiner can log in, has the
   equipment, and that every account in the approved bundle exists and nothing
   outside it does. Log any gap the same day.
10. **Day 30 check-in.** Manager and [People Operations Partner] review against
    the role expectations set at offer. Record the outcome.
11. **Day 90 / probation review.** → Approval **A4** for any outcome other than
    confirmation. Record the evidence used, not only the conclusion.
12. **Close the onboarding record**: access reconciled to the approved bundle,
    all documents filed in the restricted store, training completions logged.

## Decisions

| ID | Decision | Criteria | Default |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| D1 | Access bundle | Role in the access catalogue → its named bundle. New role with no bundle → [Hiring Manager] and [IT] define one before day one. | Least-privilege base bundle only |
| D2 | Equipment set | Remote worker → remote set including [peripherals, connectivity allowance]. Onsite → standard set. Role-specific hardware needs A2. | Standard onsite set |
| D3 | Background screening | Lawful in the jurisdiction **and** role has [financial authority / regulated duties / access to special-category data] **and** applied consistently to everyone in that role | No screening |
| D4 | Start date may proceed | Right-to-work evidence obtained per jurisdictional timing, contract signed, access bundle approved | Do not start |
| D5 | Probation outcome | Confirm, extend by [period], or not confirm | Confirm only on recorded evidence |

## Exceptions

- **E1 — Right-to-work evidence missing or unclear.** Do not improvise. Escalate
  to [Legal / HR Advisor] before the start date. Starting someone without a
  compliant check is a legal exposure, not an administrative slip.
- **E2 — Adverse screening result.** Never an automatic withdrawal. Follow the
  individualised-assessment process, give the person an opportunity to respond,
  and route the decision to [Legal / HR Advisor] with approval **A4**.
- **E3 — Equipment will not arrive for day one.** Arrange a loan device and tell
  the joiner before they start. Do not let a new colleague discover it on the
  morning.
- **E4 — Access requested outside the approved bundle.** Treated as a new access
  request with its own approval, and added to the catalogue if it turns out to
  be part of the role.
- **E5 — Start date moves.** Re-anchor every T-minus task, re-check payroll
  cut-off, and re-confirm right-to-work timing. Do not simply shift the calendar
  entries.
- **E6 — Candidate withdraws after acceptance.** Cancel provisioning within [24]
  hours, return equipment to stock, and delete collected personal data that no
  longer has a purpose, retaining only what the retention rule requires.
- **E7 — Joiner is a rehire.** Do not reactivate the old accounts. Create fresh
  accounts against the current bundle and archive the historical record.

## Approvals

| ID | What is approved | Who approves | Why it stays with a person |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| A1 | Access bundle for the role | [Hiring Manager] | Access is authority; someone must own the grant |
| A2 | Equipment above [amount] or non-standard hardware | [Finance] | Spend control |
| A3 | Salary or contract variation before start | [Hiring Manager] with [People Operations Partner] | Changes the executed contract |
| A4 | Any adverse decision: withdrawal, non-confirmation, extension | [Legal / HR Advisor] | Employment decisions about an individual must have a named accountable human |

## Output

- A compliant employee record with contract, eligibility check and payroll
  enrolment complete.
- Access granted exactly to the approved bundle, verified on day one.
- Equipment issued and recorded against the asset register.
- Completed day-30 and day-90 reviews with recorded outcomes.

## SLA / KPI

- Accounts and equipment ready before [09:00] on day one: target [100%].
- Right-to-work check completed within the jurisdictional deadline: [100%].
- First payslip correct: target [100%]; every miss is reviewed, not averaged.
- Day-90 review completed within [7] days of the date: target [95%].

## Audit record

Retain per the rules for your jurisdiction and role. In the United States, the
EEOC requires personnel and employment records — including application forms,
whether or not the applicant was hired — to be kept for at least one year, with
longer retention once a charge is filed and separate rules for payroll records;
see the
[EEOC recordkeeping requirements](https://www.eeoc.gov/employers/recordkeeping-requirements).
Keep eligibility documents, screening consents and results, and pay data in the
restricted store, separated from the general HR record, with access logged.

> Simulated example data
>
> Joiner [A. Okonjo] · role [Operations Analyst] · start [2026-09-01] ·
> right-to-work check completed [2026-08-28] by [People Operations Partner] ·
> D3 → no screening (role has no financial authority and no special-category
> data access) · D1 → bundle [ops-analyst-base] approved by [Hiring Manager] on
> [2026-08-24]; one out-of-bundle request for [reporting-admin] raised as E4 and
> declined · payroll cut-off [2026-08-20] passed, so joiner informed on
> [2026-08-25] that the first payslip covers one month in arrears.

## Revision log

| Version | Date | Author | Change |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| v1.0 | 2026-07-24 | [Your name] | initial draft |