A first week that does not depend on heroics

This article is general HR operations information, not legal advice. The first week at a small company is often a tour, a login, and a hope that the new person figures out the rest. That works until the person who usually does the tour is out, or until you hire two people in the same month. Write the first day as a checklist someone else can run. Who meets them, which accounts exist before they arrive, which forms are signed, and where they sit or which link they use if they are remote. If a step needs a Social Security number or an identity document, collect it through your secure HR file process, never through a marketing form. A welcome packet does not need to be thick. How pay works, who to call when something breaks, how time off is requested, and where policies live. Point to the handbook instead of pasting half of it into an email. Then a first-90-day plan. Three to five outcomes, not a personality rewrite. What “useful” looks like at day 30, day 60, and day 90, and when the manager will actually sit down and say so. New hires rarely fail for lack of a branded mug. They fail because nobody told them what good looked like. Offboarding deserves the same honesty. A resignation checklist and a termination checklist are different documents. Final pay, system access, equipment, and a simple exit conversation. Write them before you need them. If you want the packet built for your shop instead of adapted from a generic download, that is a defined project with a written quote. Start with the consultation.