How to onboard a new hire

The post describes how Claire Lew approached onboarding a new hire at Know Your Team. She draws on manager advice and the company’s own experience to make day one deliberate, with context, expectations, encouragement, and room for trust.

Reading notes

#

• New employees may leave within the first 90 days, so onboarding should be intentional.
• Managers commonly recommend mentorship, weekly one-on-ones, basic setup help, and a clear first project.
• The day-one welcome note shared business context, why the person was hired, and what success should look like.
• Lew also sent documents on company history, purpose, values, how the team works, business context, and upcoming milestones.
• A 23-question survey asked about work style, feedback preferences, conflict, productivity, motivation, strengths, and weaknesses.
• After the survey, she shared the team’s answers and avoided reading the new hire’s responses beforehand.
• The note also listed potential projects for the first six months and Lew’s own onboarding tasks.
• She wanted the new hire to ask questions, notice what felt strange, and offer fresh eyes on the company’s routines.