The Onboarding SOP

When the offer is accepted, the department head names a buddy from the same team and shift: an experienced colleague who knows the role and agrees to the task.

Speak to the buddy in person, with the reason and the help they will have: one shorter task a day for the first week, and thanks at the day 30 conversation.

“Marco, Sara joins us on Tuesday at the desk. Would you be her buddy for the first month? I will keep your afternoons lighter that week. Thank you.”

Ask HR to complete, before day 1, everything the law requires before work starts: the signed contract with any probation clause, the hiring notice to the authorities, the written terms of employment, the privacy notice and, where the role requires it, the pre-employment medical check. Day 1 then starts with people, not forms.

Three days before day 1, send the welcome letter: the date and time, the staff entrance, who will meet them, what to bring, the first week’s rota and the buddy’s name.

Two days before, check that the locker is assigned, the uniform is in their size and pressed, the name badge is spelt as they write their name, and the staff card or key is active.

Tell the team at the line-up the day before, with the new colleague’s name, role and the buddy, so that nobody meets them as a stranger, as The Line-Up SOP sets out.

Be at the staff entrance five minutes before the time in the letter. Greet them by name, introduce the buddy and say what the next hour holds.

“Welcome, Sara. This is Marco, who will be with you this week. Your locker is ready, and we will have a coffee together next Tuesday at 11:00.”

Accompany them to the locker and the changing room, give them the uniform and the badge, and leave them ten minutes to change in private.

Give them the first-week sheet: the rota, the buddy’s name and number, the day 7 and day 30 dates, the expected probation review date and the SOPs of their role.

Check with HR that the contract, including any probation clause, was signed before this first shift. Hand over the remaining documents HR has prepared, and explain each one in a sentence.

Walk the whole hotel with them in the first two hours: the entrance and the lobby, a guest room, each outlet, the staff canteen, the stores and the offices they will use.

Show every fire exit on their floor, the nearest fire alarm point and the assembly point, and the way to raise the alarm. Name the fire wardens and first aiders on their shift. On safety, the words are courteous and leave no doubt.

“Sara, please remember this door: if the alarm sounds, it is your way out, and we meet in the garden by the gate.”

Introduce them by name to the head of each department you pass, the general manager when present, and the colleagues of their own shift.

Show the guest areas as a guest sees them, and name what the hotel is known for: the view from the terrace, the breakfast, the welcome at the door.

End the walk with lunch in the staff canteen with the buddy, then the first line-up of their shift.

Train The Presence SOP on day 1 or day 2, before the new colleague speaks to a guest alone: uniform, greeting first, the guest’s name, an alternative to every no.

At the first line-up, the lead introduces them to the team by name; they watch the role-play on day 1 and take part from day 2, as The Line-Up SOP sets out.

The shift lead stands beside them for their first five guests of each shift in the first week, then steps back where they can still see them, as The Floor Coaching SOP sets out.

Where the role hands over a desk or a section, the new colleague joins the handover with the buddy from the first shift, as The Shift Handover SOP sets out.

Train the remaining SOPs on the role’s list one at a time, within the first 14 days: read together, shown by the buddy, practised once, then done on the floor. Mark one as trained only when done in front of the trainer, with the date on the first-week sheet.

Before a new colleague handles food or drink, they hold the food hygiene training the law requires. Before they use any protective equipment, they receive it, are shown how to use it, and sign for it.

At the end of each of the first three shifts, the buddy asks one question and answers it, in two minutes, before the colleague goes home.

“Thank you for today, Sara. Was there a moment you would like to go through before tomorrow?”

Hold it on the date written on the first-week sheet, in private, sitting down, for 20 minutes, with a coffee, away from the desk and the floor.

Ask before you share, and listen to the answer in full. Ask about the welcome, the team and the training, in that order.

“Thank you for this first week, Sara. What has helped you most, and what would you have liked to know sooner?”

Share two things you have seen done well, each named as a moment with a guest, and one thing to practise in the next three weeks.

Fix anything that was not ready within 24 hours: a uniform size, a locker, a shift pattern, a missing training session. Tell them when it will be done.

Close with the next date and what will happen before it.

“So the welcome at the desk is yours to practise. I will watch for it this week, and we will sit down again on the 28th at 11:00. Thank you, Sara.”

Before day 30, ask the buddy and the shift leads for one example each of the new colleague at their best, and one thing still to build.

Hold the day 30 conversation in private, for 30 minutes: what they have learnt, the SOPs trained and still to train, the goal from day 7, and how they see the role now.

Agree one goal for the rest of probation, written in one sentence as something a guest could see, and the date of the probation review.

“By the review on 20 January, every arrival hears their name before the room details. May I write it like that?”

Thank the buddy in person and in front of the team at the next line-up, naming one thing they did for the new colleague.

Hold the probation review on the date set, with HR where the policy requires it, and confirm the outcome in writing as the hotel’s HR policy and local law set out.