A new colleague arrives at the agreed time. Someone introduces them to the team, shows where the locker is and where the coffee is made. Then they sit next to a colleague and watch how the work is done. Within two hours they have noticed several things nobody has told them.
By the end of the week, the person knows the work the way the colleague beside them does it. That is not necessarily bad. But if the colleague’s way differs from the written process, the new person has learned the process that exists in practice, not the one the manager had in mind.
In a warehouse, a sales team or an office, the first week is a small test of the work itself: how clear it is, where it is written down and who really knows it.
Prepare the first day before the person arrives
An improvised first day sends a small message: nobody was expecting you. Before they arrive, check five things: where they sit or stand, what system access they have, what clothing or equipment they need, who welcomes them, and what they will do in the first hour, at midday and at the end of the day.
You do not need a long programme. One sheet with the day’s schedule, the name of a contact person and one small task they can finish by the evening is enough. Finishing something small on the first day shows the person they are useful.
Give them a person next to the work, not only a folder
The folder of rules explains what should be done. A colleague next to the work shows how it is really done. Both have value, but only if they match.
Choose a colleague who knows the work well and has time to explain it. Then notice one thing: when they show the new person how the work is done, is that step in the written process? If it is not, the question is not who is doing it wrong. The question is why practice and instruction drifted apart.
A new colleague sees the work with fresh eyes for only a week. Listen before they get used to it.
When a step is done differently from the instruction, there is often a reason: a system that changed, a form that is no longer used, a shortcut that works. That is worth writing down, because either the process needs updating or the practice needs correcting.
Ask every day what was unclear
At the end of each day of the first week, take ten minutes with the new colleague and ask two questions: what was unclear today, and what would have helped to know earlier?
The useful question is not whether the new person is fast. It is what their week tells us about the process.
Write down the answers. After three or four new colleagues you will see the same things repeat: a system nobody explains, a term only the old hands know, a rule that lives in one person’s head. Those are the things that slow down the ordinary day too.
The Shift Lead planet has a start-of-shift routine you can also use for a new person’s first day.
At the end of the week, tell the person what they did well and what they will learn next. A good company is remembered by how it received a new person on the first day.