30-60-90 Day Plan: The Key To Effortless Onboarding

Starting a new job can be a nerve wracking experience for even the most confident employees.

In fact, one survey revealed that starting a new job is the tenth most stressful event in our lives – just one spot behind having a child.

Luckily, there’s plenty you can do as part of your onboarding process to ease your new hires’ worries and make sure they find their feet as fast as possible.

And creating a well-thought-out plan for their first ninety days in the job is one of the most effective there is. 

Read on to discover how to create a 30-60-90 day plan for each of your new hires that makes sure they all get up to speed as fast as possible.

What is a 30-60-90 day plan?

A 30-60-90 day plan is a document that lays out how a new employee is expected to spend their time – and what they’re expected to accomplish – in the first 30, 60, and 90 days at your company.

A good 30-60-90 day plan is a new hires’ helpful guide through their first three months in the job. That means it should cover background information on your company, its vision, and its culture. And it should also include links to all the important documents the new hire will need to access regularly and a breakdown of their teammates' roles and responsibilities.

For the new hire, a 30-60-90 day plan makes what’s expected of them crystal clear. And since 23% of employees who quit within six months say that clear guidelines on their responsibilities would have helped them stay at the job, this can have a huge impact on your turnover rates.

For managers, a 30-60-90 day plan helps your new hires hit the ground running without constantly having to ask you what they should do next. This helps ensure the onboarding process goes as smoothly as possible for each new teammate.

What to include in a 30-60-90 day plan

Include too much information in your 30-60-90 day plans and you’ll overwhelm your new hires. But if you skimp on important details, you’ll create blockers for them – and create headaches for yourself down the line.

Make sure your 30-60-90 day plans include all the information they need to – and none they don’t – by sticking to these six sections:

Set the scene

Your 30-60-90 day plans should include everything your new teammates need to navigate their first few months at your company. 

So, be sure it sets the scene with:

• An overview of your organization, its vision, and its culture. Only 40% of the average company’s employees know what its goals are. Lay your organization's objectives out in each new hires’ 30-60-90 day plan and you’re already ahead of the game.
• A breakdown of the tech stack they’ll be using alongside walkthroughs of how to use each tool.
• A description of the roles of responsibilities of their teammates, including information like their time zone, working hours, and contact information.

Provide vital information

You’ll also want to include all the important links your new hire will need so they’re always to hand, including:

• The company knowledge base and internal wiki, which should house all the information they need to do their jobs.
• Specific links to the documents and SOPs they’ll regularly need in their role to help point them in the right direction during their first weeks at the company.
• Any additional reading that could help them hit the ground running, such as plans for projects they’ll be involved in or product feedback data.

The first 30 days: Getting up to speed

An employee’s first month at your organization is all about laying strong foundations for them to build on.

So, don’t expect them to be leading meetings and spearheading projects. Instead, organize their schedule around:

• Adapting to your company’s culture and way of working.
• Meeting all their teammates.
• Getting up to speed with the projects they’re involved in.
• Asking lots of questions.
• Delivering their first pieces of work.

The goals in this section of their 30-60-90 day plan should focus on soaking up knowledge rather than making an impact and executing projects.

The first 60 days: Start contributing to the team

During their second month at your company, a new hire should have a lay of the land and be expected to start contributing more to the team.

Their objectives should reflect that by revolving around:

• Delivering near the same amount of work as their teammates.
• Contributing to meetings rather than just soaking up information.
• Sharing their own ideas about things could be done in your company.

The goals in the second part of an employee’s 30-60-90 day plan should shift to a focus on delivering results with KPIs attached to them.

The first 90 days: Owning their role

During the last month of a new hire’s 30-60-90 day plan, you should be encouraging them to make their role their own and become a fully contributing member of the team.

You might expect them to:

• Get fully up to speed with their role and comfortable with their responsibilities.
• Start taking the initiative and being more proactive.
• Take the lead on their first project.
• Create and document a new process.

The goals in this final section of their 30-60-90 day plan should focus on delivering real results that help move your organization further toward its goals.

4 tips for writing an effective 30-60-90 day plan

Now you know what a good 30-60-90 day plan should include, it’s time to take a closer look at how you can make sure yours are as effective as possible at getting your employees on track during their first three months at your company.

Stick to these simple tips to make sure your 30-60-90 day plans do just that:

Involve your people in their goals

Your employees are a lot more likely to take pride in their work and put their all into it if they have a say in what goals they’re working towards. 

After a new hire’s first 30 days at your company, involve them in setting the strategy they’re following rather than just delegated tasks from on-high to make sure they’re fully bought into their work.

Start with the big picture

Everything in a new employees’ 30-60-90 day plan should ultimately help make progress on the company’s mission – no matter how far removed some of the tasks in it might be from that end goal.

So, start with the big picture and work backwards to make sure every new hire is making as big an impact on your organization as possible.

Set stretch goals

Make the goals and objectives in your 30-60-90 day plans too hard and you’ll knock the wind out of even the most confident new hire’s sails.

Set the bar too low and productivity will take a hit – and the top talent will become bored and might start wondering if they’ve made a mistake joining your company. 

Which is why the secret to a successful employee onboarding is setting stretch goals – objectives that are achievable, but challenging. Goals they need to stretch themselves to hit.

Setting ambitious targets for your people and then giving them all the support they need to achieve them is the key to a productive and engaged workforce.

Be flexible

Ninety days can be a long time in business.

Projects get delayed. Complications come up. Opportunities arise. 

So, regularly review an employee’s 30-60-90 day plan with them during your one-to-ones, and be sure to adjust it – or throw it out and start again with it – as soon as it becomes apparent it’s not relevant anymore.

What’s more important than strictly following the plan you’ve laid out is that your employee always knows what’s expected of them at any given moment – and what “success” looks like in their role. That’s what’s going to boost retention and engagement the most.

What else you can do to make your new hires hit the ground running

A 30-60-90 day plan is a great way to make sure your new hires settle in as fast as possible. 

But it isn't the only tool in the onboarding toolbox.

Be sure to also make use of:

• New hire surveys, to get a clear idea of how your new employees’ work and what’s important to them.
• Icebreaker questions, to help your new hires to feel like part of the team as fast as possible by helping them quickly get to know their colleagues.
• Daily recap, company news feed, group and project feeds, and weekly status updates, to help get new teammates up to speed with what’s going on in your organization and with the projects they’re working on.
• An internal wiki and knowledge base, to arm new employees with all the information they need to do their jobs.
• A Get Help flow, to encourage new starters to ask any questions they need answering during their first ninety days at your company.

The final word

Follow the simple process we’ve outlined here to quickly create simple 30-60-90 day plans that will help your new hires find their feet in your company and own their role as fast as possible.