Onboarding new employees: a plan for the first 90 days

Why plan the first 90 days

Onboarding is the set of actions that prepares a new employee to work independently: getting to know the company, its rules, tools and people, and what is expected of them. When this information arrives in a disorganized way, adaptation takes longer and the risk of early turnover grows.

The 90-day horizon matches the limit of the probationary contract under the CLT, Brazil's Consolidated Labor Laws. The sole paragraph of Article 445 provides that a probationary contract may not exceed 90 days. This is the period in which the company and the employee assess whether the relationship should continue, which makes onboarding part of the assessment itself.

Before the first day: pre-hiring

Onboarding starts before arrival. While payroll and HR administration complete the documents, pre-employment medical examination and registration, the manager and HR can prepare the workstation and the initial schedule. A welcome message with practical information reduces first-day anxiety.

Remember that the pre-employment medical examination must be carried out before the employee takes up their duties (NR-7, item 7.5.8, I). Plan the start date with this in mind.

• Welcome message with date, time, address and who to contact
• Equipment, system access, email and ID badge arranged in advance
• First-week schedule agreed with the manager
• A buddy on the team appointed to support the new employee
• Company presentation materials, internal policies and organization chart

The first day

The first day should follow a plan. The person needs to know where they will work, with whom, what the basic rules are and what will happen in the coming weeks. Avoid leaving them alone waiting for system access or without a defined activity.

Set aside time for a conversation with the manager about the role, the first deliverables and how progress will be followed up. This conversation sets the expectations that will be revisited in the probationary period reviews.

• Welcome by the manager or HR and introduction to the team
• Tour of the facilities, including emergency exit routes
• Handover of equipment and, where applicable, personal protective equipment (PPE) with instructions for use
• Explanation of working hours, time recording, benefits and communication channels
• Conversation about responsibilities and initial goals

Mandatory safety training

Part of onboarding is a legal obligation. Article 157, II, of the CLT provides that companies must instruct employees, through service orders, on the precautions to take to avoid work accidents or occupational diseases.

NR-1 requires the employer to provide training to workers as set out in the Regulatory Standards (NRs), and the initial training to take place before the worker starts their duties or within the period specified in each NR. Which training applies depends on the activity and its risks: for example, use of PPE (NR-6), electrical installations and services (NR-10), machinery and equipment (NR-12) and work at height (NR-35).

With the occupational safety team, map the training required for each role and include it in the onboarding schedule, with attendance records and a certificate when the standard requires one.

First month: learning the routine

In the first month, the focus is on learning processes, tools and people. A plan with small, progressive deliverables helps the employee gain confidence and lets the manager identify difficulties early.

Short, frequent meetings work better than a single long conversation at the end of the month. At the end of the first 30 days, hold a first structured conversation: what has been learned, what is missing and what the company can adjust.

• Technical training for the role and the systems used
• Weekly follow-up with the manager
• Regular contact with the buddy
• First deliverables with agreed deadlines and quality criteria

Second and third months: autonomy and review

Between 30 and 90 days, the employee should progressively take on the responsibilities of the role. The manager tracks results, gives feedback and records progress. If there is a probationary contract, the review must be completed before it expires.

A probationary contract may be extended only once, provided the two periods together do not exceed 90 days. Article 451 of the CLT provides that a fixed-term contract extended more than once becomes a contract of indefinite duration. Track expiry and any extension dates in payroll and HR administration.

Two-way feedback

The manager's feedback guides development; the employee's feedback shows where onboarding fell short. At set points, ask whether information arrived on time, whether the training was useful and whether the role matches what was presented during the selection process.

Use the answers to adjust the program. If several new hires report that the job was different from the advertisement, the problem probably lies in recruitment, not onboarding.

• Feedback conversations at 30, 60 and 90 days
• A short survey of the employee at the end of the period
• A record of agreements and next steps from each conversation

Onboarding metrics

Measuring onboarding shows whether the program works. Define the formulas in writing and track them by department and type of role, as with any HR metric. Data should be presented in aggregate form: individual employee information is personal data protected by Brazil's General Data Protection Law (Law 13.709/2018).

• 90-day retention: new hires still with the company 90 days after hiring, divided by the total number of hires in the period, × 100
• Pass rate in the probationary period
• Percentage of mandatory training completed on time
• Time to autonomy in the role, as assessed by the manager
• New employees' satisfaction with onboarding