An employee onboarding training plan sets out what a new starter learns, when, from whom and how you will know they have learned it, from before their first day to the end of their first three months. For a UK employer it has to include a few legal must-dos early on (health and safety and fire training on recruitment, display screen training before someone starts computer work, and the right to work check before they start), then build up role skills week by week. The plans that work keep day one light, move repeatable content into short online modules and give every new starter the same core training, wherever and whenever they join.
Below is a template you can adapt, a checklist and the questions to answer if you want to move induction training online.
What should an employee onboarding training plan include?
A useful plan answers five questions for each stage of the first 90 days:
- What does the new starter need to know or be able to do by the end of this stage?
- How will they learn it: online module, shadowing, a session with their manager, a course?
- Who owns it: HR, the line manager, a buddy, the health and safety lead?
- How will you check it has stuck: a quiz, an observed task, a conversation?
- Where is it recorded?
The fourth and fifth questions are the ones most plans skip. A list of slides someone was shown is not evidence that they can work safely or follow your procedures, and it will not help if an auditor or a tribunal asks.
What must UK employers do before and on day one?
Some parts of onboarding are set by law, and the timing matters.
- Right to work check: GOV.UK says you must check a job applicant’s right to work before you employ them.
- Written statement of employment particulars: the principal statement is due on the first day of employment, and it must include any training the employee has to complete and whether you pay for it. Your onboarding plan and the statement should match.
- Health and safety training on recruitment: regulation 13 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 requires adequate health and safety training when people are recruited, in working hours.
- Fire safety training: in England and Wales article 21 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requires adequate safety training at the time employees are first employed.
- Display screen equipment: where someone will be a regular computer user, regulation 6 of the DSE Regulations requires the training to be given before they become a user.
Data protection belongs here too. The accountability framework from the ICO (now formally the Information Commission) expects induction training before staff access personal information and within one month of their start date. If a role involves customer or employee data from week one, plan for that module in week one.
We cover the full legal list, and what is good practice rather than law, in our guide to mandatory training for employees in the UK.
An employee onboarding training plan template
Here is a template for an office or hybrid role. Adjust the content and timings to your organisation and the risks of the job.
| Stage | Training and activities | Format | Owner | How you check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before day one | Welcome message, what to expect, the organisation’s story, practical information for the first day | Short online module or video, sent with the contract | HR | Module opened and completed |
| Day one | Meet the manager and buddy, tour or virtual tour, fire procedures for the site, IT access, DSE workstation set-up | In person, plus a short fire and DSE module | Manager, facilities | Fire module quiz, workstation checklist signed off |
| Week one | Health and safety induction, data protection, information security, code of conduct, key policies | Online modules, 15 to 20 minutes each, spread over the week | HR, health and safety lead | Quiz for each module with a pass mark |
| Weeks two to four | Role systems and processes, products or services, customers, who to ask for what | Shadowing, role modules, manager one-to-ones | Manager, buddy | Observed tasks, first pieces of real work reviewed |
| Days 30 to 60 | Deeper role skills, sector or regulatory training that applies to the role | Online courses and on-the-job practice | Manager | Assessment or sign-off for each skill |
| Days 60 to 90 | Working independently, feedback, development goals | One-to-ones, review meeting | Manager, HR | End-of-probation review against the plan |
The split into 30, 60 and 90 days is a common way to pace onboarding: it gives managers natural review points and stops everything being crammed into week one.
Why do new starters forget most of their induction?
Because most inductions try to teach everything on day one. A new starter is meeting people, finding their way round and setting up accounts. That is the worst time to sit through two hours of policy slides.
Three changes help most:
- Spread it out. Only the things a person needs to be safe and legal on day one belong on day one. The rest can follow over the first weeks, when it has some context.
- Make it short and active. A 15-minute interactive module with a few scenario questions does more than an hour of slides, and the quiz tells you whether it landed.
- Make it the same for everyone. If induction depends on which manager runs it, some people get the full version and some get five minutes. Online modules give every new starter the same core content, whether they join in January or on a Friday afternoon in August.
How do you put onboarding training online?
Most organisations already have their induction content. It just lives in PowerPoint decks, PDFs and a staff handbook. Moving it online usually means:
- Listing the induction topics and deciding which are the same for everyone (good candidates for online modules) and which depend on the role or site (better in person or as role modules).
- Turning the existing documents into short interactive modules, each with a clear objective and a quiz. Our guide to turning PowerPoint and PDF training into SCORM e-learning explains how that works.
- Putting the modules on a learning management system that enrols new starters automatically, sends reminders and records completions.
- Giving managers a view of where each new starter is against the plan.
With FastTrack, we build modules from your own induction documents, typically in 4 to 5 working days, for a fixed monthly fee with no upfront build cost. Updates are unlimited and turned round within 48 hours, which matters for onboarding because policies, contacts and systems change all the time. A branded LMS is included.
If your induction needs more than converted documents, such as scenarios built around your sites, video or a fully custom design, custom e-learning is the better route.
What should an onboarding platform do?
If onboarding is going online, the platform matters as much as the content. Look for:
- Your own brand: new starters should feel they have joined your organisation, not logged into a third-party site.
- Access before day one: pre-boarding content only works if people can log in before their accounts are fully set up on your network.
- Mobile access: frontline and field staff may not have a desk or a laptop.
- Single sign-on: once they are set up, staff should not need yet another password.
- Records and reports: completion, scores and dates by person, plus who is overdue, so HR and managers can act.
The Capytech LMS runs on your own domain under your brand, with single sign-on with Microsoft or Google, and works in the browser on any phone, tablet or desktop.
Employee onboarding training checklist
Copy this into your own plan and tick it off for each new starter.
Before day one:
- Right to work check completed and recorded
- Written statement ready for day one, listing required training
- LMS account created and pre-boarding module assigned
- Manager and buddy confirmed, first week’s diary booked
Day one:
- Fire procedures for the site explained, fire module completed
- Workstation set up and DSE training completed before computer work starts
- Health and safety induction started
- IT access, systems and key contacts sorted
Week one:
- Health and safety induction completed and quiz passed
- Data protection module completed before access to personal data
- Code of conduct and key policies completed
- First one-to-one with the manager held
By day 90:
- Role-specific and regulatory training completed
- Skills signed off by the manager
- Probation review held against the plan
- Feedback on the onboarding collected and used to improve it
Frequently asked questions
It is a schedule of what a new employee will learn in their first weeks and months, who delivers each part, how it is delivered and how you will check it has been learned. A good plan starts before day one and runs to the end of probation, often around 90 days.
Start with the legal must-dos: health and safety and fire training on recruitment, DSE training before computer work and data protection before access to personal data. Then add your policies and code of conduct, the systems and processes of the role and any sector or regulatory training that applies. Spread it over the first weeks rather than cramming it into day one.
It splits the first three months into three stages with a review at the end of each. The first 30 days are about learning the organisation and the basics of the role, the next 30 about building skills, and the last 30 about working independently and setting goals.
Core induction training can be done in the first week, but full onboarding usually runs to the end of probation, which is often three months. The right length depends on the complexity and risks of the role.
Yes, much of it can. Policy, health and safety awareness, data protection and organisational content work well as short online modules with quizzes. Site-specific fire procedures, workstation set-up and role skills still need some in-person or on-the-job time.
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