A new starter needs to understand both the work and how the organisation gets work done. A pile of documents cannot provide that understanding by itself. A first-week plan should combine essential information, introductions, supported practice and opportunities to ask questions. Its pace depends on the role and the person's needs.
Acas describes induction as welcoming someone into a role and helping them obtain the information and expectations needed to settle in. The plan below is a practical example for a small office-based team. It should sit alongside your organisation's required training, workplace arrangements and employment processes.
Prepare before the first morning
Confirm the joining instructions, equipment, approved system access and who will greet the person. Check that the manager or another named colleague is available. A new starter should not spend the first day trying to find an absent contact or borrowing access credentials from someone else.
Prepare a short role map: the team's purpose, the starter's responsibilities, main contacts and the first few tasks they will learn. Ask about practical support or access needs through the appropriate channel. Avoid assuming that every new colleague needs the same format, schedule or level of introduction.
Make day one navigable
Explain the immediate basics: where to work, how to contact support, how the team communicates and where approved procedures live. Give the person a simple schedule and allow time between sessions. Name a colleague they can approach for everyday questions without needing a formal meeting.
Show the organisation's work through a real example using information they are authorised to see. For a customer-support role, trace a sample enquiry from arrival to resolution. Explain handoffs and escalation. Seeing the whole process helps the person understand why each individual step matters.
Spread information across the week
Group learning by the tasks the person will perform. Instead of demonstrating every software feature at once, show how to locate a request, check its context, draft a response and record the outcome. Leave less urgent features until the person has a reason to use them.
Plan introductions around working relationships. A short conversation with the colleague who handles fulfilment may be more useful than a large meeting where names blur together. Ask each contact to explain when the starter should involve them and what information makes a handoff useful.
Include supported practice
Use low-risk sample tasks before live work where appropriate. Ask the starter to perform the task while a colleague observes, then discuss the reasoning. This checks whether the explanation and documentation are clear. It should not become a speed contest or an assumption that one demonstration establishes competence.
For an illustrative support role, the starter drafts a reply to a fictional delayed-order enquiry. The coach asks which facts are confirmed, what the customer needs next and which promise the team can support. That discussion reveals whether the starter understands the process, not merely where to click.
- Before arrival: equipment, joining details and approved access.
- Day one: orientation, support contacts and team context.
- Early week: core workflows and purposeful introductions.
- Midweek: supervised practice using suitable examples.
- End of week: questions, feedback and the next learning priorities.
- Ongoing: role-specific training and support beyond the first week.
Ask what remains unclear
At the end of the week, ask which task feels understandable, which needs more practice and where the person struggled to find help. Compare the plan with actual experience. If several starters get stuck on the same access step, fix the onboarding process rather than repeating the same workaround.
The first week cannot cover every scenario or establish full performance in a complex role. Its purpose is to create a clear route into the work and a reliable way to obtain support. Continue the learning plan, revisit expectations and adjust the pace as the colleague gains experience.
Sources and further reading
This original guide was prepared with AI assistance. Examples are illustrative. The edition date is an assigned date in this 2026 catalogue. See our editorial policy and report a correction.