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

Discover how to create 30-60-90 day plans that help your new hires find their feet in your company as fast as possible.

September 13, 2023
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Starting a new job can be a nerve wracking experience for even the most confident employees. A 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 footing in the company. 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 the organization.

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. 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, make what’s expected of them crystal clear. 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

It's all about finding a balance in your new hire 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 headaches for yourself.

Make sure your 30-60-90 day plans include all the information they need starting with 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. 

Set the scene with:

  • Lay your organizations objectives out. Provide an overview of your organization, its vision, and its culture. Only 40% of the average company’s employees know what its goals are.
  • 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

Include all the important links your new hire will need, 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, 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, encourage 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.

Here are 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.

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. 

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. 

Regularly review an employee’s 30-60-90 day plan with them during your one-on-ones, and be sure to adjust it – or edit it out 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 quickly. But it isn't the only tool in the onboarding toolbox.

Make use of the following too:

  • 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 and get to know their colleagues at a faster rate.
  • 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.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is Assembly SOC 2 compliant?

Yes, at Assembly, security is a top priority. Each quarter, we have ongoing security work that is everyone’s responsibility. While we maintain a strong security posture, it was important for us to prove to our customers that we do everything we claim to do. This led us to pursue a SOC 2 Type II report that would provide evidence of our compliance with industry gold-standard security practice.

What's the ROI for employee recognition?

There is study after study showing that employee recognition leads to increased engagement. This in return creates an environment where employees are happier and more motivated which increase productivity and reduces voluntary turnover significantly. In order to filled critical roles, companies tend to spend nearly twice the value of an annual salary. Assembly is an investment in your employees that supports your bottom line.

Does Assembly offer longer-term contracts?

Yes, we will offer contracts for companies with longer-term agreements to help larger customers have more certainty around future costs.

The minimum agreement term is a 12-month subscription.

Does Assembly offer onboarding support?

We do and for FREE! Any new customer needing further support to get started with Assembly to ensure you're set up for success can request custom onboarding support. Improving your employee experience is about much more than just using our amazing software; it’s about transforming your business to create a workplace that people love. That’s much easier to do with the personal support and advice from our passionate people experts.

How much do rewards cost?

At the time of redemption (when your employees exchange their points for a paid reward) you'll pay face value. If a reward is a $10 Amazon gift card, your cost will be $10. All paid rewards are billed for on a monthly basis.

The good news is that you don't have to pay for rewards upfront because we only charge you when points are redeemed, not when they're earned.

Does Assembly offer discounts?

We offer discounts or educational or charitable organizations. In order to secure a discount, you'll first need to book a demo with a customer support specialist.

For all other organizations, we are willing to consider longer-term agreements in exchange for discounts. To set up annual plans or longer, you will need to book a demo with a customer support specialist.

How do I cancel my plan if needed?

If you're on a month to month plan, you can go here and cancel anytime. If you're having concerns or need help setting up your account for success, you can always book a demo with a customer support specialist.

If you're on a longer-term custom plan, you'll need to reach out to your customer support specialist to cancel your account or email us at support@joinassembly.com.

What customizations are available?

Great question! You can customize your core values to match your organization's to boost and track alignment. You can change your currency from the 🏆 emoji (our default) to any emoji of your choice. You can swap our logo for your own. You can also set up company culture rewards such as, "Lunch with the CEO," "Buy a book on us," and so much more!

Who can give or receive recognition?

While we recommend a peer to peer set up where anyone in your organization can give or receive recognition, you can set up Assembly however you want. If you need to limit the people who can give or receive recognition, that's perfectly fine and can be done from your Admin, here.

What integrations are available?

Assembly connects to the tools your employees use every day to offer an easy, seamless experience with minimal change management.  

Assembly has integrations with HCM/HRIS systems like ADP, Google, Office 365, and Slack. We also integrate with communication tools like Slack and Teams so you and your employees can access Assembly wherever they work now.

What's your average adoption rate?

That depends on the company's permissions set up. That said, over 90% of the employees on Assembly's platform are recognized on a monthly basis. That means nearly every employee across all of our customers are receiving regular recognition from their peers, managers, or leadership. We're extremely proud of this.

Must rewards be set up to use Assembly?

They are not required. You can use Assembly without having rewards set up. However, we don't recommend it if you intend to have a high adoption and usage rate. You can always keep the costs down by offering internal culture rewards that are fulfilled by you internally.

Are points required to use Assembly?

No, you can remove allowances from anyone or everyone. It's up to you but we do recommend using points whether they're worth a real dollar value or not. Companies that use points have a much higher engagement rate even if those points don't exchange for real dollars.

Could find the answer you are looking for?

Please schedule time with an expert and we will help you to get all your questions answered