Employee onboarding checklist app for the first week

Organise by day, not by department

Many onboarding lists are grouped by who owns each task: IT, HR, the manager. That's useful for the people running onboarding and confusing for the person doing it. Give the new starter a timeline instead:

Before day one: What to bring, where to go, who to ask for at reception, dress code, the first day's timings. Send this part a few days early.
Day one: Accounts and equipment, a tour, lunch with the team, the one or two policies that genuinely can't wait.
Days two to five: Tools and how the team uses them, shadowing, first small real task, the remaining training modules.
End of week: A check-in with their manager: what's clear, what isn't, what they need.
First month: Optional longer goals, such as completing a course or leading a first meeting.

What each step should contain

A clear action written as a verb: "Set up two-factor sign-in on your email", not "Security".
Why it matters, in one sentence, so the task feels like part of the job rather than paperwork.
A link to the right page, document or tool. Links open in a new tab.
Who to ask if it doesn't work, by role or first name.
A rough time, so the starter can plan their day ("about 20 minutes").

Keep it human. A line like "Nobody expects you to remember everyone's name this week" does more for a nervous first day than another policy link.

Building it

Describe the timeline and the tone: "An employee onboarding checklist app for new staff at our design agency. Sections: Before day one, Day one, Days two to five, End of week. Each item has an action, a one-line reason, a link and a contact name. Progress bar per section, items ticked off and remembered. Friendly tone. Our brand colours are charcoal and coral." Then paste your list of tasks.

Progress is saved in the browser the starter uses, so they can close the tab and pick up tomorrow on the same laptop. If you onboard people regularly and the steps change, ask for the checklist items to come from a CMS collection you edit in the Anticode dashboard. The app reads them as read-only content, so you can update a link or add a step without a rebuild.

Letting the manager know

The manager can't see the starter's ticks, because they're stored on the starter's device. If you want a signal, ask for a "Tell my manager I've finished week one" button that sends a short message through Anticode's form pipeline. It reaches you by email and in the dashboard, and like any contact form it needs the starter's name and email.

What not to put in it

A published app can be opened by anyone with its link; there's no password protection. That shapes what belongs in it:

No passwords, door codes, Wi-Fi keys or account details. Hand those over in person or through your password manager.
No salary, contract or personal information about anyone.
No internal documents pasted into the app. Link to them where they already live, behind your own sign-in.
General information you'd be comfortable seeing outside the company is fine: values, how the week runs, who does what.

Limits

Not an HR system. It doesn't create accounts, collect signed documents, store right-to-work checks or track training compliance.
No central progress view. You can't see a dashboard of all starters' progress.
One device. Ticks made on a work laptop don't appear on the starter's phone.
No reminders. It can't nudge someone who hasn't finished a task; that's a conversation.

For a team's shared tasks, see kanban board app. A public page for job seekers belongs on a careers page.

Questions people ask

Can I make different checklists for different roles?

Yes. Ask for a role choice on the first screen, or build one app per role so each link opens the right list.

Can starters add their own notes?

Ask for a notes field per item. Notes stay on their device, which suits private reminders.

Will it work for remote starters?

Yes. Swap the office tour for video introductions and add the steps for receiving and setting up equipment at home.