Onboarding Buddy Program Checklist for the First Month

A new employee may have a manager, a training plan and a full first-week calendar while still being unsure who to ask about everyday work. Where is the current team guide? Which meeting is optional? Who owns a question that sits between two departments?

An onboarding buddy gives the employee a named peer for those practical questions. A useful program makes the role explicit, allows time for it and provides a route to someone else when a question needs authority or specialist knowledge.

Use the checklist below to add peer support to your employee onboarding plan. Adapt it to the role, workplace and employee's communication needs.

Define what the buddy will help with

Give the buddy a short brief with three responsibilities: explain everyday team routines, help the new employee find current resources and introduce the people who can help with the work.

Boston University's published buddy guidance assigns similar practical responsibilities and recommends choosing a peer rather than the new hire's manager or supervisor. It also asks managers to connect the pair before the first day and make time for them to meet. This is one employer's program design, rather than proof of a universal outcome. Boston University onboarding buddy guidelines

State the other owners clearly:

• The manager sets priorities, explains expectations and makes work decisions
• The relevant trainer or subject expert teaches role-specific tasks and checks required learning
• HR or the designated specialist handles employment-policy questions and confidential concerns
• The buddy helps the employee navigate the team and reach the appropriate owner

In a small organization, one person may hold more than one role. Explain which role they are acting in so the new employee understands who can make a decision.

Choose someone who can make time

Ask a willing colleague who knows the team's routines, can explain them clearly and is comfortable saying when they do not know an answer. Check availability across locations, shifts or time zones before making the match.

The manager should account for buddy time in the person's workload. Naming someone who is already fully committed leaves the new employee with a contact who may be unable to respond.

Agree on a backup when the buddy is absent. Give the new employee an easy way to request a different arrangement through the manager or HR if the match does not work. Participation should not depend on attending unpaid social activities or sharing personal information.

Prepare a useful introduction

Before the start date, send a brief introduction through the organization's approved channel. Include each person's role, how to contact the buddy during working hours and the first planned check-in. The introduction can be sent in advance without creating an expectation that the new employee must complete work before employment begins.

Give the buddy the information needed for the assignment:

• The employee's role, team and agreed start arrangements
• A current first-week schedule
• Links to approved team resources
• The manager, HR and technical-support contacts
• The agreed scope and expected check-in time

A buddy usually needs practical onboarding context rather than access to the employee's personnel file. Keep compensation, identity documents, medical information and other restricted records in the appropriate process.

Plan the first month around real questions

A simple starting rhythm is an initial conversation, a first-week check-in and a brief weekly check-in through the first month. Boston University's example uses 15-30-minute weekly conversations for that first month. Treat that as an option to adapt, not a required interval or a guarantee of better retention.

Use each conversation to solve current problems rather than repeat the orientation presentation.

First conversation:

• What is planned for the first few days?
• Where are the current team instructions?
• Which communication channel is used for which kind of question?
• Who should the employee contact if the buddy is unavailable?

During the first week:

• Which introductions are still missing?
• Is there a routine or term that needs explaining?
• Has a question been passed between people without finding an owner?
• Is anything preventing the employee from following the planned schedule?

Later in the month:

• Which resources have been useful?
• Where do the written instructions differ from everyday practice?
• Does the employee know the decision-maker for their regular work?
• Would a different check-in arrangement be more useful now?

For remote teams, agree on response expectations and overlap hours. Microsoft Research's guidance, based on surveys and interviews with Microsoft employees during pandemic-era remote onboarding, recommends an explicit buddy alongside current documentation. It separately identifies technical mentoring for job-specific questions. The context matters; these recommendations do not establish that one meeting schedule works for every team. Microsoft Research remote onboarding guidance

Route unresolved questions without creating another personnel record

The buddy can help identify the question and find the responsible person. When action is needed, put it into the team's approved workflow with an owner and a next step.

Record only the operational detail necessary to resolve it. For example, “Current travel-request guide needs a confirmed owner” is useful process information. A transcript of everything the employee asked is usually unnecessary for that purpose.

Explain any applicable reporting responsibilities before the program starts. Do not promise absolute confidentiality. If a sensitive concern arises, direct the employee to the appropriate support or reporting route without spreading the details across a general onboarding checklist.

Use a fictional example to test the boundaries

Sam joins a distributed operations team. Their buddy, Casey, explains the weekly planning meeting and helps Sam find the request guide. Sam notices that two versions of the guide give different submission instructions.

Casey identifies the discrepancy and contacts the process owner. The owner confirms the current guide and assigns the outdated link for correction. Casey checks that Sam can find the confirmed version.

Later, Sam asks whether an upcoming assignment should take priority over another manager's request. Casey helps Sam reach their manager, who decides the priority. The buddy arrangement has made the route for help clear while keeping the decision with the right person.

This is a fictional workflow example, not a customer story or an OdyHR feature demonstration.

Check whether the arrangement is useful

At the end of the first month, ask the employee whether they can find current resources, know where to take common questions and want to continue regular buddy conversations. Ask the buddy whether the time allocation and role boundaries were workable.

Review recurring process problems separately. If several hires encounter the same broken link or unclear ownership, assign the underlying fix to the relevant owner.

Completed meetings show that conversations happened. Use the employee's feedback and resolved questions to understand their usefulness, without assuming the program caused a change in retention or performance.

Keep peer support connected to onboarding

Add the buddy introduction and planned check-ins to the wider onboarding checklist. Keep the manager's responsibilities visible too; the new supervisor checklist provides a useful starting point for those conversations.

If your team needs a clearer view of onboarding progress, talk through your workflow with OdyHR. Use a fictional new-hire example to discuss which steps and responsibilities your team needs to coordinate.