The 30-60-90 day plan is a guide to lead a new employee during the onboarding process. It helps team members set achievable goals and complete necessary tasks as they get used to the new position.
A 30-60-90 day plan is typically created before a new employee is onboarded or immediately after they start working. For this reason, you probably won’t know exactly what their personality or strengths are. Therefore, adapt the plan to your expectations regarding what they should achieve in a given position.
How to write a 30-60-90 plan?
Ask questions
After hiring a new employee, start planning by determining how they should contribute to the overall goals of the company or team. Try to ask yourself all possible questions about the position, the onboarding process, and the team.
Example questions:
- What need does this person address?
- What specific problem do you hope to solve with their help?
- What should this person know to be successful?
- What will the daily responsibilities of the new employee be?
- What will the new employee’s role be during project implementation?
Set realistic expectations
Your 30-60-90 day plan is not a daily to-do list for the new employee, but a general outline of what place they are supposed to occupy in the company.
When creating a 30-60-90 day plan, remember that you cannot learn everything in the first few months. Even if you need their help quickly, try not to overload the new employee with too many tasks. Determine what a reasonable workload should be and minimize it at least for the first 30 days. Schedule extra time for training, but if it turns out that the new employee quickly grasps the basics, gradually assign them new responsibilities.
Set SMART goals
Setting SMART goals right after joining the team can increase retention, as the employee will know what to strive for. The specific goal you set for the new employee will depend on their position and level in the company.
Some example SMART goals for a 90-day period:
- Content creator: successfully publish three articles for one of our clients.
- Customer service: collaborate with other team members to resolve 30 tickets.
- Agency: collaborate with stakeholders to write one promotional text. Then promote this text among bloggers and successfully publish it on at least three sites containing client-related materials.
Assign a mentor
As part of the plan, assign the new employee a mentor who will advise them and answer their questions during the first weeks of work. A well-chosen mentor can help gradually introduce the new employee to their duties, avoiding a feeling of being overwhelmed.
Make sure the mentor is not simultaneously the new employee’s supervisor. This way, they will be able to talk freely about synergy and norms prevailing in the team. The supervisor should focus on more general issues, such as long-term goals and best practices for cross-team collaboration.
Establish regular check-ins
It should be remembered that the 30-60-90 day plan should be flexible. Even if you think it perfectly describes everything you expect from the new employee, there is no guarantee that the first 90 days will go according to plan.
- Company mission: at the beginning of the 30-60-90 plan, briefly describe your company’s mission so the new employee knows its guiding purpose.
- Main guidelines: these may include information about the company culture and describe business values.
- Meet team members: in this section, include photos and information about the team members the new employee will be working closely with. This will help in getting to know the names of co-workers and their roles.
- First day overview: this is the only section of the 30-60-90 day plan that details the daily schedule. While it may change, try your best to inform the employee what to expect on their first day of work, which includes providing login details or instructions on how to set up email and voicemail. This way they will know exactly what to do, when, and where to go.
- Priorities: in the priorities section, describe the scope of the new employee’s duties and specify what business need they are meant to fulfill.
- SMART goals: the SMART goals included in the 30-60-90 day plan should be measurable, related to the position, and achievable within the first 90 days.
- Resources: in the resources section, include links to the company handbook, job description, information about team members, and other important materials. You can add all materials here that may be useful to the new employee while learning about the company and the specifics of their work.
