How to Use a 30-60-90-Day Plan as a Guide for a Smooth Onboarding Process

Did you know that 69% of employees are to stay in the organization for around three years if they have had a great onboarding experience?

Employee engagement is crucial to organizational success, and a well-structured onboarding program gives employees the proper viewpoint from the outset.

How can we create a foolproof onboarding progsram for new hires?

Start with a 30, 60, 90-day plan to offer staff direction and purpose, lowering stress and worry. What is this plan and how do we execute it?

Let us answer each question individually. 

A 30-60-90-day plan is exactly what it sounds like. A plan for new hires to map out their initial days in a new organization.

The plan is divided into three phases, which are the first 30 days, the next 30, and the final 30.

A 30-60-90 day plan includes goals for the first three months of employment. The goals are divided into 30, 60, and 90 days.

The objective is to get as much work done as possible in the initial few days, which can be difficult and perplexing for new hires when done on their own with no guidance.

The strategy helps your employees focus and comprehend their tasks. The individual or employer can create a 30–60–90-day plan. Managers can encourage staff to establish their own plans to ensure everyone supports objectives and milestones.

The initial few days in a new organization can be overwhelming for employees because everything is unfamiliar, and they do not know what to expect. Now, this fear is exactly what a 30-60-90 day plan aims to tackle.

So, in the first 30 days, the plan focuses on areas like learning the culture of the company and building a good relationship with co-workers.

The manager can ask the employee how the onboarding process was and what elements stood out to them. The initial 30 days can be used to walk around and build relationships with co-workers and identify the immediate or short-term goals one has to achieve. 

After the first thirty days are over, the focus can be shifted to tackling the next 30 days, which in total adds to 60.

Here, relevance goes to diving deeper into the role the employee plays in an organization and understanding their responsibilities better.

As the employee has already gathered enough information about their work in the initial 30 days, the next set of days can be used to put this knowledge into practice. The employee can continue to build stronger relationships with the co-workers as well. 

The last leg of the plan is the rest of the 30 days, which adds up to a total of 90 days.

Here, the employee starts to get feedback on their performance. According to that, employees can fine-tune their strategies for long-term success in the company. It is also a time for self-evaluation and to see what did and did not work. 

Read more: 101 Self-Evaluation Examples for Nailing your Performance Review

A 30, 60, or 90-day plan is extremely relevant. Let us quickly look at some areas where the 30, 60, 90-day plan benefits an organization:

1. Increases Employee Engagement

The biggest benefit of the plan is that it increases engagement in employees. And it does not stop there. A well-structured and efficiently executed 30-60-90-day plan helps increase employee retention rate as well. 

2. Easy Integration

It might be difficult to integrate new hires into the existing employees due to obvious reasons. But an onboarding plan and a proper structure to back it up with (the 30-60-90 day plan) make it easy for new and old employees to mingle with each other and break the ice. 

3. Teaches Accountability

As the new employees are given a set of clear instructions and tasks to do, it is easy to hold them accountable for the work they do. This might have been difficult if there had been no plan in place. 

4. Measures Progress

Yet another benefit of the 30-60-90 day plan is that it is excellent for measuring the progress of the new hires. You can actually map out the path for advancement for the employees and come back to it every month to observe the progress. 

Employee onboarding is the first step in the employee journey toward making them true promoters of your company.

So start this process right by measuring their progress and asking them about their progress with the right tool. Here are some onboarding best practices to consider.

Now that we are thorough with the core idea behind the plan and the role it plays in creating a solid workforce, let us understand how to create a 30-60-90-day plan.

Plan for the First 30 Days

The first 30 days are the most crucial for the employees because they create first impressions here. Your plan has to keep this aspect in mind.

• Research the company's history, mission, values, and key stakeholders.
• Familiarize myself with the organizational structure and reporting lines.

• Review the job description and expectations.
• Schedule meetings with team members and department heads to understand their roles and responsibilities.

• Initiate one-on-one meetings with team members, key colleagues, and stakeholders.
• Attend team meetings and social events to integrate into the company culture.

Plan for the Days 31-60

The goal for the next 30 days of the 90-day plan is to look back at the activities done initially and bring in changes wherever necessary:

• Implement first-30-day improvements.
• Ask teammates for input and change strategy.
• Set 30-day objectives that are quantifiable and doable.
• Share and get team opinion on these goals.
• Develop team tactics for departmental and organizational goals.
• Identify possible issues and provide solutions.

Plan for the Days 61-90

The last leg of the plan has to be structured in such a way that it prepares the employees to merge seamlessly with the company values and culture:

• Develop a roadmap for long-term projects and goals.
• Make sure that the goals of each individual are aligned with the objectives of their department and the organization as a whole.

• Assess progress against the goals set in the first 60 days.
• It is important to collect feedback from all team members and make necessary adjustments accordingly.

• Actively contribute to team projects and initiatives.

Do you know what would make things even perfect? A sample of the kind of questions you can include in your 30,60,90 day plan survey so that you can collect timely feedback on how the plan is going and whether changes are to be made to them.

30 Days Onboarding Survey Questionnaire

1. What do you think is the best thing about our hiring process?
2. What changes could be made to the process of getting new workers started that would make it more interesting?
3. What other tools and resources do you think would make the training process better for new employees? 
4. How has your training been going so far?
5. What about our company culture has stood out to you in the first few weeks?
6. Are there any sites or tools that you think you need more help with?
7. In your first month, what goals have you set for yourself? How can we help you reach those goals?
8. Are you in touch with the other people on your team? What was the most interesting thing about those interactions?

Try out a sample 30-60-90-day plan survey template using our platform, ThriveSparrow.

A 30-60-90 day plan provides an opportunity for managers to set clear objectives for the first 90 days, ensuring that both the employee and the manager are aligned on goals from day one.

Ongoing Feedback and Development: By collecting feedback at each checkpoint (30, 60, and 90 days), managers can identify strengths, weaknesses, and support needs, allowing for timely interventions and growth opportunities.

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60 Days Onboarding Survey Questionnaire

1. How do you think your job fits in with the general goal and vision of the company?
2. What types of jobs or tasks have been the hardest for you, and how did you get through them?
3. Do you think there are any training courses or workshops that could help you improve your skills and contributions?
4. What changes have you made to your daily work because of feedback?
5. Has anyone pointed out any places where you think our processes could be better?
6. Did you get all the training you needed for your job to improve or build your skills?
7. Do you and your boss talk about what they expect from you in this job on a daily basis?
8. Are your tasks at work in line with what the job title says they should be?
9. Is your job going well? Do you have all the tools, knowledge, and materials you need?

90 Days Onboarding Survey Questionnaire

1. On a scale of 1 to 10, rate the extended onboarding program of the company.
2. How would you describe how you've fit in with the team so far?
3. What are you most proud of having done in the last 60 days?
4. There are probably some parts of your job that you'd like to think about more deeply.
5. How do you think we can improve working together and talking to each other as a team?
6. How can we help you grow professionally over the next few months?

Here are 19 additional onboarding survey questions to make every new joiner's experience a great one.

As we've explored, the 30, 60, 90-day plan is not just a roadmap for new hires but a strategic approach to embedding them into the fabric of your organization.

It fosters a sense of belonging, enhances engagement, and sets a clear path for growth and accountability.

However, the execution of such a plan, coupled with continuous performance monitoring and engagement, requires more than just good intentions. It demands a robust, intuitive tool that can streamline these processes, making them more efficient and impactful.

This is where ThriveSparrow enters the equation. ThriveSparrow isn't just another tool in the HR tech stack; it's a comprehensive performance management platform designed with the modern workplace in mind. It helps you understand the nuances of employee engagement and the critical importance of a well-structured onboarding experience.

• Automated 30, 60, 90-day Surveys: ThriveSparrow automates the feedback loop, ensuring new hires are consistently aligned with organizational goals from day one. The real-time insights into how new employees are integrating and adapting to their roles.

• 360-Assessment Surveys: Beyond onboarding, ThriveSparrow facilitates continuous engagement through 360-assessment surveys. These surveys offer a holistic view of an employee's performance, encompassing feedback from peers, supervisors, and subordinates. Such comprehensive feedback is invaluable for personal development and organizational growth.

In conclusion, ThriveSparrow simplifies and enriches this process. It empowers organizations to not only create a foolproof onboarding program but also to maintain high levels of engagement and performance throughout the employee lifecycle.

By choosing ThriveSparrow, you're not just adopting a platform; you're embracing a strategy for sustained success and employee well-being.

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And That’s a Wrap!

Things are changing, and they are changing fast. The corporate environment of the present is nothing like what we have seen in the past. And in order to tackle new challenges like employee turnover and disengagement, we need to bring in the big guns.

No matter how severe the problem is, the solution almost always lies in conducting employee surveys and one-on-one conversations. ThriveSparrow helps you conduct efficient surveys of all shapes and sizes, making it easy to build a 30-60-90 day plan around it.