30-60-90 Day Plan for New Hires: A Template and Three Examples
A 30-60-90 day plan sets what a new hire should be able to do by day 30, 60 and 90. Here is a template you can copy, three filled-in examples and the review questions for each check-in.
Most new hires are told to “get up to speed”. Nobody says what that means, so three months later the manager has a feeling about how it is going and the new hire has no idea whether they are doing well.
A 30-60-90 day plan replaces the feeling with a page. It says what the person should be able to do by the end of each month and how you will both know.
This guide gives you a template to copy, three filled-in examples for different roles and the questions to ask at each review. It is written for the manager or owner doing the hiring.
What a 30-60-90 day plan is
A 30-60-90 day plan is a written plan for a new hire’s first three months. It sets what they should learn, what they should be able to do alone and what they should deliver by day 30, day 60 and day 90, with a review at each point.
The three phases usually follow this shape:
| Phase | Focus | The new hire is… | The manager is… |
|---|---|---|---|
| Days 1 to 30 | Learn | Reading procedures, watching, doing the daily tasks with help and then alone | Training, checking work closely, answering questions |
| Days 31 to 60 | Do | Doing the routine work alone, taking on the weekly and monthly tasks | Spot checking, giving feedback, introducing exceptions |
| Days 61 to 90 | Own | Handling exceptions, working to the same targets as the team, suggesting improvements | Reviewing results, setting goals for the next period |
The dates are a guide. A role with a long sales cycle or a licence to earn may need 120 days. A part-time role may need the same plan stretched over more weeks. Keep the three steps and move the dates.
How it differs from an onboarding checklist
The two documents get mixed up, and you need both.
| Onboarding checklist | 30-60-90 day plan | |
|---|---|---|
| Lists | What the business does for the new hire | What the new hire should be able to do |
| Typical items | Contract signed, laptop ready, accounts created, introductions booked | Processes a standard order alone, runs the weekly report, handles a complaint |
| Owned by | HR or the office manager | The hiring manager and the new hire |
| Same for every hire? | Mostly | No, it is written for the role |
| Finished when | Every box is ticked | The day 90 review is held |
If you do not have the first one yet, start with our new employee onboarding checklist. This guide covers the second.
Before you write it: list what the role does
A plan is only as good as your picture of the job. Before writing goals, list the role’s recurring tasks in three groups:
- Daily tasks. The work that fills most days. These belong in the first 30 days.
- Weekly and monthly tasks. Reports, batches, reviews, closes. These belong in days 31 to 60.
- Exceptions and judgment calls. Complaints, refunds, unusual requests, when to escalate. These belong in days 61 to 90.
Next to each task, note whether a written procedure exists. Every task without one is a task that will be taught from memory, differently each time. Write the procedure before the start date if you can, or the first time the task is done with the new hire. Our guide to how to write an SOP covers the format.
How to write goals you can check
Each goal should pass one test: at the review, could the two of you agree in a minute whether it was met?
| Vague | Checkable |
|---|---|
| Get familiar with our systems | Books a job in the scheduling tool without help |
| Learn the product | Explains the three service packages to a colleague and passes the product quiz |
| Start contributing | Closes ten standard support tickets a day to the quality standard |
| Build relationships | Has had a 30 minute introduction with each of the five people named in the plan |
Three more rules keep the plan usable:
- Three to five goals per phase. More than that and none of them are priorities.
- Learning goals first, results goals later. Month one is about doing the work correctly. Volume and targets come in months two and three.
- Name the standard. “Alone” and “to standard” should mean something: no corrections needed on a spot check, or the checklist in the procedure fully met.
A 30-60-90 day plan template
Copy this and fill it in for the role. One page is enough.
Role: New hire: Manager: Start date:
Days 1 to 30: Learn
| Section | Fill in |
|---|---|
| Focus | Learn how the daily work is done and do it alone by the end of the month |
| Goals | 1. 2. 3. |
| Procedures and training to complete | |
| People to meet | |
| Support | Named buddy, weekly one-to-one with the manager |
| Day 30 review date |
Days 31 to 60: Do
| Section | Fill in |
|---|---|
| Focus | Do the routine work alone and take on the weekly and monthly tasks |
| Goals | 1. 2. 3. |
| Procedures and training to complete | |
| First results expected | |
| Support | Spot checks, weekly one-to-one |
| Day 60 review date |
Days 61 to 90: Own
| Section | Fill in |
|---|---|
| Focus | Handle exceptions, work to the team’s normal targets and improve one thing |
| Goals | 1. 2. 3. |
| Exceptions to handle alone | |
| One improvement to propose | |
| Support | One-to-one every two weeks |
| Day 90 review date |
Example 1: office administrator
The three examples below use fictional companies. The names, tasks and numbers are made up to show the shape of a plan.
A fictional twelve-person plumbing company hires an office administrator who answers calls, books jobs and sends invoices.
| Phase | Goals |
|---|---|
| Days 1 to 30 | Answers incoming calls using the call script and books standard jobs in the scheduling tool without help. Has read and been checked on the booking, cancellation and payment procedures. Sends the daily job sheet to the crews by 4pm each day, alone, by week three. |
| Days 31 to 60 | Runs the Friday invoice batch alone. Chases overdue invoices using the collections procedure. Handles reschedules and same-day emergency bookings without asking. |
| Days 61 to 90 | Handles a customer complaint from first call to resolution using the complaints procedure. Covers the phones alone for a full week while the office manager is away. Proposes one change to the booking procedure based on what they have seen. |
Example 2: sales representative
A fictional software consultancy hires a sales representative. Sales roles tempt managers to set a revenue target for month one. Activity and skill goals are fairer early on, since most deals take longer than 30 days to close.
| Phase | Goals |
|---|---|
| Days 1 to 30 | Explains each service and its price range to the manager without notes. Has sat in on ten discovery calls and logged notes in the CRM in the agreed format. Runs two discovery calls with the manager listening by the end of the month. |
| Days 31 to 60 | Runs discovery calls alone and keeps every open deal up to date in the CRM. Writes proposals from the proposal template with one round of manager edits at most. Builds a pipeline to the level agreed at the day 30 review. |
| Days 61 to 90 | Works to the same activity targets as the rest of the team. Handles pricing objections using the agreed guidelines and knows when a discount needs approval. Has closed, or brought to final stage, the number of deals agreed at the day 60 review. |
Notice that the later targets are set at the previous review. That lets you base them on what you have both learned about the pipeline, not on a guess made before the start date.
Example 3: field technician
A fictional heating and cooling company hires a service technician with trade experience but no knowledge of how this company works.
| Phase | Goals |
|---|---|
| Days 1 to 30 | Completes the safety induction and passes the safety quiz in week one. Rides along on jobs for two weeks, then leads standard maintenance visits with a senior technician present. Completes the job report and photos in the app before leaving every site. |
| Days 31 to 60 | Runs standard maintenance and repair visits alone. Keeps the van stock to the checklist and reorders using the parts procedure. Callbacks on their jobs are reviewed with the manager each week. |
| Days 61 to 90 | Diagnoses and quotes non-standard repairs using the pricing guide. Joins the on-call rota. Mentors the next new starter on the job report procedure. |
How to run the three reviews
Put all three reviews in the calendar on the start date. A review that has to be scheduled later is a review that slips.
Each review takes 30 to 45 minutes and follows the same order: go through the goals one by one, agree on met or not met, talk about why, then set or confirm the next phase.
| Review | Questions to ask |
|---|---|
| Day 30 | Which goals are met? What is still unclear? Is any tool, access or procedure missing? What in the onboarding wasted your time? Are the day 60 goals still right? |
| Day 60 | Which tasks are you doing alone to standard? Where are you still asking for help, and is that a training gap or a procedure gap? What feedback do you have for me? What targets should we set for the last phase? |
| Day 90 | Are you working to the same standard as the rest of the team? Which exceptions are you confident with, and which not? What would you change about how we do this job? What are the goals for the next six months? |
Write down what was agreed and share it the same day. If a goal was missed, record the reason and the new date.
Do not wait for the reviews to give feedback. Keep a short weekly one-to-one through all 90 days. The reviews are where you step back, not the only time you talk.
Common mistakes
- Writing it after the person starts. By then the first two weeks have already been improvised. Write it before the start date.
- Goals nobody can check. “Understands the business” cannot be reviewed. Write what the person will do.
- Results targets in month one. The first month is for learning to do the work correctly.
- No procedures behind the goals. A goal such as “runs payroll alone” needs a written payroll procedure, or the new hire is learning from whoever has time.
- One plan for every role. The checklist can be shared. The plan is written for the job.
- Skipping the reviews. A plan without reviews is a document. Book them on day one.
- Never changing it. The plan was written before you knew the person. Adjust it at each review and note what changed.
- Stopping at day 90. End the last review by setting goals for the next six months.
How SOPCompass helps
A 30-60-90 day plan can live in a document or a spreadsheet. SOPCompass handles the part underneath it: the procedures each goal depends on, and knowing whether the new hire has been through them.
- Write the missing procedures quickly. The AI assistant interviews whoever knows the task, by text or voice, and drafts the SOP from their answers. You can also record your screen or upload a video, or use the Capture extension to turn clicks in a web app into steps with screenshots. Nothing is saved until a person approves it.
- Assign each phase’s reading with due dates. Assign the day 1 to 30 SOPs with due dates in the first month and the next set in the second, each with a note, and see who has completed what. Viewers are unlimited on every plan and can receive assignments.
- Check understanding where it matters. Add a quiz to an SOP and require a pass before the assignment counts as done, for example on safety or payment handling.
- Let them find answers without interrupting anyone. Ask answers questions from your own SOPs with a citation for each claim, and the follow-along reader lets a new hire mark steps done as they work.
- Collect what the new hire notices. Comments on steps let them flag anything unclear, which is the cheapest procedure review you will ever get.
What it will not do: SOPCompass does not have a 30-60-90 plan builder, goal tracking or performance reviews, and it does not build courses or training paths. Keep the plan itself in a document, assign SOPs one at a time with staggered due dates and hold the reviews in person.
Where to start this week
Take the next role you are hiring for, or the most recent person you hired. List the role’s daily, weekly and monthly tasks and its common exceptions. Turn each group into three goals written as things the person will do alone. Put three review dates in the calendar. That is the whole plan, and it fits on one page.