As of 13 August 2026, AI can create a new starter checklist for your business.

What to actually do

1. Use a tool built for this

   The route this page recommends

2. Do it yourself

   Second choice

   A chat interface, no skill needed, and roughly 30 minutes until you can act on the result.

   How to actually do it

   1. Open your current employment, payroll, health and safety, data protection, IT access and induction documents, then gather the parts that apply to the role.
   2. Write down the starter's role, start date, employment type, working pattern, location, manager, equipment, systems, training and people responsible for each task.
   3. Paste those details and any existing onboarding checklist into the prompt, replacing each bracketed slot with your business information.
   4. Ask the chatbot to produce the table and the separate 'Items to confirm' section, then remove any task that does not apply to this role.
   5. Compare every drafted task against your current policies, employment process, payroll arrangements, access list and training records, and correct owners and timings.
   6. Ask the manager, HR or payroll contact to confirm the items involving pay, employment records, right-to-work processes, safety training or personal data.
   7. Copy the approved checklist into your chosen document or task system, assign each owner, and send the relevant tasks to the people completing them.

   Prompt

   Create a practical new starter checklist for a UK business.
   
   Business type: [describe the business]
   Role: [job title and department]
   Employment type: [employee, worker, contractor or other]
   Start date and working pattern: [details]
   Work location: [office, home, site or hybrid]
   Manager: [role or name]
   People involved in onboarding: [roles]
   Systems, equipment and access needed: [list]
   Policies and procedures to introduce: [list]
   Required training: [list]
   Existing onboarding notes or checklist: [paste here]
   
   Produce a table with these columns: task, owner, when it should happen, information or equipment needed, evidence of completion, and status. Organise it into before the start date, first day, first week, first month and ongoing checks.
   
   Use only the information I provide for business-specific facts. Do not invent company policies, training, benefits, deadlines, legal obligations or system names. If a sensible task is missing from my information, include it in a separate section called 'Items to confirm', explain why it may be needed, and mark it for review by the manager or HR. Distinguish tasks for the manager, HR or payroll, IT, facilities and the new starter. Keep the checklist practical, remove duplicates, and flag any item that needs confirmation against current UK guidance or our written policies.

   Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.

3. Hand it to a person

   The distant third

   A person who owns the outcome does this end to end, worth it when the failure is dear.