As of 13 August 2026, AI can plan a new starter's first day.

What to actually do

1. Hand it to a person

   The route this page recommends

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

2. Use a tool built for this

   Second choice

3. Do it yourself

   The distant third

   A chat interface, chat-fluent skill, and roughly 30 minutes until you can act on the result.

   How to actually do it

   1. Open your calendar, HR records, onboarding documents and current workplace policies, then gather the new starter's role, start date, hours, location, agreed arrangements and required forms.
   2. Ask the manager, IT or operations, and the relevant team members which meetings, introductions, equipment, accounts, training and site arrangements are confirmed for the first day.
   3. Paste the gathered information into the prompt, replacing each bracketed slot and writing "not yet confirmed" where a fact is missing.
   4. Run the prompt in ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini and save the timetable, checklists, welcome message and list of gaps it produces.
   5. Compare every scheduled time, attendee, location, system, policy and safety item against your calendar, access records and current internal documents, correcting anything the model misunderstood.
   6. Ask the manager and the people responsible for IT, facilities and HR to confirm the unresolved gaps and assign an owner and deadline to each one.
   7. Send the corrected schedule and welcome message to the new starter and the internal participants, then keep the final version with the onboarding record.

   Prompt

   Plan the first day for a new starter at a UK business. Use only the information I provide and do not invent policies, legal requirements, meeting times, people, systems or equipment. If information is missing, mark it as a question or suggested placeholder rather than guessing.
   
   New starter:
   - Role: [job title and team]
   - Start date: [date]
   - Working pattern: [hours and breaks]
   - Location or locations: [office, remote or hybrid details]
   - Accessibility, religious or other agreed arrangements: [details or none provided]
   
   Business information:
   - Business type and team context: [details]
   - People available on the first day: [names and roles]
   - Meetings already booked: [times, attendees and purpose]
   - Equipment and system access ready: [list]
   - Equipment and access still pending: [list]
   - Required internal training or policies: [list]
   - Health and safety, emergency or site-induction information supplied by the business: [details]
   - Documents or forms to complete: [list]
   - Immediate work expected in the first week: [details]
   
   Create:
   1. A timed first-day schedule with owner, location or link, purpose and preparation for each item.
   2. A pre-start checklist split between the manager, IT or operations, and the new starter.
   3. A short welcome message and a manager's opening agenda.
   4. A list of access, equipment, policy and safety gaps that must be resolved or escalated.
   5. Three sensible backup options if a meeting, system or piece of equipment is unavailable.
   
   Keep the day realistic, include breaks, avoid overloading the new starter, and distinguish confirmed arrangements from suggestions. Do not give employment-law conclusions. Flag any item that needs checking against the business's current HR policy or professional advice.

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