New hire welcome site
The New hire welcome site gives employees a first-week landing page with a day-by-day plan, setup guidance, key contacts, and clear routes to help. Clone it to orient new hires without making them search across disconnected pages.
Every employee gets a seat — priced per employee in Communications & Intranet, quoted with this template ready.
Rolled out to every employee at AutoZone (125,000), PetSmart (50,000+), A.S. Watson and Raley's (20,000) — and at larger retailers we are not permitted to name.
Built for: Technology and software · Professional services · Healthcare organizations · Education
Overview
The New hire welcome site is a sample intranet landing page for employees joining Northstar. Its Welcome page opens with a clear first-week promise and routes new hires to three essentials: a day-by-day plan, tools and workplace guidance, and people and support. A journey map assigns early actions to the new hire and manager, helping readers see what happens before day one and what to expect next. The site uses a hub-and-spoke pattern: the landing page orients employees, while focused pages hold the details they need without crowding the welcome screen.
Use this template when People Operations needs a consistent, easy-to-find entry point for onboarding, especially when new hires must coordinate setup with a manager, IT, and workplace support. Customize the page destinations, ownership, timing, and instructions before inviting employees to use it. Keep the landing page concise and make each link’s destination obvious; put longer process explanations on their own pages and link to authoritative policies rather than copying them.
This is not a replacement for an HR information system, a formal compliance course, or a detailed role-specific training plan. It does not automatically provision accounts, schedule meetings, or confirm that someone has completed a task. Avoid using it as the sole source for urgent or legally required instructions unless the responsible team has approved the content, access controls, and escalation route. Assign page owners and review links and procedures whenever onboarding processes change.
Standards & compliance context
- Treat the site as an orientation aid, and link to approved sources for statutory notices, safety requirements, and formal training rather than presenting sample copy as legal guidance.
- Have People Operations and the relevant legal or compliance reviewer validate policies, eligibility details, and jurisdiction-specific onboarding instructions before publication.
- For employee-restricted pages, verify permissions and test keyboard navigation, headings, link labels, and contrast against WCAG 2.1 AA expectations where applicable.
- Keep access to employee-specific records in the appropriate HR system; do not put personal or sensitive employee information on a general welcome page.
General regulatory context for orientation only — verify current requirements with counsel or the relevant agency before relying on this template for compliance.
How to use this template
- Replace the Northstar sample name, welcome copy, page slugs, and CTA destinations with your organization’s approved onboarding pages.
- Assign People Operations as the landing-page owner and identify the manager, IT, and workplace roles responsible for their respective instructions.
- Edit the journey map with the real pre-start and first-week actions, naming an owner and a clear completion point for each milestone.
- Add tested links to your HR platform, IT service desk, learning resources, workplace guidance, and support contacts.
- Ask a new hire or colleague with the same access level to follow the site from the welcome page and report missing steps, inaccessible links, or unclear terms.
- Set a review cadence with page owners and update the site when processes, tools, contacts, or onboarding schedules change.
Best practices
- Keep the Welcome page focused on orientation and the next action, and place detailed setup instructions on the tools and workplace page.
- Write journey-map items as verifiable actions, such as confirming a start time or testing account access, rather than broad goals such as getting settled.
- Show the responsible role and a usable support route wherever a new hire could get blocked.
- Test every destination with a new hire’s permissions before publishing, including links to internal systems and restricted policy pages.
- Use role-based landing pages or clearly labeled department links when schedules and setup differ by job, location, or employment type.
- Review the welcome page and every linked page on a defined cadence, and name an owner so outdated content has a clear route to correction.
- Use short headings, descriptive link labels, and accessible page structure so employees can scan the site and navigate with assistive technology.
What this template typically catches
Issues teams running this template most often surface in practice:
Common use cases
Frequently asked questions
What does the New hire welcome site include?
The sample site is organized around a Welcome to Northstar landing page and linked pages for the first-week plan, tools and workplace, and people and support. Its journey map makes key actions and ownership visible across the period before day one and the first week. Use the sections as a starting point, then replace sample routes and company-specific details.
Is this site only for the first week?
The landing page is designed to orient a new employee during their first days, with the first-week plan as its main next step. You can extend the linked pages with role-specific learning or longer-term onboarding milestones. Keep ongoing policies in a maintained knowledge base and link to them rather than duplicating them here.
Who should own and update the site?
People Operations is a practical content owner for the overall welcome site, while managers own team-specific first-week plans and introductions. Assign an owner to each page and have them verify links, contacts, and process details on a regular review cadence. Provide a named role or team contact for questions that cannot be answered by the page.
How often should a new hire use the site?
New hires can use the landing page before their start date and return to it throughout the first week. Managers can review the plan before the employee arrives and check progress during scheduled one-to-ones. Update the content whenever a process, tool, or support route changes, rather than waiting for a new hiring cycle.
Does this template meet employment or accessibility requirements?
The template is an onboarding communication aid, not a substitute for required employment notices, safety training, or jurisdiction-specific HR guidance. Have People Operations and legal or compliance reviewers check any policy statements before publishing them. If access is restricted to employees, test permissions and ensure the pages remain usable with assistive technology, including WCAG 2.1 AA checks where applicable.
What should we customize before sharing it with new hires?
Replace the Northstar sample identity, page destinations, work setup instructions, support routes, and first-week activities with your organization’s actual processes. Confirm that each CTA and quick link reaches a published page the intended employee can access. Keep sample copy realistic, but remove any instruction or contact route that does not match your operating practice.
Can we connect this site to our HR and workplace tools?
The template provides a navigation structure and link destinations; it does not establish integrations by itself. Add approved links to your HR platform, IT service desk, learning system, calendar guidance, or workplace resources. Test each link using a new hire’s access level so that essential tasks do not lead to permission errors.
How is this better than sending a collection of onboarding emails?
A welcome site keeps the first-week plan, setup guidance, and support routes together in a reusable hub instead of scattering them across messages. Role-based links can direct people to the right next action while reducing repeated explanations. Emails may still announce milestones, but the site should remain the maintained source of current instructions.
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Every employee gets a seat. Request pricing for Communications & Intranet and we quote into a workspace with New hire welcome site ready.
Rolled out to every employee at AutoZone (125,000), PetSmart (50,000+), A.S. Watson and Raley's (20,000) — and at larger retailers we are not permitted to name.
