What is a 30-60-90-day plan for new employees?

A 30-60-90-day plan is a document that conveys a person’s goal over 90 days, split into three 30-day phases. These plans are normally used when a person starts at a new company or in a new role, but they can also be used when starting a new project. Each phase has a different focus to ensure a new employee learns everything they need to fully perform their role.

Although a 30-60-90-day plan is often recommended for people going into managerial or executive roles, they can be effective for employees at most levels. With your guidance, a 30-60-90-day plan can help both you and your employee set expectations and prepare for success.

Benefits of a 30-60-90-day plan

As an employer, there are many benefits to asking your new hires to develop a 30-60-90-day plan.

• Helps clarify their role. You can use the document to make sure new employees understand what they need to deliver.
• Provides valuable insights. Discussions about the plan give you insight into your new employee, and you can also ask them to give you insight into your business.
• Helps build relationships. Regular discussions with new hires can help you build a stronger team.
• Aids in development plans. This document lets you see your new employee’s strengths and weaknesses so you can create their employee development plan.
• Helps with time management. Starting a new role can be overwhelming, but a 30-60-90 plan gives a new employee focus and shows them where they should be spending their time.

How to use a 30-60-90 day plan in your workplace

There are a number of ways you can introduce 30-60-90-day plans into your workplace. As with most staff development tools, there are no right or wrong ways to go about using these plans. As long as they help you further the goals of your business and don’t hinder your employees, you can make them your own.

• In the interview. You may want to ask job candidates to prepare a 30-60-90-day plan prior to their interview. This is becoming increasingly common for sales, managerial and executive roles, but can also be useful for project-based roles. Seeing how candidates would use their first 90 days can give you insight into their initiative, organizational skills, how well they understand the role and how they’d fit in at your business. This all helps you make the right hiring decisions for your organization.
• As part of the onboarding process. You can sit down with your new employee on their first day and help them create a 30-60-90-day plan. Working with them ensures they’re clear on what you expect from them in their new role and can also allow you to ask for their insights. For example, if you’re worried about where future challenges for your business are coming from, ask them to perform a SWOT analysis as part of their plan. This document can guide your new employee during their first 90 days and keep them from feeling overwhelmed by the scope of the position.
• When taking on a new role. If your employees are dedicated to their career development, it’s likely that some will be promoted or take on new responsibilities. Using a 30-60-90-day plan can help existing employees settle in to new roles. Although they don’t need to learn about the company’s culture or aims, a plan can help them lay out their goals for their first 90 days and ensure they can become effective quickly. If they’re taking over for someone else who’s being promoted, building in some overlap can give them a chance to benefit from institutional knowledge. For example, start the first 30 days while the old employee is still in the role so they have plenty of time to learn the ropes.

What should be included in a 30-60-90-day plan?

Each 30-day phase of a plan should include a focus, priorities, goals and metrics for measurement. The focus is different for each phase.

• Month 1: Learning. This is where your employee learns about the culture and expectations of your company, as well as the role they’re undertaking. It can include reading documentation, such as your mission, procedures and policies. In most roles, this phase should also include meeting the people essential to the job. Depending on the role, this can include colleagues, direct reports, clients and project stakeholders.
• Month 2: Contributing. In the second month, your employee should be contributing to the company’s mission. This can look different depending on the role but often includes evaluating processes to see if there’s room for improvement, contributing to meetings and helping to better the team’s functioning. During this phase, they should also be increasing their workload and showing more initiative.
• Month 3: Execution. The final 30 days of the plan should focus on using the knowledge and experience gained in the first 60 days to execute ideas and effectively perform their role. For those in managerial or executive roles, the focus should be on leading their team and initiating change that improves processes and advances the company’s goals. For employees not hired into leadership positions, this can focus on them taking ownership of their role and working independently instead of relying on a manager to direct their work.

Within the focus or context of each month, the plan should show the employee’s priorities. These are more specific than the focus but broader than goals. Priorities can include learning internal processes, forming relationships with all project stakeholders or defining the problems your company needs to solve.

The next section sets goals, which are more specific again. Use SMART goals to help ensure your employee succeeds. SMART goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound.

You can use different types of goals to make sure your employees achieve everything you want them to in their role. Many people who use 30-60-90-day plans divide goals into learning goals, professional or performance goals and personal goals. Learning goals are based on what they need to learn each month, performance goals focus on what they need to achieve and personal goals concentrate on building relationships in the business.

Lastly, each phase needs metrics. This is often covered by the measurable aspect of a SMART goal, but make sure you detail what success looks like for each phase. Make it quantifiable, such as having a five-minute catch-up with each direct report, so it’s easy to see that the goal has been achieved.

Tips for working with new employees to make a 30-60-90-day plan

• Base it on their role. A 30-60-90-day plan can’t be generic. To ensure it’s useful for your new employee, use their job description to help guide the creation.
• Allow for course correction. Although you should create the entire plan when they start the job, it should be flexible. They may run into challenges, or grasp the role much quicker than expected.
• Don’t write it for them. Let your employee create their own plan. Not only does this give them ownership, but they know their own strengths and weaknesses and understand where they need to put their focus.
• Give them the resources they need. Make sure they have access to the documents and people they need. You can also offer to introduce them to stakeholders or clients and join meetings if you think it’s required.
• Conduct regular reviews. Meet with them at the 30, 60 and 90 day marks to ensure they’re on track. You should also let them know that your door is open if they need help in the meantime.

30-60-90-day plan template

Name:
Position:
Company:

30 Days (Date-Date)

FOCUS: Learning
Priorities:

Summarize your priorities

60 Days (Date-Date)

FOCUS: Contributing

Priorities:
Summarize your priorities

90 Days (Date-Date)

FOCUS: Execution

Priorities:
Summarize your priorities

30-60-90-day plan example

Name: Maria Peters
Position: Technical Writer
Company: Clark Accounting

30 Days (07/01/2021-07/31/2021)

FOCUS: Learning
Priorities:

• Meet all stakeholders for new software implementation
• Learn existing procedures and what documentation will be required in the new manual
• Become familiar with existing templates and documentation

60 Days (08/01/2021-08/31/2021)

FOCUS: Contributing
Priorities:

• Develop templates
• Learn new system
• Build relationships with developers

90 Days (09/01/2021-09/30/2021)

FOCUS: Execution
Priorities:

• Develop workflows
• Determine help manual requirements
• Increase positive opinion of new software

Employee 30-60-90 Day Plan Templates for PDF & Word

Use these 30-60-90-day templates to help set new employees up for success.

*Indeed provides these examples as a courtesy to users of this site. Please note that we are not your HR or legal adviser, and none of these documents reflect current labor or employment regulations.