Contractor onboarding is essential in ensuring that the contractor starts being productive quicker. Onboarding can help to improve productivity and reduce the time it takes for the contractor to adjust to their new role. Having a clear contractor onboarding process assists in saving time and company resources. Time is not spent getting work equipment, looking for a workstation, having a time card approved or any simple logistics. The worker gets guidance from the onset.
To ensure that contractor onboarding is seamless and nothing has been left out, it is vital to use a checklist. This ensures that all aspects of the onboarding have been covered, and the contractor can start to work without wasting time on unnecessary issues.
Sample contractor onboarding checklist
Documents
Paperwork should be dealt with before the contractor starts. Various documents need to be prepared and signed upfront before any work begins. Some of the documents required include:
- Independent contractor agreement that is signed
- Letter of intent.
- Employee handbook.
- Emergency contacts info
- Form W-9
- NonDisclosure Agreement.
- Payment information, whether it is by check, online payment or direct debit.
Items needed by contractor
The contractor may require various items to fulfill their duties. These should be prepared well before the contractor begins work to ensure there is no time wasted in trying to get them when the work begins. Some of these may include:
- A functioning workstation such as a computer, an office or any other facility in the company that the contractor may need to perform their duty.
- Passwords and logins to the systems that they might require to use.
- A working telephone and an email account.
- A ready and approved time card.
- Security passes for accessing the parts of the building that they will need to use.
- Permissions to documents the contractor needs to access.
- An induction timetable should be in place and should cover areas such as introduction to relevant employees, reviewing the goals of the contract and safety induction.
Information related to the task
The contractor should be given information related to their job to ensure that everyone is in the clear on what needs to be done, how to do it and to establish proper channels of communication. This way, the contractor does not need to pause and ask for this information when they start working, which saves time.
- Expectations of the tasks.
- The communication mechanism to use with their reporting authority.
- Software they will use to manage the project
- How to raise issues that need solving.
- Procedures for dealing with time and expenses.