• Remember to liaise with your new starter about what time you would like them to start on their first day, where you will meet them, and a brief idea of what to expect. Let them know if there is anything they need to bring with them.
• Think about who else might need to be informed of their first day - is there anyone you would like them to meet straight away? Have a look through the next section for ideas.
• Remember to book them (and you!) onto the office booking sheet.

Role specific requirements

When planning an induction programme take into consideration the following role specific information.

Where a role has a specific responsibility for University Business Continuity the inducation should include details of the responsibility, policies and other information about the University Business Continuity planning and support arrangements.

Please visit the role-specific requirements HR webpage for more information.

Lucy will send the Welcome Pack to your new starters around two or three weeks before their start date. This should give them a good overview of starting work in the Department, as well as an idea of key contacts and our core values. You will be ‘cc’d’ in this email.

• The university now has a new system for ordering IT equipment - this is now the line manager's responsibility to order the basic equipment for their new starter. Please order this through the end to end IT request form at least two weeks before their start date.

If your new starter requires an office space, please speak to Dave Hay (dave.hay@york.ac.uk) before their start date. 

You can ask Lucy (environment-hr@york.ac.uk) to give your new starter early access to their email account if needed. Otherwise, Lucy will send them instructions on setting up their email account about two or three weeks before their start date.

Once a new starter has accepted their offer of appointment, you will be sent a link to an occupational health form to fill in for your new starter. Please consider any risks of the role. You should also take this opportunity to start thinking about any reasonable adjustments your new starter may require

Please also refer to the new member of disabled staff journey, and guidance for disabled staff.

Once you have confirmed that their email is set up, you can add your new starter to all the systems/drives/files/email groups that they need access to. Here is a list of common systems and how to gain access.

Please refer them to the General admin support and guidance wiki pages, which include guidance on Google, Zoom and Slack.

Email groups

Dave will add your new starter to environment-staff-group@york.ac.uk, but you can look at the list of non-personal email addresses to see if there are any other groups they would need to be added to. Please email the group owner to add them.

Using a non-personal email address

Here are instructions on how to give delegated access to an email account. Remember, you should never share a password for any email account.

If your new starter needs to set up a new non-personal email account, you can find more information on the IT email webpage.

Shared Google drives

Have a look through your Google drives and documents and decide which need to be shared with your new starter.

Please also refer your new starter to our Resources for new starters wiki pages.

• introduction to team colleagues, including where appropriate the starter's induction colleague / buddy / mentor
• a tour of the workplace, ensuring that the new starter has appropriate access and is also aware of the basic 'environmental' arrangements (eg toilets, lunch and break facilities, fire procedure etc)
• ensuring that all necessary paperwork has been completed and received, including details relating to payroll and pensions
• familiarisation with their induction programme

Your new starter will need an access card to enter the building. You can find the latest information on creating an access card on the staff card webpage. If your new starter needs further access, Dave Hay (dave.hay@york.ac.uk) can arrange this.

You can download a copy of the induction checklist here, which you should start with your new starter on their first day. A lot of the information is for the new starter to look at in their own time, so you do not need to complete all of this.

If your new starter is a Researcher, you should refer them to the guidance for researchers webpage too.

As well as introducing your new starter to their immediate team and colleagues, it may be useful to give them an overview of the leadership team and useful contacts within the Department. You can find a summary on the Who’s Who wiki page.

Please introduce your new starter to HR policies and procedures - you can find many of these on the HR procedures and policies wiki page. If you need any further guidance, please contact Lucy at environment-hr@york.ac.uk.

Occupational Health

You should discuss any health conditions or disabilities with your new starter and decide if any reasonable adjustments need to be put in place (if this hasn’t already been picked up on by the Occupational Health questionnaire sent to you previously). If necessary, you can make a referral to Occupational Health. 

Please also refer to the new member of disabled staff journey, and guidance for disabled staff.

Sickness absence

You should introduce your new starter to the sickness absence policy, and ask them to inform you if they need to take sick leave. There is guidance for what to do if you are not well here.

As a line manager, you must report your staff’s sickness absences to Lucy at environment-hr@york.ac.uk as soon as your staff reports to you, and you must keep Lucy updated of any changes (return to work dates, partial working days, phased return etc.). You can either send this information in an email to Lucy, or fill in a sickness absence form and forward to environment-hr@york.ac.uk.

When your staff member returns to work, you must fill in a return to work discussion form and send to Lucy to file.

Further information can be found regarding if your employee is unwell and cannot come to work.

Finance

It is very important that we make sure new starters are compliant with our finance policies. There is lots of information on the finance webpages, and you should set up a meeting for your new starter with Marcy as soon as possible. You should also share the financial information checklist with your new starter, as well as referring them to our finance wiki pages.

Annual leave

Before your new starter arrives, Lucy will add them on the FlexiLeave system and add you as a manager. You can refer to manager guidance for FlexiLeave. You should introduce your staff member to FlexiLeave, letting them know that they must book leave through this system, and that Bank/public holidays are automatically booked in. You can refer them to user guidance for FlexiLeave.

Here is a list of the University’s statutory and compliance training requirements.

Note: University employees will be automatically assigned mandatory courses by the Learning Management System.

Training for associate staff (temporary and casual workers) is provided separately. An Associate staff / student IT account is required.

Please refer to the role-specific training requirements to see what is relevant for your new starter.

You should also look through the Learning Management System and assign any other relevant training sessions for your new starter. There is more guidance provided on the manager responsibilities for training webpage.

For research staff, you should familiarise them with the Researcher Development Concordat, making sure to use this as a reference in supporting them through their induction and career progression. In line with the Concordat, Postdoctoral Early Career Researchers are entitled to a minimum of ten days (pro rata per year) professional development. Please see the Looking Beyond Horizons webpages for further information.

The relevant administrator should add your new starter to ongoing Departmental meetings such as the all staff meetings and any relevant boards/committees.

You should set up meetings for your new starter to meet useful contacts within the Department (and beyond, if relevant). Here are some guides of who it may be useful to meet:

Meetings for all staff:

• Roland Gehrels, Head of Department (environment-hod@york.ac.uk). You can contact Chloe (environment-pa@york.ac.uk) to set this up.
• Matthew Badham, Deputy Head of Faculty Operations (environment-dhfo@york.ac.uk) 
• Dave Hay, Technical Operations Manager (dave.hay@york.ac.uk) to discuss Health and Safety and any office/IT needs.
• Maja Mackowska, Finance Administrator (environment-finance@york.ac.uk), it is really important that we start staff with a good understanding of our finance policy.

Meetings for ART/T&S staff:

Meetings for ART/Research staff:

You should also encourage your new starter to attend the Department coffee mornings to get to know their colleagues, as well as any other groups around the Department and wider University.

Probation

All new starters to the University (i.e. not transferring from another Department/University role) will need to complete a probation. Lucy will email you with a probation form for your new starter. It is important that you refresh your memory of the probation procedure. You should hold an initial meeting during the first few weeks.

Lucy will have emailed you prior to your new starter starting with a link to their probation document. She will also email you reminders of when your meetings are due. Please refer to the Probation wiki page for more guidance.

You should be holding regular meetings with your new starter to check in on their progress and complete the induction process. If at any time you need any guidance, please contact Lucy at environment-hr@york.ac.uk. 

It is recommended that new starters attend the central induction as soon as possible and certainly within 4 to 8 weeks of joining.

The event is designed to complement the departmental induction and include a number of sessions which introduce staff to the University in a broader context, members of the University Executive Board. The varied and interactive style also provides opportunities to meet and network with new colleagues across the University.

The event is appropriate for all newly appointed staff, whether support, academic, teaching or research.