Onboarding a new technician: the first 90 days as an employer

After a long search you finally found that technician, and four months later their resignation letter is on the table. It happens to more technical employers than you'd think, and the cause is rarely the pay. A departure in the first year is almost always an onboarding problem, and therefore avoidable.

Before the first working day

Nothing says 'we weren't really expecting you' as loudly as a missing badge, no workwear in the right size and a login that only works next week. Arrange the practical side in advance and send a short message in the week before the start with where, when and to whom someone reports. Think of the team too: colleagues who know who is starting and why welcome someone differently than colleagues who hear it that morning. Small effort, big first impression, and it sets the tone for everything that follows.

The first weeks: mentor, plan and real work

Pair every new technician with an experienced mentor who explicitly gets time for it; mentorship on top of a full schedule is no mentorship. Work with a simple induction plan: which installations, which procedures, which training, in which order, and who signs off that it was covered. And hand out real work under supervision quickly; anyone who only shadows for weeks feels useless and mentally checks out. The right balance: from observing in week one, through executing together, to working independently with a safety net by the end of month one.

Measure and adjust

Schedule fixed follow-up conversations at the end of week one, month one and month three, and put them in the agenda now; conversations that happen 'when it suits' don't happen. Ask not only how it's going, but also what surprised them and what remains unclear; that is where your improvement points for the next hire sit. Watch the quiet signals especially: a newcomer who stops asking questions is rarely a newcomer without questions.

The most underestimated period: months two and three

Most onboardings stop once the first impression is good, exactly when the newcomer builds up their first frustrations: procedures slower than promised, a shift that runs differently than told, growth promises that stay vague. Actively name that friction in the month-three conversation and show what happens with it. If you hire through us, we also call the candidate in that same period; signals the newcomer doesn't dare give internally, we still catch and discreetly pass on to you.