Welcome Letter to New Employee

This free welcome letter to a new employee tells your new hire everything they need for their first day: when to arrive, where to go, who to ask for, what to wear and what to bring. It comes with a short welcome email with the same details, and an optional email introducing the new hire to the rest of the team. Edit it in Word, or copy the email text into your own inbox.

What you get

A five-page PDF, sized for US Letter paper, and an editable Word file:

• Page 1: the blank welcome letter, with every detail to change marked as a [placeholder].
• Page 2: the welcome email to the new employee, plus a short email introducing them to the team.
• Pages 3–4: the same letter and emails filled in for a fictional animal hospital welcoming a new veterinary assistant.
• Page 5: notes on timing, what to leave out and the Form I-9 rules, with links to the sources.

What a good new employee welcome letter includes

• The first-day basics. Date, start time, the address, which door to use and where to park.
• A name to ask for. The person who will meet them, with their job title, so the new hire isn’t left waiting at the front desk.
• What to wear and bring. Dress code or uniform, lunch, and original documents for Form I-9.
• A picture of the first day. A line or two on what happens, and when they’ll finish.
• A personal touch. Who their buddy is, or one sentence on why you’re glad they’re joining.
• A contact for questions. A phone number or email that someone answers.

Leave out pay, benefits and other terms. They belong in the signed offer letter, and a second version in the welcome letter only invites confusion.

How to write a welcome letter to a new employee

1. Wait until the offer letter is signed and the start date is confirmed.
2. Fill in the template. Check the date, time and contact against the offer.
3. Write one personal line. It’s the part people remember.
4. Ask them to bring original documents for Form I-9, and point them to the USCIS list. Don’t name documents yourself.
5. Send it three to five working days before the start date, and copy their manager or buddy.
6. Enclose or attach anything you want filled in before day one, such as a new employee information form.
7. Then work through the rest of your new hire checklist.

Completed example

The example in the download is from the practice manager of a fictional animal hospital in Wisconsin to a new veterinary assistant starting on a Monday. It gives the 7:30 a.m. start, the staff entrance and parking, a contact, what to wear (scrubs provided), lunch and the Form I-9 documents. It outlines the first morning and names the senior assistant who will be their buddy for the first two weeks. The welcome email repeats the same details in a few lines, copying the buddy, and the team email introduces the new hire to everyone else.

New employee welcome email

The second page is a welcome email to a new employee, for when a letter feels too formal or there isn’t time to mail one. It’s short on purpose: a subject line that says what it is, the first day and start time, where to go, who to ask for, what to wear and what to bring. Use it as your employee onboarding email template, and add one line about anything specific to the job, such as a login to set up before day one.

Below it is an optional email introducing the new hire to the team. Send it on or just before the first day, so people know who to say hello to. Keep it to work details unless the new hire has said they’re happy for you to share more.

Form I-9: what to say about documents

Every US employer must complete Form I-9 for every person they hire (USCIS). The new employee completes Section 1 no later than their first day of employment, and can do it any time after accepting the offer (USCIS). You can ask them to bring documents, but you cannot specify which ones. The employee chooses from the Lists of Acceptable Documents, and you must accept documents that reasonably appear to be genuine and relate to the person (USCIS Handbook for Employers). That’s why the template links to the list instead of saying “bring your passport” or “bring your driver’s license and Social Security card”.

What to leave out of a welcome letter

• Promises of job security. “A job for life” or “a permanent place on our team” can be read as a promise you didn’t mean to make.
• New or different terms. If the start time, pay or schedule has changed since the offer, update the offer in writing first.
• Personal questions. A welcome letter isn’t the place to ask about health, family or anything else unrelated to the job.
• A long list of rules. Hand over the handbook on the first day and keep the letter to what they need to arrive.

Getting ready for your next hire and not sure what your state requires on day one? That’s what hrsupport.io is for: HR answers for your state, with the law behind every answer.