Induction checklist templates for Australian small business

A good induction checklist does three things. It tells your new starter what to expect on day one. It reminds you of the boring-but-essential bits you forget after the tenth hire. And it gives you a paper trail if something goes sideways later.

Below are four industry-specific checklists you can copy, adapt, and put to work this week. They are not exhaustive — they're the minimum viable day-one list. Start here, customise, and keep the things you tick every single time.

The universal first-shift bones

Every induction — regardless of industry — should cover the same five spines: paperwork, people, place, policies, and plan. The specifics change; the skeleton doesn't.

• Paperwork. TFN, super choice, bank details, emergency contact, copy of visa or right-to-work ID. Award or agreement explained in plain English.
• People. Who runs the floor, who does payroll, who they text when they're sick. A proper introduction to at least three people on their first shift.
• Place. Where the fire exits are. Where the first-aid kit is. Where the staff bathroom is. Where lunch lives. Where they park.
• Policies. Breaks. Uniform. Phones on the floor. Sick leave. Harassment and grievance — what to do if something happens and who to tell.
• Plan. Their roster for the first two weeks. Who they shadow. What they're expected to own solo by day 10.

Hospo: cafe, pub, restaurant

Front-of-house hospo runs on rhythm. Your induction should introduce that rhythm before service starts, not during it.

• Uniform issued and explained (apron, name badge, non-slip footwear check)
• Opening list walk-through — what happens between arrival and first customer
• POS: how to open a table, split a bill, process a refund, end-of-shift cash-up
• Food allergens — the 10 they ask about most, and your process for the rest
• Coffee standards (if relevant) — your dose, your pour, your milk stretch
• Closing list — wipe-down, cash-up, fridge temps logged, alarm on
• Incident steps — broken glass, customer complaint, staff injury

Retail: boutique, specialty shop, showroom

Retail day-one is half practical, half brand voice. New starters need to stop saying “can I help you?” and start greeting the way your brand greets.

• Register / POS: open sale, void sale, returns, exchanges, gift cards
• Greeting & approach — your specific script or cues
• Fitting-room rules — how many items, how they're tagged, security
• Stock location — back-of-house layout, returns bay, hold shelf
• Loss prevention basics — what to look for, what not to do
• End-of-day: tills counted, floor set, stockroom tidied
• Visual merchandising standards — what “tidy” means here

Trades: site crews, apprentices, subbies

Trade inductions are serious. A missed induction is a missed safety gate — and a compliance problem if WHS come knocking. Don't wing it.

• General site induction (signed, dated, filed)
• Job-specific SWMS walk-through for the work they'll actually do
• PPE issued — hard hat, hi-vis, boots, hearing, eye, gloves
• Toolbox walk — their kit, what's theirs, what's shared
• Incident reporting steps — near miss, injury, property damage
• Who's the site supervisor, who's first-aid qualified
• Exclusion zones, lockout/tagout, energy sources on site

Health & beauty: salon, clinic, studio

In health and beauty, hygiene is your brand. A client who feels your station isn't clean never comes back and never tells you why.

• Hygiene & sanitation — tools, stations, linen, hand-wash cadence
• Consultation process — intake form, questions to ask, what to note
• Product knowledge — your retail range and how you recommend it
• Booking system — create, reschedule, charge, refund
• Client complaint handling — what to escalate, what to resolve at the chair
• Emergency steps — allergic reaction, injury, evacuation
• Close-down — station sanitised, linen cycled, stock restocked

How to make a checklist actually get used

A printed checklist on a clipboard works — for the first week. After that, it gets lost, shoved in a drawer, or quietly skipped. The trick is to make the induction live somewhere your team already looks: their phone.

That's the gap we built ShiftReady for. Upload your handbook, paste in your checklist, and we draft it as a mobile-friendly training module your new hire finishes before their first shift. You review, tweak, hit send. They tap through it on the bus. You get a tick, time-stamped, filed.

Whichever way you go — clipboard, spreadsheet, ShiftReady — the important thing is the same: write the list down, use it every time, update it when things change.

Next steps

• Pick the vertical closest to yours and strip away anything irrelevant.
• Add three things specific to your business the template doesn't cover.
• Test it on your next new hire. Update it after their first week based on what they asked.