New hire checklist: A step-by-step guide to onboarding employees in Mexico
Great news—you just hired your first employee in Mexico! The hiring process was just the beginning. Now it's time to start onboarding them into your company, a process that can make the difference between a smooth beginning in their new role, or a rocky start that leaves them looking for another new job ASAP.
Zippia’s research found that while most companies have an onboarding process, for 58% of businesses, onboarding is only about the paperwork. In reality, it's so much more than that—onboarding is your chance to make a good first impression on a new hire, help them learn about your company, teach them how to succeed in their role, and help them make connections with their colleagues (and fill out all the new hire paperwork, of course). Additionally, missing the mark while onboarding an employee in a different country could violate labor laws and land your business in hot water.
So before your new employee in Mexico signs their job offer, make sure all the pieces are in place to make their onboarding experience positive, impactful, and educational. In the checklist below, you'll find everything you need to know to help your new hire feel welcome and confident to start work, plus how to guide them through their first 90 days and beyond.
Before their first day
- Complete an employment background check. A background check can help determine a job candidate's experience, qualifications, and eligibility to work in Mexico. Just make sure to handle prospective employees' personal data with care—Mexico's data privacy laws mean you could face fines if you don't. Read our full guide to employment background checks in Mexico to learn more.
- Send an offer letter. The next step is the offer letter (also known as an employment contract). To stay compliant with Mexican employment laws, it needs to include the right information and clauses—like employee information, salary, benefits, probationary periods, termination policies, and any other information that's necessary to know before they start in their new role. Read our full guide on creating offer letters for employees in Mexico.
- Do the necessary paperwork. Paperwork is a necessary part of employee onboarding. Human resources will usually take the lead on wrangling all the right forms, which can include social security enrollment, i-9 forms, direct deposit authorization, non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), and more. Many businesses have inefficient workflows for internal documents, including multiple email chains and back-and-forth between stakeholders and signatories.
- Enroll them in benefits. Mandatory benefits in Mexico include profit sharing, vacation days, 13th-month salary, sick leave, and more. See the full breakdown in our guide to employee benefits in Mexico.
- Add them to payroll. Mexican law requires all employees in Mexico to receive their salary in Mexican pesos. You'll also need to keep careful payroll records for your Mexican employees—the government can audit them for up to five years. Check out our full guide to running payroll for employees in Mexico.
- Order and configure their devices. Help your new hire hit the ground running by ordering and configuring their devices before their first day.
- Set up their app accounts. Make sure your new employee has immediate access to their email Slack, Zoom, and any other important app accounts by getting them registered and set up ahead of their start date.
- Prepare any resources they'll need on their first day. These can include:
- Their own copy of your onboarding checklist
- An employee handbook
- Copies of any other company policies they should know
- A team directory
- And agenda for their first day or first week
- A copy of their job description
- A list of their top priorities as they start their new job
- Any other role-specific resources they may need
- Schedule their orientation (and a get-to-know-you event with the team!). Mexican employees tend to be tight-knit, forming friendships and spending time together outside of the office. Make sure you schedule events for your team to welcome their new colleague—and let everyone know ahead of time to make sure they block off the time to attend.
- Assign them an onboarding buddy or mentor. New hire onboarding goes smoother when the new employee has a point person who can show them the ropes and answer their questions. Someone from the HR department or a teammate who's worked for the company for a while can be great choices.
- Send a welcome email. Just before your new hire's first day, send them a welcome email with all the information they'll need when they arrive at work for the first time—an agenda, your office dress code, the name of the person they'll check in with, and anything else they need to know. You can automate the process of creating a welcome email with Rippling.
On Day 1
- Make sure their workspace is set up. Before they arrive on their first day, swing by your new hire's desk or workspace to make sure it's all set up with the right furniture and devices. To help them feel extra welcome, you might consider some fun decorations (like a colorful welcome sign) or a small gift (chocolates are a common gift to give in business settings in Mexico).
- Send a "welcome to the team" email. Early on their first day, send an official welcome email to the team to let them know a new colleague is joining and to encourage them to say hello. Learn how to craft the perfect "welcome to the team" email with our guide.
- Give them an agenda or plan to help them get started. Your new hire will likely feel more comfortable if they know exactly what their first day will entail, so when they arrive is a great time to give them an agenda, plan, or checklist so they have a visual reminder of everything they need to do on Day 1.
- Schedule a 1:1 with their manager. Another important thing to schedule early on a new hire's first day is a 1:1 with their supervisor or manager. They'll be able to get acquainted with one another, and your new hire can ask any immediate questions they have before diving into the rest of their onboarding process.
- Schedule a 1:1 with their onboarding buddy or mentor. After meeting with their manager, your new employee should be introduced to their onboarding mentor, who will then take the lead on guiding them through the rest of the process. A quick 1:1 so they can meet one another can transition right into other important parts of the first day, like an office tour.
- Give an office tour. Once your new employee has met a few important colleagues, they need a tour of the office where they'll be working. Make sure to cover the basics, like where the bathrooms and break rooms are. Also include safety info, like where to find fire extinguishers or what to do in the event of an earthquake.
- Have a get-to-know-you event with their team. Even though your new hire's first day is likely to be busy, it's important to let them start building connections with their coworkers—work teams are often friendly and tight-knit in Mexico. To not take work time away from other important onboarding activities, consider inviting the team for a social breakfast or lunch where everyone can get to know one another.
- Provide them with a list of contacts. And lastly, make sure your new hire has contact information—Slack handles, email addresses, phone numbers, etc.—for any team members they might need to reach out to at work. It can also be a good idea to note each person's role so your new employee can quickly find the right person to answer a specific question.
During their first 90 days
- Schedule organizational and role-specific training. Your new hire's first job is to learn about your business—things like your company culture and goals, and how they fit into the big picture. Slowly, over their first few months, you can start to pivot their training to more role-specific information but remember to keep things bite-sized and give your new hire time to tackle the learning curve.
- Assign work and help them set goals. With their learning curve in mind, start assigning your new hire some tasks and work to do—but be careful not to overload them! Try a goal-setting framework like SMART goals—setting goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound—to help set clear targets your new employee can work toward.
- Schedule regular check-ins and mentorship to help them stay on track. Remember that onboarding is a process that goes on for months, and you should have regular check-ins with new employees for at least their first 90 days. Schedule check-ins at 30, 60, and 90 days to start, but be flexible if your new hire wants to meet more frequently than that.
- Offer regular feedback as they get settled in. Feedback is key to helping new employees know when they're on the right track—and when they need to redirect or refocus their efforts. Offer them regular feedback throughout their onboarding so they never have to wonder about their performance.
- Seek their feedback on how you can improve the onboarding experience. And finally, remember that your new hire knows better than anyone what works about your onboarding process—and what doesn't. Solicit feedback from them so you can improve the process for future employees.
Onboarding new employees in Mexico is easy—and fast—with Rippling
If you're going to hire employees, contractors, or remote workers in Mexico, you need more than just a new hire checklist: you need Rippling.
Rippling makes it easy to onboard and manage employees and contractors around the world—in one system that helps keep you compliant with local employment laws and regulations.
And with Rippling, onboarding new employees is a breeze. Complete and verify background checks, write and send offer letters, send, sign, and store digital documents, and localize onboarding materials to your new hire's home country—all from one centralized location.
Rippling and its affiliates do not provide tax, accounting, or legal advice. This material has been prepared for informational purposes only, and is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on for tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult your own tax, legal, and accounting advisors before engaging in any related activities or transactions.
