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The veterinary new starter pack: before day one to day ninety

Induction is not a welcome. It is the month in which you decide whether this was the right hire and they decide whether this was the right practice. Both decisions get made early, usually before anyone says anything out loud.

This pack front loads that month. Editable Word document, free, emailed to you.

What is in it

• Before day one. Fifteen items that must be finished before the first shift, including the right to work check, RCVS verification, and booking every probation review date into the diary.
• Day one. Twelve items, including the written statement of particulars, the trade union statement from 30 October 2026, and two lines that look trivial and are not: lunch with somebody, and an end of day check in.
• Week one. Handbook, policies walked through rather than handed over, health and safety, software, shadowing and the first one to one booked.
• The first ninety days. Day 30, day 60 and day 90 as three distinct conversations with different jobs to do.
• Student veterinary nurse steps. Named clinical coach, a named alternative, and protected coaching time on the rota rather than assumed.
• Day 30 feedback form. Six questions for the new starter to answer about you.

The day 30 form is the one to actually use

A new starter can still see your practice clearly. After six months they will have normalised the same things everybody else has normalised, and that clarity is gone for good.

Ask them what was confusing, what was missing in week one, and whether there is anything they have not felt able to raise. Then change one thing as a result, visibly. That single act does more for retention than any benefit you could add.

Why the probation dates go in the diary before they start

Because reviews slip, and a probation that expires in silence confirms someone in post by default. That has always been untidy. From 1 January 2027 it becomes expensive, because the unfair dismissal qualifying period falls to six months and a six month probation now ends exactly where protection begins.

Book all of them on the day the offer is accepted, and hold them.

Use it with

The employment contract template for the written particulars this pack tells you to issue, the job description templates for the role itself, and the probation review form for the day 90 decision.