New electrician onboarding checklist: offer to day 90

Onboarding a new electrician has three legal clocks and a lot of trade sense. The clocks: I-9 Section 2 within 3 business days of his start, a new hire report to the state within 20 days, and fall protection training on record before he's exposed. The trade sense: a written offer with the whole check, the right lead on day one, and check-ins at day 7, 30 and 90.

Rules vary by state and city, so treat this as a starting list, not legal advice.

01Why onboarding decides who stays

A new hand decides in the first few weeks whether your shop is worth staying at. Gallup found 51% of people who quit said no manager talked with them about their job or future in the three months before they left.

One contractor featured by IEC said it went from 114% turnover in 2014 to 15% in 2021. It credited "a shift in how management thinks, leads, and communicates," along with quarterly foreman training meetings and raise reviews every six months for apprentices. That's one shop, not a study, but it matches what owners say: people stay where somebody's paying attention. Onboarding is the first piece of keeping good electricians.

02Before day one: the offer and the checks

Get the offer, the license check and any background check done before he quits his current job. If you're still picking the man, start with how to hire a journeyman who can do the work.

1. Put the offer in writing. Rate, schedule (5-8s, 4-10s, 6-10s), overtime, per diem with its unit ("$100 a day, 7 days" or "workdays only"), how long the job is expected to run, start date and time, where to report, and who his foreman is. A hand who gets surprised on his first check is gone by the second.
2. Verify the license and print it with the date. Look up the card on the state board yourself, check the level matches the work, and file the printout. Our guide on how to verify an electrician's license has the lookup steps.
3. Follow the FCRA if you run a background check. The FTC lists the steps: tell him in a stand-alone written notice, get his written permission, and certify to the background company. If you're going to reject him over the report, give him a copy and "A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act" first, then an adverse action notice after.
4. Hold medical questions until after the offer. The FTC's guidance says not to ask medical questions before a conditional job offer.
5. Send the tool list. Hand tools he brings, what the shop supplies, and whether there's a tool allowance. Nobody wants to show up and borrow a meter.

03Day one: paperwork, safety, and the right lead

Day one is paperwork in the morning and the right lead by lunch.

Paperwork:

• Form I-9. He fills out Section 1. You finish Section 2 within three business days of his start. USCIS's example: start Monday, done by Thursday. If the job lasts less than three business days, Section 2 is due on day one. Keep the I-9 for three years after hire or one year after he leaves, whichever is later.
• E-Verify, if it applies. Federal contracts with the FAR E-Verify clause, over $150,000 and at least 120 days, require it, and primes must flow it down to subcontracts over $3,500. Some states require it for private employers too. Check yours.
• Form W-4 for federal withholding, plus your state's form.

Safety orientation, documented:

• Site hazards. OSHA 1926.21(b)(2) requires you to "instruct each employee in the recognition and avoidance of unsafe conditions" on the job.
• Energized circuits. Under OSHA 1926.416(a)(3), before work begins you find out where energized circuits are, post warnings, and tell your people where the lines are and how to protect themselves.
• Fall protection. OSHA 1926.503 requires training for anyone who might be exposed to falls, given by a competent person, and a written certification record with his name, the training date and the trainer's or employer's signature.
• OSHA-10, where it's required. OSHA says its 10-hour and 30-hour courses are voluntary and don't meet the training requirements of any OSHA standard. Some states, cities and owners require them anyway. Nevada, for example, requires construction workers to get an OSHA-10 card within 15 days of hire and supervisors an OSHA-30, and the employer must suspend or terminate anyone who doesn't. See the OSHA training your electricians need.

On the job:

• Pair him with a lead, not a laborer. Put a new J-man next to someone who knows the job and the prints, so he gets productive fast and you see what he can do.
• Truck, fuel card and phone rules in writing if he drives a company vehicle.
• Per diem and travel policy in writing if he's traveling: when it's paid, which days count, and what happens on days off.

04Within 20 days: the new hire report

Federal law requires you to report every new hire to your state within 20 days of hire. The report covers his name, address and Social Security number, his first day of paid work, and your business name, address and federal EIN. Some states set a shorter deadline, so check your state's new hire reporting page.

05Day 7, day 30, day 90: the check-ins

Three short check-ins catch most problems while they can still be fixed.

Write down what he says. If day 30 turns up a problem with the rate or the per diem, fix it that week. A hand who has to ask twice starts taking calls.

06The full checklist

Print this and keep it in the trailer.

07What to do in week one when a new hand isn't working out

Decide by the end of week one, based on the work, not the interview.

One national electrical contractor told us they "don't have the time nor the bandwidth" to carry a so-called journeyman, and that a real one should take the prints and go "from point A to point B" without hand-holding. That's a fair test for week one.

1. Give him three real tasks by Wednesday. Bend and set an offset, land and terminate a circuit, and run a short section off the prints. Our day-one skills list for a journeyman has more.
2. Have the lead write down what he saw. Two or three lines a day. Facts, not feelings.
3. Talk to him Thursday. Tell him exactly what's short. Some hands are rusty on one thing and fine on the rest.
4. Decide Friday. Keep him at the level he works at, move him to work he can do, or let him go. If you let him go, check your state's final paycheck rules and pay him on time.

Write your probation period into the offer: how long it is and what he has to show by the end. It's your policy, so make it clear and apply it the same way to everyone. For the rest of the legal side, see hiring law basics for electrical contractors.

If you'd rather onboard hands than chase them, apply here and we'll see if we can put 5 licensed electricians in front of you in 14 days.

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