How should you set up a new starter's computer?

Order the hardware when the offer is accepted, enrol and configure it before they arrive, and hand over a machine that is signed in, secured and has access to the systems that role needs. A first day spent waiting for a laptop is a poor introduction and it is entirely avoidable.

The recurring failure is timing. Hardware ordering gets triggered by the start date rather than by the acceptance, and business machines are frequently built to order with lead times measured in weeks. The result is a new person on a borrowed laptop for their first fortnight, which costs productivity and sets a tone about how organised the business is.

The second half is the standard build, meaning an agreed configuration every machine receives for a given role: the same applications, the same security policies, the same defaults. With modern management tooling a machine can be enrolled and configured largely automatically, so setup is repeatable rather than a manual afternoon. It also makes support predictable, because every machine looks the same, and makes a replacement straightforward when someone's laptop fails.

The part most often missed is access rather than equipment. A new starter needs their accounts, licences, the shared mailboxes they will use, the folders and sites for their team, and the line-of-business systems their role requires. Without a per-role checklist that becomes a week of individual requests. Writing one takes an hour, once, and pairs naturally with the offboarding checklist that removes the same access when someone leaves. If you want onboarding handled so day one works, call 1800 456 567.