The new accountant at a temple trust reports on a Thursday morning. Nobody tells him that the hundi room is opened only in the presence of two trustees and a camera operator. He walks in to ask for a ledger. The room goes silent, a trustee is upset, and his first day is remembered for the wrong reason.
Institutions that run on faith and service have rules that no job description captures. Where footwear is left. Who may enter the garbhagriha corridor. When the prasadam counter shuts. First weeks here are about learning a living calendar as much as a role.
The checklist itself, to copy and print
Name, role, reporting person and nominated mentor (a sevak from the same wing): ______.
Dress and footwear rule explained, uniform or dhoti and angavastram issued if applicable: ______.
Daily timetable received: suprabhatam, abhisheka slots, darshan queue opening, naivedyam, closing aarti: ______.
Areas the joiner may enter, and areas needing an archaka or trustee escort: ______.
Photo ID, duty badge and locker key issued and signed for: ______.
Donation receipt book or counting-room protocol explained, with two-person rule: ______.
Emergency points walked: crowd barricade exits, first aid post, fire extinguishers, lost-child desk: ______.
Festival calendar for the next ninety days handed over, with the joiner's expected role: ______.
Day 5 conversation held, notes filed: ______.Who fills it, and when
The mentor fills the sheet, not the new joiner. The office superintendent or trust secretary reviews it on Friday of the first week. A joiner who ticks their own boxes learns nothing about whether the explanations landed.
- Day 1 morning: dress, entrances, ID badge, locker, the mentor introduced by name.
- Day 1 afternoon: a walk along the entire darshan route, from the footwear stand to the exit gate.
- Day 2 and 3: shadow the wing, without handling cash or offerings.
- Day 4: first supervised task, for example issuing a sevā ticket or updating the guest-room register.
- Day 5: a short conversation about what felt unclear.
Differences that change how you fill it
A temple, an ashram and a cultural trust are not the same place. In a temple the day is shaped by the ritual timetable and by queue peaks on festival days. An ashram runs on residential routines, communal meals and volunteers who may stay for months. A cultural trust may have an auditorium, a library and visiting performers.
- Temples: add the festival rota, the pass system for VIP darshan, and the annadanam kitchen hygiene walk.
- Ashrams: add the residents' meal hours, the visitor registration book and the quiet hours.
- Pilgrimage institutions: add the dharamshala check-in desk, luggage store and the bus-arrival surge.
- Cultural trusts: add the stage load-in routine, the ticket box and the archive handling rules.
Volunteers and paid staff in the same corridor
Many institutions have sevadars working beside paid staff. Their first week needs a lighter version of the same sheet. Be clear about what a volunteer may not do, such as handling offerings or entering the store room. Paid staff should know who they may instruct and who they may not.
Say plainly whose instruction wins when a trustee, a priest and a manager give different directions at the same moment. In most institutions that is never written down, and new joiners learn by embarrassment.
Paperwork that belongs in the first five days
Collect the appointment letter acknowledgement, the address proof copy, the emergency contact and the blood group for the first aid post. For anyone handling donations, add a signed note on the counting-room protocol. File everything in one folder per person, not in the trustee's drawer.
- Duty roster slot confirmed against the festival calendar.
- Weekly off and substitute duty rule explained in the language the joiner reads best.
- Leave request route: to the mentor first, then the superintendent.
- Salary day and the name of the person who answers pay queries.
- Grievance route: whom to tell if a senior or a devotee behaves badly.
Common slips in a first week
The usual slips are small. A joiner is handed the keys of the store room on day one because the keeper is on leave. A new cook in the annadanam kitchen is not shown the segregation of raw and cooked areas. A front-desk clerk is not told the donor names that must never be spoken aloud. Each of these is fixed with one line on the sheet.
What to review at the end of week one
- 1
Read the sheet
Look for blank lines. A blank means the explanation did not happen, not that the joiner forgot.
- 2
Ask the joiner
Ask what they would do if a devotee asks for something outside their role. Their answer shows whether the boundaries registered.
- 3
Ask the mentor
Find what took longest to explain. That item belongs on page one of the next version.
- 4
Fix the sheet
Edit it once a quarter, before the busiest festival, not during it.
More detail on this stage of the journey is in the onboarding page for temples and the one for religious charitable organisations. The wider picture sits on the religious and cultural institutions hub. To have the sheet customised for your institution, send us a note through the requirements page.
