Get New Fee Earners Working to the Firm's Standard, Sooner
A new associate or manager is only useful once they know the clients, the templates, the review standard and the confidentiality rules of your firm. We design the joining, induction and probation process around those things, and help you run it even in a busy season. You decide who is confirmed; we make sure that decision rests on expectations that were set and reviews that were held.
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Share your requirementsThe starting point
Do New Joiners Learn the Firm by Accident?
In a firm that is always busy, the first week is usually whatever the supervising manager can spare. The joiner gets a desk, a login and a first file, and learns the standards by being corrected later. Probation then ends without a proper review because everyone was on a deadline.
We help you give every joiner a first month and a probation review that follow the same plan.
You may be experiencing:
- Joiners who start billing before they have signed the confidentiality and independence declarations the firm relies on.
- No single list of what a new fee earner must receive: laptop, practice-management login, timesheet access, document system, library and templates.
- Induction that depends on which manager is free, so two joiners in the same month are taught different things.
- Lateral hires expected to perform at once without an introduction to the firm's working papers, review notes or drawing standards.
- Trainees and articled staff who join together in a batch during the busiest weeks and get little attention.
- Probation reviews skipped, then confirmation letters issued late or not at all.
- Concerns about a joiner raised only at the end of probation, with nothing written down earlier.
What we can help with
Our Onboarding and Probation Services for Professional Services Firms
Joining Process Review
We map what happens between offer acceptance and confirmation today, speak to recent joiners and their supervisors, and mark the steps that are missed or have no owner.
Pre-Joining Preparation
Plan the weeks before day one: documents to collect, the membership and credential records to file, systems to set up, the buddy and the supervising manager to name.
Undertakings and Declarations
Set the order in which a new joiner signs the confidentiality undertaking, conflict and independence declarations and technology-use rules, and the point after which client files can be opened.
Access and Equipment Readiness
A checklist shared by IT, administration and the supervising manager for hardware, email, time-recording, document-system and client-folder access, each with an owner and a due date.
Role-Wise Induction Plans
Separate plans for experienced hires, trainees and support staff. They cover the firm, the practice, the working standard, the templates and the tools, and who teaches each part.
Staged Expectations
Set what is expected in the first weeks, the first quarter and the end of probation for each level, in terms of work done, review quality and client handling.
Probation Reviews and Feedback
Design review points with a short format for the joiner and the supervisor, and a place to record concerns early so they can be addressed while there is time.
Confirmation, Extension and Letters
A decision route and formats for confirmation, extension or discontinuation, so the outcome is recorded and communicated on time. Confirm the terms that apply with a qualified professional.
The deliverables
What You Receive
Depending on the agreed scope, you receive:
- A joining checklist that covers documents, systems, undertakings and declarations.
- Induction plans for experienced hires, trainees and support staff.
- A first-month schedule naming who teaches what.
- Staged expectations by level for the probation period.
- A probation review format for the joiner and the supervisor.
- Confirmation and extension letter formats.
- A tracker or workflow that shows pending reviews to HR and the practice head.
Step by step
How We Work
Learn How Joiners Arrive Today
We speak to HR, supervising managers and recent joiners to see where the first weeks go smoothly and where they stall.
Design the Joining Path
We draft the pre-joining checklist, undertakings sequence and induction plans for each kind of joiner, and test them with two or three practice heads.
Define Expectations and Review Points
We agree the staged expectations, review dates and formats with the partners who will rely on them.
Set Up Tracking
We configure reminders, checklists and review records so pending items reach the right person without a chase.
Run One Cycle and Adjust
We record a baseline, support the first set of joiners through the process and adjust what did not work.
The difference
A First Few Months That Follow a Plan
A defined onboarding and probation process helps the firm to:
We do not promise outcomes. We record a baseline before work starts, covering joining tasks completed before day one, probation reviews held on time and the length of time before a joiner is billing, and report against it, so you can see what changed and what did not.
- Have every undertaking signed before client files are opened.
- Give joiners in different practices the same grounding.
- Make trainees feel looked after during a busy intake.
- Hold probation reviews on the dates set.
- Record concerns and feedback while there is time to act.
- Issue confirmation or extension letters on time.
Find your fit
Who This Service Is For
Firms Hiring Experienced Professionals
Where lateral hires are expected to contribute early and need orienting to the firm's way of working.
Firms With Trainee and Article Batches
Where several juniors join together and need structured attention.
Multi-Office Firms
Where the joining experience varies between cities and needs a common baseline.
Architecture and Engineering Consultancies
Where joiners must learn drawing standards, project folders and software conventions.
Staffing Companies
Where internal staff and deployed consultants both need joining steps, and the client's own induction must be added.
How it usually shows up in professional services
New joiners in professional firms are usually handed to whichever senior is least busy, and the induction is a mix of introductions and a first file. The firm's templates, working paper standards, time-recording rules and confidentiality undertakings are explained in passing or not at all. Access to client systems, shared drives and research tools is requested late, so the first days are idle. Trainees and articles join in batches and are sometimes treated more carefully than lateral hires, who are expected to start billing at once. Probation reviews depend on the supervising partner finding time, and confirmation letters are issued when somebody remembers. Where the person joins during a peak, the whole first quarter can pass with no structured feedback, and the first sign that something is wrong is a resignation.
Common challenges
Where it goes wrong in professional services
Induction is a first file
People learn the firm's standards by making mistakes on a live client matter.
Confidentiality is explained late
Undertakings and conflict declarations are signed after the person has already seen client material.
Access arrives after the person
Email, drives and research tools are set up days later, wasting the first week.
Probation is not diarised
Reviews and confirmation depend on a partner's memory and often drift.
A better process
What a working version looks like
- 01
Prepare before day one
Documents collected, systems and access ready, and a named buddy and supervisor told that the person is joining. The onboarding process sets the checklist.
- 02
Sign the firm's undertakings first
Confidentiality, conflict-of-interest and information-security declarations completed before client material is shared.
- 03
Teach the working standard
A short session on templates, working papers, review notes and time recording, with an example of a good file.
- 04
Set expectations in stages
A plan for the first month, third month and probation end, stating what the person should be able to do at each point.
- 05
Diarise the probation review
Review dates set at joining, with input from the people the new joiner has worked for, before confirmation.
What to check this week
- Check the last joiner's first week and note what was ready on day one.
- Ask when the confidentiality undertaking was signed against the first client file.
- List who is on probation and when each review is due.
- Ask a recent joiner what they wish they had been told earlier.
- Find the confirmation letters issued late in the last year.
Confirm with a qualified professional. What applies depends on your establishment, your state and your sector, and it changes. This page describes a practice; it does not state a legal position.
What this looks like in professional services
The parts of onboarding and probation that are specific to this sector, rather than general.
Onboarding a Fee Earner
Chargeable from when, and supervised until when.
What this coversHide
Onboarding a Fee Earner
Chargeable from when, and supervised until when.
What this coversHideA professional firm onboards people who are expected to be chargeable quickly and whose early work carries the firm's name. Both facts have to shape the induction.
- Professional qualification and credential verification at joining
- Firm methodology, templates and working-paper standards
- Client confidentiality and conflict-check process
- Practice management and time recording from day one
- Supervision arrangements stated - who reviews their work and when
- Chargeability expectations explained with a ramp, not a cliff
- Client introduction handled by the firm
- Probation reviewed on quality and conduct, not only hours
A stated supervision arrangement is the protection that matters most in the first months, both for the client and for the individual, and it is often left to whoever happens to be available.
Questions on this, in professional services
Because a joiner who can open a client file before signing the confidentiality and independence declarations has already been trusted without the firm's paperwork. A set order of steps prevents that and gives you a dated record of when each was done.
That depends on the level, your contracts and the work. We help you set review points and expectations that fit the period you have chosen. Confirm the terms that apply with a qualified professional, since GullyHR does not give legal advice.
The skeleton is shared, but the content differs. Trainees need teaching of basic craft and supervision, while experienced hires need orienting to your standards and clients. We build separate plans on a common frame.
The process records feedback early, agrees actions with the joiner and the supervisor, and sets the decision route. The firm then decides whether to confirm, extend or discontinue, with the earlier notes on file.
Yes. Checklists, reminders, review dates and approvals can be configured on the GullyHR platform or in your own system, with pending items visible to HR and the practice head.
It can. We add steps for the client's access, induction and any site rules, and note who is responsible for each, so a deployed consultant is ready on the first day at the client.
The firm's structure and clients, working paper and review standards, time recording, confidentiality and conflict rules, and the tools the person will use. Add a plan for the first quarter.
Because new joiners can see client material almost at once. Having the undertaking and conflict declaration in place first protects the client and the firm.
It depends on the role and your policy. What matters is that review dates are set at joining and feedback is given during the period, not only at its end.
Laterals need less on basics and more on the firm's standards, clients and people, and a clear view of what is expected in the first quarter. Do not assume experience means they know your way.
Start Every Joiner on the Same Footing
Tell us who joins your firm, in what numbers and what currently goes wrong in the first weeks. We will discuss how to build the joining and probation process around it.
Prefer to talk first? Call +91 80958 58589 or write to hello@gullyhr.com.
Discuss Your Joining Process
Share a few details about how people join your firm.
The general method — what onboarding and probation covers, the questions it answers and what an engagement produces — is the same whatever the sector, and is set out on the onboarding and probation page. What is above is the part that differs for professional services.
To run this in a system rather than on paper, see onboarding and employee movement.
Other HR topics for professional services
Where to start
Most engagements begin with a review of how this runs in your business today, then a written process and the sequence to implement it.
See all HR topics for professional services, or another industry.