Onboarding new staff in architecture and interior firms

Documents and registrations

Send the self-onboarding link with the offer, so their personal and bank details, photo, Aadhaar, PAN and bank proof are in before the first day. Degree certificates and experience letters are collected separately and filed in the employee's documents. For architects, record the Council of Architecture registration number and its validity, since the firm may need it for submissions and client documents. For interns, collect the college's letter, the training period and the faculty coordinator's name. Approve or return each submission; an approved one becomes the employee record.

Confidentiality and design ownership

Designers see client homes, office layouts, security arrangements and unpublished projects. Every joiner should sign a confidentiality undertaking covering client information and drawings, and the appointment letter should state that design work created for the firm belongs to the firm. The OSH Code makes an appointment letter compulsory for each employee, so put working hours, core hours, site duties, probation and notice period in it, and the terms are settled before the first project begins.

The first two weeks in the studio

Give the joiner a laptop or workstation with licensed software on day one, access to the project folders they need, and the studio's CAD standards: layer names, title blocks, file naming and version rules. Pair them with a project architect for the first project. Take them on a site visit in the first fortnight, so they see how drawings turn into buildings, and introduce them to the material library and key vendors. Record the studio induction as a training program so every joiner covers the same ground.

Probation judged on drawings

Three to six months of probation is usual for architects and designers. Judge it on actual output: drawing accuracy, how quickly revisions come back, how the joiner handles client feedback and site queries. Before the end date, the project architect rates the probation review from 1 to 5 and adds comments. HR then decides: confirmation, a longer probation with the reason written down, or not confirmed, and a confirmation letter lands in the employee's documents. Interns get a completion certificate at the end of the internship instead.

How to set it up in ZeniaHR

1. Send the self-onboarding link with every offer, and collect COA registration, intern college letters and the signed confidentiality undertaking separately for the employee's documents.
2. Approve each submission to create the employee record, then set designation, grade, employment type and the project architect as reporting manager.
3. Prepare the appointment letter and confidentiality undertaking from the HR letter library, and file the signed copies in each joiner's documents.
4. Create a studio induction program in Learning covering CAD standards, file rules and site etiquette, and enrol every joiner.
5. In the Work terms policy, give each employment type its probation length, and require a manager review before confirmation.
6. Use the Probation & Confirmation queue to ask project architects for reviews before each end date.

Read more about onboarding in ZeniaHR.

Roles this applies to

Frequently asked questions