--- title: "Launch first-day onboarding end to end" description: "Build a start-date flow with a pre-start email, a day-one welcome and a manager nudge, test it on yourself, review the first enrollments and switch it to Automated." sidebar: order: 1 area: getting-started feature: onboarding appPath: /flows/home lastVerified: 2026-10-22 version: "2026-10-16" audience: admin screenshots: - id: flows-automations-editor caption: The automation editor, with the trigger at the top and the steps in schedule order. video: getting-started-onboarding-tour related: - flows/automations - activity/enrollments - directory/employees - getting-started/tutorial-set-up-your-workspace intercom: - id: "12691830" title: How to Set up the First Day (Onboarding) Flow (Pyn 2) url: https://intercom.help/pyn/en/articles/12691830-how-to-set-up-the-first-day-onboarding-flow-pyn-2 note: replaces - id: "6024064" title: How to customize the onboarding packet (Pyn 1) url: https://intercom.help/pyn/en/articles/6024064-how-to-customize-the-onboarding-packet-pyn-1 note: "Pyn 1 article, kept for reference" --- **Goal**: an onboarding flow that reaches every new starter without anyone remembering to send it. **Time**: 20 to 30 minutes. **You end up with**: an automation triggered by the start date, with three email steps, published, tested on yourself, reviewed in Verification mode and then running in Automated mode. You are an **Owner**, **Admin** or **Power User**, your workspace has employees with start dates in [Directory](https://support.pynhq.com/directory/), and a sender is connected ([Set up your workspace in 30 minutes](https://support.pynhq.com/getting-started/tutorial-set-up-your-workspace/) covers both). [Video: The onboarding flow: open the automation and a step, then follow its enrollments under Activity.](https://support.pynhq.com/media/getting-started/onboarding/getting-started-onboarding-tour.mp4) ## Chapter 1: Start from the trigger 1. In Pyn, open **Flows** in the left navigation, then select **Automations**. 2. Open an onboarding automation from the list, or select **Create New** in the top-right corner and choose a trigger under **Employee Lifecycle** in the **Select Trigger** dialog: **Start of Onboarding** for steps from day one, or **Pre-onboarding** to begin before the start date. 3. Select the trigger card at the top of the editor. In the drawer, on **Configure**, set **This flow starts** to **on the day of** so the start date is the reference date every step is timed from, and leave **the Employee's Start Date** at **just once**. 4. Under **Prevent repeat enrollments**, choose **Never reenroll**, so a corrected start date does not enrol the same person twice. 5. Select the **Audience** tab. Under **Lifecycle**, keep **Current** and **Joiner** so people enrol before their first day; leave **Included** and **Excluded** empty unless only part of the company should get this flow. **Audience Preview** shows who matches. ![Open an automation to edit its trigger and steps.](https://support.pynhq.com/media/flows/automations/flows-automations-editor.png) ## Chapter 2: Add the three messages 1. Select **Add Step** and choose **Send Email to Employee** under **Communication**. 2. In the drawer, give the step a title such as `Before you start`. Under **Send from**, pick your sender. Under **To**, keep **Employee**; for a pre-start message choose the personal address, since the work mailbox may not exist yet. 3. Under **Schedule**, choose **1 week before**, set the time to 9:00 and choose **Recipient Time Zone**. Leave the weekdays as they are, and under **On a skipped day** choose **Deliver on next delivery day**. 4. Write the subject and body. Type `@` to insert a token such as the employee's preferred name, so the message reads as if written for them. 5. Add a second **Send Email to Employee** step titled `Day one welcome`, scheduled **on the day of** the reference date, to the employee's work address. 6. Add a third step, **Send Email to Employee**, titled `Manager check-in nudge`. Under **To**, choose **Manager**; under **Schedule**, choose 3 days after. This one reminds the manager to book time with their new report. 7. Select **Publish** in the top-right corner. The steps now run against this published version. > **Caution:** Steps scheduled before the start date only reach people whose record arrives in Pyn before that day. If your HRIS adds starters late, Pyn warns on the step; either move the step closer to day one or turn on **Skip if overdue at enrollment** so a late starter is not sent a stale pre-start email. ## Chapter 3: Test it on yourself 1. Select **Use This**, then **Manual Only** in **Select how you would like this flow to operate:**. The flow is on, but nothing enrols by itself yet. 2. Open the mode menu in the top-right corner and select **Manual Enroll**. 3. Under **Search for an employee to enroll**, find yourself. Set the **Reference Date** to a date next week, turn on **Flag as Test**, select **Next** and then **Confirm**. 4. Open **Activity** in the left navigation. Under **Enrollments**, your test enrollment is listed with each step and its scheduled date. Open a step to see the message with your name filled in. ## Chapter 4: Review real enrollments, then let it run 1. Back on the automation, open the mode menu, select **Change Mode** and choose **Verification**. From now on each new starter enrols, but every enrollment pauses. 2. In **Activity**, select **Needs Review**. Open each paused enrollment, check the dates and the messages, and unpause the ones that are right. 3. After a week or two of clean reviews, select **Change Mode** again and choose **Automated**. Pyn confirms with **Congrats!**; enrollments now schedule and send without review. ## What you should see In **Flows**, the automation shows **Automated** as its mode and a count of enrollments. In **Activity**, **All Enrollments** lists one row per new starter and **All Messages** lists each email with its status: **Scheduled** until the day, then **Delivered**. The free plan includes this one automation; see [Plans and what each unlocks](https://support.pynhq.com/getting-started/plans/) before turning on a second. ## Next steps - Add a Slack or Teams step so the day-one welcome arrives where people chat: see [Automations](https://support.pynhq.com/flows/automations/). - Ask the manager to confirm they met their new starter by adding a button and a reminder to the nudge step. - Repeat the pattern for work anniversaries, which need no HRIS beyond the start date you already have. ## Related - [Automations](https://support.pynhq.com/flows/automations/) for every trigger, step type and schedule option. - [Enrollments](https://support.pynhq.com/activity/enrollments/) for reviewing, unpausing and stopping enrollments. - [Employees](https://support.pynhq.com/directory/employees/) for the start dates and managers this flow depends on. - [Set up your workspace in 30 minutes](https://support.pynhq.com/getting-started/tutorial-set-up-your-workspace/) for connecting the sender this flow sends from. ## Related Intercom articles - [How to Set up the First Day (Onboarding) Flow (Pyn 2)](https://intercom.help/pyn/en/articles/12691830-how-to-set-up-the-first-day-onboarding-flow-pyn-2) — replaces - [How to customize the onboarding packet (Pyn 1)](https://intercom.help/pyn/en/articles/6024064-how-to-customize-the-onboarding-packet-pyn-1) — Pyn 1 article, kept for reference