Onboarding new managers: leading healthily from the start
People who lead for the first time are often promoted overnight and then left alone. Yet the first months shape how someone leads – and how the team fares. A fixed start ensures that every new manager knows what healthy leadership means in your company, which duties come with it and whom to turn to. This guide applies all year: whenever someone takes on a leadership role for the first time.
What belongs in the start?
A conversation about expectations and scope with their own manager. An overview of the duties that come with leadership – for example safety instructions, risk assessment or occupational reintegration management under § 167 SGB IX (German law) – and who provides support. A list of contacts. And an experienced manager as mentor for the first months.
Why a mentor?
Many questions only come up in everyday work: How do I approach someone who is often absent? What do I say when the team is overloaded? A mentor from within the company answers such questions quickly and without judgement.
What does it cost?
Mainly time for planning and mentoring. You will find training in healthy leadership in the marketplace. Once set up, you can use the start for every new manager.
How do you put the measure in place?
- 1Write an onboarding plan: conversation about the understanding of leadership, duties, contacts, mentor
- 2Recruit experienced managers as mentors
- 3Take each new manager through the plan in the first weeks
- 4After six months, obtain anonymous feedback from the team
Plan, invite, measure participation: EasyWHP, which offers WHPCompass free of charge, sets this measure up as a project, invites the workforce and shows how many people take part. How a measure runs in EasyWHP →
What do you need for it?
- Effort
- half a day
- Cost
- under €100
- Duration
- The first 6 months of each new manager
- Setup
- 360 min
- ✓ New managers know their duties and contacts
- ✓ A mentor for the first months
- ✓ The same start for everyone instead of chance
- ✓ Once set up, reusable for every new manager
Tax and health insurance: what is possible
Employer health benefits can be tax-free under § 3 no. 34 of the German Income Tax Act (EStG) up to €600 per employee per year — if they are provided in addition to the salary already owed and are either certified (§ 20 SGB V) or implemented within the company's health promotion process. Gym memberships and corporate fitness are not covered. For ZPP-certified courses (e.g. from Upfit), German statutory health insurers can reimburse all or part of the course fee to their insured members — then only the amount exceeding that reimbursement is tax-free. Projects within the company can be funded under § 20b SGB V, with no entitlement. Only your tax adviser can confirm the tax exemption.
Health insurance and tax: how to proceed →How it works in EasyWHP
This Best Practice in EasyWHP: adopt it, adapt it, measure the effect
Once adopted, the measure is ready in EasyWHP — with instructions, an invitation and surveys before and after. You adapt what fits your company and see at the end what it achieved.
Screenshots with demo data, no real people.
Adopt it for your company
Register for free — and the measure is ready to go in your cockpit: invitation, feedback survey and appointment are already set up. First cycle, first numbers for the boss.
Try EasyWHP for freeRather take a look first? To the live demo →
Contributes to
Action field
Healthy Leadership →A fitting occasion
Related Best Practices
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