Purpose
Produce the specific people-management document a GM or HR generalist needs at any stage of an employee's tenure — offer letter, onboarding checklist, 30/60/90 check-in guide, performance improvement plan, or offboarding checklist — written for hourly and salaried food service and retail roles and ready to use immediately. Removes the blank-page problem for managers who handle HR without a dedicated HR team.
When to Use
Invoke this skill when the user asks to:
- Write an offer letter for a new hire (server, cook, cashier, shift lead, assistant manager, etc.)
- Build an onboarding checklist or first-week plan for a new employee
- Prepare 30-, 60-, or 90-day check-in questions or a check-in guide
- Draft a performance improvement plan (PIP) for a struggling team member
- Create an offboarding checklist for a resignation, termination, or seasonal exit
- Set up a repeatable people process for a store or restaurant location
Inputs Required
Before starting, collect:
- Lifecycle stage: Offer / Onboarding / 30-60-90 check-in / PIP / Offboarding
- Role: Job title and whether hourly or salaried
- Employment details: Pay rate, hours/status (full-time, part-time, seasonal), start date, reporting manager
- Location context: Business name, city/state (for at-will and jurisdiction-sensitive language)
- Specific situation: For check-ins — what's going well/poorly; for PIP — the exact performance issues and prior conversations; for offboarding — voluntary vs. involuntary and last day
- Tone preference: Warm / straightforward / formal (defaults to warm-but-professional)
If pay or exact dates are missing for an offer letter, insert a clearly marked fill-in line the manager completes before sending — never a bracketed placeholder. If jurisdiction is unknown, use general at-will language and flag that state-specific review is advised.
Instructions
Determine the lifecycle stage from the input, then produce the matching document using the structure below. Only generate the requested stage unless the user asks for multiple.
Stage 1: Offer Letter
A concise, legally cautious offer letter for an hourly or salaried food service/retail role. Include, in order:
- Warm opening — one line confirming the offer and enthusiasm
- Position details — title, department/location, reporting manager
- Compensation — pay rate (hourly or annual salary), pay frequency, overtime eligibility note for hourly roles, tip structure if relevant
- Schedule & status — full/part-time, expected hours, seasonal end date if applicable
- Start date & first-day logistics — where to report, what to bring, arrival time
- Benefits summary — brief bullets of what applies (meals, discounts, PTO, health if eligible), or "not eligible" stated plainly
- Contingencies — background check, work authorization (I-9/E-Verify), any required certifications (food handler card, alcohol service)
- At-will statement — standard at-will employment language
- Acceptance line — signature and date fields for both parties, response deadline Keep it to one page. No corporate jargon.
Stage 2: Onboarding Checklist
A first-30-days checklist organized by timeframe so nothing gets missed. Structure as four sections with checkbox items:
- Before Day 1 (manager tasks): paperwork sent, uniform/POS login ordered, schedule set, buddy/trainer assigned, station or workspace ready
- Day 1: welcome, tour, I-9 and W-4 completion, handbook + food safety/harassment policies signed, POS/system logins tested, uniform issued, shadow a shift
- Week 1: role-specific training milestones (menu knowledge, register/close-out, opening/closing duties, safety procedures), meet the team, first solo-supervised shift
- Days 8–30: full station certification, first pay confirmation, mid-onboarding check-in scheduled, feedback gathered Make training milestones concrete to the role provided (e.g., a line cook's items differ from a cashier's).
Stage 3: 30/60/90-Day Check-In Guide
A structured conversation guide for the specific milestone requested (or all three if asked). For each milestone include:
- Purpose — one line on what this check-in is for (30: settling in; 60: building competence; 90: retention/advancement decision)
- Manager prep — 2–3 things to review beforehand (attendance, training completion, peer/customer feedback)
- 5–7 questions to ask — mix of open questions (how's it going, what's unclear, what would help) and specific ones tied to the role
- What good looks like at this stage — a short benchmark so the manager can gauge on-track vs. off-track
- Next steps template — commitments the manager and employee each leave with, plus date of next touchpoint
Stage 4: Performance Improvement Plan (PIP)
A fair, documented, defensible PIP. Include:
- Summary of the issue — factual, specific, tied to observable behavior or metrics (not personality)
- Prior conversations — dated record of coaching already given
- Performance standards not being met — 2–4 concrete expectations with the current gap for each
- Required improvements — for each standard, the measurable target and how it will be assessed
- Support provided — retraining, mentoring, schedule adjustments the employer commits to
- Timeline — review checkpoints (typically 30/60/90 days or 2/4-week intervals) with dates
- Consequences — plain statement that failure to meet standards may result in termination
- Acknowledgment — signature lines noting the signature confirms receipt, not agreement Keep the language non-accusatory and behavior-focused throughout.
Stage 5: Offboarding Checklist
A tightly ordered checklist that protects the business and treats the person with dignity. Organize by category with checkbox items:
- Before last day: confirm last day in writing, resignation letter on file (if voluntary), final schedule set, coverage arranged
- Access & assets: POS/system logins deactivated, keys/badge/uniform returned, remove from schedule and group chats, revoke cash-handling/safe access
- Pay & compliance: final paycheck timing per state law, unused PTO payout if owed, benefits/COBRA notice, return of any deposits
- Documentation: reason for departure recorded, exit interview (voluntary only), rehire eligibility marked, retain file per record-keeping rules
- Knowledge & closure: handoff of open tasks, remove from vendor/customer contacts, brief team appropriately, send well-wishes (voluntary) Note where involuntary vs. voluntary steps differ (skip exit interview and warm send-off for terminations; ensure witness present for involuntary conversation).
Output Format
- Structure: A single ready-to-use document matching the requested stage — letter format for offers, checkbox lists for onboarding/offboarding, structured Q&A for check-ins, numbered plan for PIPs
- Length: Offer letter ~350–500 words (one page); onboarding checklist 25–40 items; check-in guide 5–7 questions per milestone; PIP 400–700 words; offboarding checklist 18–28 items
- Format: Copy-paste-ready text with checkboxes ([ ]) for checklists and fill-in lines for facts the manager must confirm
- Sections: Determined by the stage's structure above
- Tone: Warm-but-professional by default — plain-spoken, human, no HR jargon; PIP and offboarding shift to factual and neutral
Quality Checklist
Before delivering output, verify:
- [ ] Only the requested lifecycle stage is generated (unless multiple were asked for)
- [ ] Every fact-dependent field is either filled from inputs or shown as a clearly marked fill-in line — no bracketed placeholders
- [ ] Role-specific content is genuinely tailored (a cook's onboarding differs from a cashier's; check-in questions fit the role)
- [ ] Offer letters and PIPs include at-will language and a state-specific-review flag where jurisdiction is unknown
- [ ] Offboarding and PIP documents distinguish voluntary vs. involuntary handling where it matters
- [ ] Checklist items are countable and fall within the specified item ranges
Notes
- This skill drafts documents; it does not give legal advice. For terminations, final-pay timing, and PIPs, advise a quick review against state law and company policy before sending.
- The single highest-value moment for retention in food service and retail is the 30-day check-in — turnover concentrates in the first month, so encourage managers not to skip it.
- Keep offer letters to one page; long offers read as bureaucratic and slow acceptance in high-turnover roles.
- For PIPs, the strength of the document is the paper trail — always capture dated prior coaching conversations, since a PIP with no prior record reads as retaliatory.
How to use this skill
This file is a Claude Code skill in Anthropic's standard format — markdown with YAML frontmatter at the top.
Installing in Claude Code:
~/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md— auto-loads in every session anywhere on your machine (recommended for skills you'll use across multiple projects)<your-project>/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md— auto-loads only when working in that project (recommended for project-specific skills)
Restart Claude Code or open a new session to register.
Using in Claude.ai, ChatGPT, Gemini, or other AI tools:
- Drag this file into a new chat, or copy and paste its contents
- Send your task or request as your next message — the AI will apply the skill where it fits
For Claude Code skill details: https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/skills