---
name: employee-lifecycle-manager
description: "Drafts complete employee lifecycle documents for hourly and salaried food service and retail roles — offer letters, onboarding checklists, 30/60/90-day check-in guides, performance improvement plans, and offboarding checklists — each ready to send or run without further editing. Use when hiring, onboarding, running check-ins, addressing underperformance, or offboarding a restaurant or retail team member."
argument-hint: "[lifecycle-stage] [role]"
allowed-tools: ["Read"]
---

# Employee Lifecycle Manager

## 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:
1. **Warm opening** — one line confirming the offer and enthusiasm
2. **Position details** — title, department/location, reporting manager
3. **Compensation** — pay rate (hourly or annual salary), pay frequency, overtime eligibility note for hourly roles, tip structure if relevant
4. **Schedule & status** — full/part-time, expected hours, seasonal end date if applicable
5. **Start date & first-day logistics** — where to report, what to bring, arrival time
6. **Benefits summary** — brief bullets of what applies (meals, discounts, PTO, health if eligible), or "not eligible" stated plainly
7. **Contingencies** — background check, work authorization (I-9/E-Verify), any required certifications (food handler card, alcohol service)
8. **At-will statement** — standard at-will employment language
9. **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:
1. **Summary of the issue** — factual, specific, tied to observable behavior or metrics (not personality)
2. **Prior conversations** — dated record of coaching already given
3. **Performance standards not being met** — 2–4 concrete expectations with the current gap for each
4. **Required improvements** — for each standard, the measurable target and how it will be assessed
5. **Support provided** — retraining, mentoring, schedule adjustments the employer commits to
6. **Timeline** — review checkpoints (typically 30/60/90 days or 2/4-week intervals) with dates
7. **Consequences** — plain statement that failure to meet standards may result in termination
8. **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.

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