A new starter kit is often the first physical thing an employee receives from a company they’ve just joined, before their first meeting and sometimes before their first day. Get it right and it quietly signals that the organisation is well-run. Getting it wrong with mismatched branding, missing items, and nothing for remote hires undercuts the welcome before it’s even begun.

This guide covers what to actually include, how to handle office versus remote starters differently, typical budgets, and how to stop onboarding kits becoming an ad hoc admin job for HR every time someone joins.

What is a new starter kit or onboarding pack?

A new starter kit (or employee onboarding pack) is a set of branded items given to a new hire at or before their start date, typically combining practical items, welcome touches, and company-branded merchandise. It’s usually the same core set that every new hire receives, sometimes with small variations for role, seniority, or work location, and it is often the new employee’s first tangible contact with the company brand.

Done well, it does three jobs at once. It’s practical (useful items, not clutter), it reinforces brand consistency from day one, and it signals to a new hire that they’ve joined an organisation that plans ahead.

What to include in a new starter kit

There’s no single correct list, but most well-run kits draw from four categories.

Essentials

• Company handbook or first-day information (printed or as a card with a QR link)
• ID badge or lanyard, if applicable
• A welcome card, ideally signed or personalised with the new hire’s name
• Basic stationery such as a pen and notepad

Branded apparel

• A branded T-shirt, polo, or fleece, useful for team events and site visits from day one
• A cap or beanie for outdoor or field-based roles

Tech and desk items

• Reusable water bottle or insulated mug
• A notebook (branded, decent quality, that gets used daily)
• USB charging cable or portable charger
• Desk item such as a coaster or small organiser

Welcome touches

• A small snack or local treat
• A short note from the hiring manager or team, separate from the standard welcome card
• Something specific to the company culture (a book the team recommends, a team photo, an inside joke reference), this is the one thing that can’t be templated, and it’s often what people remember

Onboarding packs for remote and hybrid employees

Remote and hybrid onboarding needs a different approach, mainly because there is no office to arrive at and absorb the culture from. The kit has to do more of that work on its own, and it has to survive a courier journey.

Key differences for remote onboarding packs:

• Ship direct to home, timed to arrive a day or two before the start date, not on it, because a kit that arrives late undermines the whole point
• Skip anything that assumes an office (no desk plants, nothing needing office storage)
• Add a home-office item such as a laptop stand, a decent notebook and pen, a mousepad, or headphones if budget allows
• Include clear setup information including login details, IT contact, and first-day video call links, since there’s no one physically nearby to ask
• Consider a small video or written welcome from the team, since remote starters miss the informal “everyone says hi” moment of a physical office

New starter kits by budget

Exact costs depend on item choice, decoration method, and volume. Treat this as a starting point for budgeting rather than a fixed price list, and check current pricing directly for the specific items and quantities you’re planning.

How JSM runs this for a client

How to keep onboarding kits on brand and consistent

The biggest risk with onboarding kits isn’t cost; it’s drift. Kit contents changing depending on who orders them, stock running out and being substituted ad hoc, or different offices sourcing their own versions locally. A few practical safeguards:

• Lock down an approved item list so nobody is sourcing substitutes independently
• Centralise fulfilment rather than leaving each office or manager to order their own kits
• Review the list periodically (annually is usually enough) rather than letting it go stale, but resist changing it every time someone has a new idea
• Keep a small buffer of stock for essentials so a kit is never missing an item because of a supplier delay

Running onboarding kits through a branded webshop

Once a company is hiring regularly, ordering onboarding kits manually by emailing a supplier every time someone starts becomes a genuine drag on HR’s time, and it’s an easy process to get inconsistent.

A branded webshop (sometimes called a company swag store) solves this by giving HR or People Ops a pre-approved, on-brand range they can order from directly, with fulfilment handled centrally rather than negotiated fresh each time. In practice this usually means the following:

• HR raises an order (or it’s triggered automatically from the HR system) when a new starter is confirmed
• The kit is picked from held stock and shipped to the office or, for remote hires, directly to the new starter’s home
• Sizes, quantities, and any small customisation (name on a welcome card, for instance) are handled as part of the order rather than as a manual back-and-forth
• Stock levels are managed by the supplier, not by HR keeping a mental note of what’s running low

This is also where holding stock matters as much as production capability. A new starter kit that’s still being manufactured when someone’s start date arrives has already missed the point.

FAQs

Most companies do this the same way: they build an approved kit range with us up front, we hold the stock, and then it just flows – HR adds a new starter to the webshop, that triggers the order, and it ships straight to wherever the new hire’s start location is, whether that’s an office or their home if they’re remote. No one’s placing individual orders by hand.