Email signatures for new employees: an onboarding plan

The most reliable way to give new employees the right signature is to make it part of account setup, not something they do in their first week. Create their mailbox, fill in their title and phone in the directory, and have the signature generated from that. If you rely on new hires to make their own, they will copy a colleague's, and the old phone number travels with it.

The question "how do you handle email signatures for new employees?" appears in helpdesk and professional email communities alike. The answers fall into three approaches.

Approach 1: a written guide

Send a link to an approved template and an install guide for each mail client.

• Free and easy to start.
• Depends on the new hire doing it correctly.
• Breaks quietly when the template changes and the guide does not.

If you use this, keep the guide short and give one clear copy button, not raw HTML. Our install guides for Gmail, Outlook and Apple Mail can serve as a starting point.

Approach 2: IT installs it

IT sets the signature while building the laptop or creating the account.

• Consistent on day one.
• Easy to forget during a busy week.
• Only covers the machine IT touched. Classic Outlook stores signatures per computer.

Approach 3: generated from the directory

The signature is created from the directory as soon as the account exists.

• No extra step for anyone.
• The same flow handles leavers and title changes.
• Needs a script or a tool.

An onboarding checklist

1. Fill in title, department and phone in the directory before day one.
2. Make sure the person is in the right group for their signature variant, such as sales or support.
3. Generate and deploy the signature.
4. On day one, ask them to send a test email to a colleague and check it in Outlook and on a phone.
5. If they use a phone app, show them its separate signature setting.

Where Sendoff fits

On the Team plan, you can invite new people by email, import a batch from CSV or, with Google Workspace connected, pick them up from the directory sync. Each person lands in their department with the right locked template, and on Google Workspace their signature is deployed to Gmail. Members can open a self-service portal to add allowed details, such as a mobile number. Microsoft 365 sync is listed as coming soon, so for Outlook today the member installs from their portal by copy and paste.

See Sendoff for teams for how invitations, departments and deployment fit together.

FAQ

What about the Gmail or Outlook mobile app? Both have their own signature setting on the phone. Include it in the day-one checklist. See Gmail app signatures.

Should interns and contractors get the full signature? Usually yes, with their actual role. Use a separate department or variant if they need a different disclaimer.