How to Add a Teammate's Mailbox and Hand Over Access on Day One

A new teammate who cannot send email on their first morning starts the job answering from a personal Gmail, and those messages haunt you for years. Creating the mailbox takes two minutes; the value is in doing the handover properly. Here is a day-one checklist that works for a two-person shop as well as a team of fifteen.

Quick summary

• Decide the address using your existing convention (firstname@, firstname.lastname@ or initials). Check it does not collide with an alias or a former employee.
• Create the mailbox in your mail host's dashboard. On OquMail the admin adds a mailbox on the verified domain and sets its password; the free plan covers up to 15 mailboxes across 3 domains, each with 5 GB.
• Send a welcome message to the new address so the inbox is not empty, and include the internal links they will need.
• Add the new address to the role mailboxes or distribution addresses they will cover (support@, sales@) so mail is already flowing on day one.
• Prepare their signature in the company format so it is consistent with everyone else's.

Before the first day

1. Decide the address using your existing convention (firstname@, firstname.lastname@ or initials). Check it does not collide with an alias or a former employee.
2. Create the mailbox in your mail host's dashboard. On OquMail the admin adds a mailbox on the verified domain and sets its password; the free plan covers up to 15 mailboxes across 3 domains, each with 5 GB.
3. Send a welcome message to the new address so the inbox is not empty, and include the internal links they will need.
4. Add the new address to the role mailboxes or distribution addresses they will cover (support@, sales@) so mail is already flowing on day one.
5. Prepare their signature in the company format so it is consistent with everyone else's.

Handing over the password safely

• Never send the password in the welcome email to the same mailbox, and avoid chat messages that stay in history.
• Use a password manager's share feature, or set a temporary password and require them to change it in webmail settings on first login while you watch.
• If they lose the password later, the admin resets it from the dashboard; there is no need for you to keep a copy.

Day one, first hour: connect the devices

1. Webmail first. Have them sign in on a browser and change the password. This confirms the account and gives them a fallback that works from any device.
2. Phone next. Add the account with IMAP: incoming mail.oqumail.com, port 993, SSL/TLS; outgoing mail.oqumail.com, port 587, STARTTLS; username is the full email address.
3. Then the computer, using the same settings in Outlook, Apple Mail or Thunderbird. On port 587 choose STARTTLS, not SSL/TLS. Picking SSL on 587 is the single most common setup mistake and it makes sending silently fail.
4. Send a test from each device to a colleague and reply once, so both directions are proven.
5. Paste the signature into each app.

Set expectations in writing

• Which addresses they own: their personal address, plus which role inboxes and how those are triaged.
• Response-time norms: for example, customer mail acknowledged within one working day.
• What never goes by email: passwords, card numbers, a change of bank details without a phone call.
• The archive habit: archive, do not delete; company mail is company records.

End of week one: a five-minute check

On Friday, open the new mailbox in webmail together and confirm three things: the Sent folder shows messages from both phone and desktop, the shared role mailbox is on their phone, and the signature matches the team format. Fix anything missing there and then; a problem caught in week one is a two-minute fix, while the same problem found in month three means customers already have the wrong details saved.

Common day-one mistakes

• Letting them use a personal address "for now". Customers save it, and it never goes away.
• Forgetting the shared role mailbox on their phone, so they answer support@ only from their desk.
• Choosing SSL/TLS on port 587 in the desktop app, so sending fails while receiving works.
• Skipping the test reply, then discovering a week later that outgoing mail was never configured.

Common questions

Should a new hire get a role address instead of a personal one?

Both. A personal address is how colleagues and clients reach them; role addresses are how customers reach the function. Giving someone only support@ means their own correspondence is mixed with the team's, and it is messy to unpick when they move roles.

Can I set up their phone before they arrive?

Only if the phone is company-owned. On a personal phone the person adds the account themselves; walk them through it on the first morning rather than writing instructions they will not read.

What if they are a contractor rather than an employee?

Give contractors a mailbox on your domain too if they deal with customers on your behalf, and suspend it when the engagement ends. A contractor emailing your clients from their own domain confuses everyone about who is accountable.