30-60-90 day plan for regional managers
On this page
- What does a regional manager own that a district manager does not?
- Which rules change across a region?
- What does the 30-60-90 day plan look like?
- How should a regional manager compare locations fairly?
- How should the hiring executive use the plan in the final interview?
- What should each check-in cover?
- A filled example
- What does the hiring executive owe the new regional manager?
- Common mistakes
- How do you adapt the plan?
- Questions people ask
A 30-60-90 day plan for a new regional manager should, in the first month, visit every district with its district manager, put every location on one scorecard with shared definitions and map the employment rules that change from state to state across the region; by day 60 run the regional operating rhythm through the district managers rather than around them; and by day 90 present a regional plan covering the manager bench, the budget, capital, and any openings, remodels or closings. As of November 2026, the federal salary floor for exempt managers is $684 a week while several states set higher ones, and closing a single location can need 90 days' notice under New York's WARN Act even when federal WARN, with its 60-day notice and higher thresholds, does not apply.
This plan is for the VP of operations or COO hiring a regional manager over several districts or markets of stores, restaurants, branches or clinics. The district level is in the 30-60-90 day plan for district managers. For a leader over several warehouses or plants with operations managers, the 30-60-90 day plan for directors of operations fits better.
What does a regional manager own that a district manager does not?
| Area | District manager | Regional manager |
|---|---|---|
| Span | A handful of locations and their managers | Several districts, through their district managers |
| Visits | Every location on a fixed cycle | Every district, and a sample of locations in each with its district manager |
| Numbers | Store scorecards against plan | The regional P&L, budget and capital plan |
| People | Store managers and the assistant manager bench | District managers, and the store manager pipeline across districts |
| Rules | Execution in each store | The map of state and city rules across the region |
| Footprint | Results of existing locations | Openings, remodels, relocations, closings and lease decisions |
Which rules change across a region?
A region that crosses state lines runs under several sets of employment law at once. These are examples checked on the agencies' own pages as of November 2026; HR and counsel own the full map. This is not legal advice.
| Item | What applies | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum wage | Many states and some cities set rates above the federal $7.25; employers in states with no minimum wage law pay the federal rate where the FLSA covers them | DOL, state minimum wage laws (updated November 5, 2026) |
| Exempt managers | A federal salary floor of $684 a week plus the duties tests; several states set higher floors | 29 CFR 541.600; state floors |
| Predictive scheduling | Statewide in Oregon for large retail, hospitality and food service employers (14 days' notice), and city laws such as New York City's for retail (72 hours) | Oregon BOLI; NYC DCWP |
| Pay in job postings | A growing list of states and cities require a pay range in postings, including for some remote roles | Pay transparency laws by state |
| Federal WARN | Employers with 100 or more employees, not counting part-time workers (or 100 or more who together work at least 4,000 hours a week), give 60 days' notice of a plant closing (50 or more employees, excluding part-time, losing jobs at one site within 30 days) or a mass layoff; part-time means under 20 hours a week on average or employed fewer than 6 of the last 12 months | 20 CFR 639.2; 639.3 |
| State WARN (example) | New York: private employers with 50 or more full-time employees in the state; 90 days' notice for closings affecting 25 or more employees and for covered mass layoffs; notice to employees, the state labor department, the local workforce board, the local chief elected official, school districts and emergency service localities | New York State DOL |
| OSHA injury records | Kept per establishment where the industry is covered, with severe-injury reporting for everyone | 29 CFR 1904.30; see the directors of operations plan |
The part-time exclusion matters in multi-unit businesses: a location staffed mostly by part-time workers can close without reaching the federal count while still reaching a state one.
What does the 30-60-90 day plan look like?
30-60-90 day plan — [Name], Regional Manager, [region]
Reports to: [VP of operations / COO] Start date: [date]
Districts: [N] District managers: [names] Locations: [N] in [states]
Regional P&L: [revenue] Capital budget: [amount]
Partners: HR [name], finance [name], loss prevention or safety
[name], real estate [name], marketing [name]
DAYS 1-30 — Tour the region; one scorecard
Goals:
- [2-3] days in each district with its district manager: the best,
the worst and an average location; one peak shift per district
- One-to-one with each district manager; skip-levels with a sample
of location managers
- One scorecard for every location: sales against plan, labor,
margin, shrink or losses, service, safety, turnover, with one
definition per measure
- Rules map by state and city with HR: minimum wage, exempt floors,
scheduling, pay in postings, breaks, closing notice
- Read the budget, capital requests, leases expiring within
[24] months and open audits
Deliverables by day 30:
- Regional scorecard ranked by location and by district
- Rules map; risk list (locations, people, leases, audits)
Check-in: day 30
DAYS 31-60 — Run the rhythm through the district managers
Goals:
- Weekly regional call: each district manager reports their own
district on the scorecard
- Monthly business review per district: P&L, people, plans
- Join each district manager on [N] store visits; agree one visit
standard for the region
- Talent review with HR: the store manager bench by district,
vacancies, who is ready now
- Two regional priorities with owners, one copied from the best district
Deliverables by day 60:
- Rhythm running without the regional manager chasing it
- Bench chart by district
Check-in: day 60
DAYS 61-90 — The regional plan
Goals:
- Results with causes; first priority measured
- Regional plan: budget, capital, remodels, openings and closings
with notice timelines, lease decisions, staffing
- Development plan for each district manager; any change decided
with evidence
Deliverables by day 90:
- Regional plan reviewed with finance and approved
- District manager development plans written
Check-in: day 90 — full reviewHow should a regional manager compare locations fairly?
Ranking 60 locations is easy; ranking them on the same definitions is the work. Districts often measure the same thing differently, and the best-looking district may simply have the friendliest formula. The measures below are examples; the middle column is the question to settle before anyone is compared.
| Example measure (example only) | Definition to settle | Why districts differ |
|---|---|---|
| Sales against plan | How plans were set; comparable locations separated from new and remodeled ones | A new location's plan is a guess |
| Labor as a share of sales | Whether manager salaries, training and borrowed hours are included | Some districts book training hours elsewhere |
| Shrink or losses | Which inventory period, and how damages are logged | Count dates differ by district |
| Turnover | Whether seasonal hires and transfers count | Holiday hiring inflates some districts |
| Safety | Recordable injuries or all reported incidents | Partly exempt formats may not keep OSHA logs at all |
| Bench | What "ready now" means for a store manager role | Each district manager has their own bar |
Add one regional number district scorecards rarely show: the spread between the best and the worst district on each measure. Narrowing that spread is usually the regional manager's biggest lever, and it comes from copying what the best district does, not from new programs.
How should the hiring executive use the plan in the final interview?
Give finalists the same brief: the region map, districts and location counts, the scorecard by district with names removed, and one pending footprint decision. Score the plan with how to evaluate a 30-60-90 day plan in an interview. A strong plan works through the district managers, settles definitions before ranking, and builds notice timelines into any closing. Questions that test it:
- "Two districts show the same sales growth, but one has twice the turnover. Where do you spend your first week?"
- "A district manager's best store manager keeps breaking a city scheduling law. What do you do?"
- "We plan to close three locations next year. Walk me through the timeline."
- "How would you know whether a district manager's visits coach or only inspect?"
The interview questions for people management test how a candidate manages each manager on a team, and if you are also hiring below the region, the operations manager phone screen questions cover the first call for location leaders.
What should each check-in cover?
| Checkpoint | Ask | On track | Worth a direct conversation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 30 | "Which district is really the strongest on common definitions?" | Every district toured with its manager; one scorecard; rules map done | Visits to stores without their district managers; ranking on each district's own formulas |
| Day 60 | "What did the district reviews show?" | District managers report their own numbers; bench chart; two priorities owned | The regional manager calls store managers directly with instructions |
| Day 90 | "What is the footprint plan, and what notice does each closing need?" | Plan approved with finance; notice timelines built in; development plans written | Closings dated by lease end with no notice review |
A filled example
Regional manager: Marcus Bell (invented), regional manager for a specialty retailer with five districts and 52 stores across Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio.
Day 30: On one scorecard, the district with the best labor percentage dropped to fourth, because it had booked training hours to a corporate code. The rules map showed the New York City stores under the retail Fair Workweek law and New York's own exempt salary floor, $1,275 a week in New York City for 2026 according to the state labor department, so assistant manager pay in those stores was reviewed with HR.
Day 60: District managers ran the weekly call on the common scorecard. The bench chart showed two districts with no store manager ready now, and he paired each with a stronger district for assistant manager training.
Day 90: His plan closed two stores at lease end. Because the company had more than 50 full-time employees in New York, the New York closing was planned with 90 days' notice under the state WARN Act, counted back from the lease date.
What does the hiring executive owe the new regional manager?
- Decision rights in writing: district manager hiring and changes, capital approval limits, and who signs closings.
- A finance partner and an HR partner who know every state in the region.
- Real estate data: leases, renewal dates and options for every location.
- The region's history: past closings, open claims, audits and promises made to district managers.
Common mistakes
- Managing stores directly. Instructions that skip the district manager undercut the one person who sees the store every week.
- Ranking without definitions. The district with the friendliest formula wins, and the others stop trusting the scorecard.
- One set of rules for every state. A schedule or salary that is fine in one state can break the law in the next.
- Closings on the lease calendar alone. Notice periods and employee transfers need months, not weeks.
- Living in the worst district. The middle districts drift while the regional manager fixes one.
How do you adapt the plan?
- Retail and restaurants: the district manager plan carries the store-level rules; the regional plan adds the cross-district bench and the footprint.
- Bank branches: add the branch control reviews and audit findings across markets; the 30-60-90 day plan for bank branch managers shows what each branch owns.
- Single P&L locations with general managers: treat each general manager as a district manager would treat a store manager; the 30-60-90 day plan for general managers covers their side.
- Region carved out of two older ones: agree the location list, budget split and reporting date with both former regional managers before the first scorecard.
Questions people ask
What should a new regional manager do in the first 30 days?
Spend two or three days in each district with its district manager, visiting the best, the worst and an average location and working at least one peak shift; hold one-to-ones with every district manager and skip-levels with a sample of location managers; put every location on one scorecard with one definition per measure; map the state and city employment rules across the region with HR; and read the regional budget, capital requests, expiring leases and open audits.
How is a regional manager's 30-60-90 day plan different from a district manager's?
A district manager runs a visit cycle across a handful of stores and coaches store managers directly. A regional manager leads the district managers, so the plan is about comparing districts on common definitions, running the weekly and monthly rhythm through the district managers rather than around them, building the store manager pipeline across districts, mapping state-by-state rules, and deciding capital, openings, remodels and closings.
Does closing one store trigger the WARN Act?
Often not under federal law, but sometimes under state law. As of November 2026, federal WARN applies to employers with 100 or more employees and treats a closing as a plant closing when 50 or more employees, not counting part-time workers, lose their jobs at a single site within 30 days, with 60 days' notice. New York's WARN Act covers private employers with 50 or more full-time employees in the state, applies to closings affecting 25 or more employees and requires 90 days' notice. Check every state in the region. This is not legal advice.
Which employment rules change across a multi-state region?
Minimum wage, which many states and some cities set above the federal $7.25; the salary floor for exempt managers, which is $684 a week federally but higher in several states; predictive scheduling laws such as Oregon's and New York City's; pay range requirements in job postings; break and meal period rules; and notice periods for closings and layoffs under state WARN laws. HR should map them by location before the regional manager changes staffing or closes a site. This is not legal advice.