Onboarding
Battle testedWhat should happen between a signed offer and a fully productive hire, who owns each part, and what you can automate.
The first 90 days
The new hire drafts the plan by day 3. The manager edits it to one page, with three outcomes per phase.
Days 1 to 30
Learn the system and ship or close one small real item. Review at day 30.
Manager, 45-minute review
30-day review
Days 31 to 60
Contribute independently on a bounded piece. Review at day 60.
Manager, 45-minute review
60-day review
Days 61 to 90
Own an area. Feedback goes both ways.
Manager, weekly one-to-one
Updated plan
Day 90
Review against the plan. In Germany, decide about probation. Elsewhere, confirm.
Manager with HR or ops, 1 hour
90-day review
How should you onboard?
Up to four questions. The rust line is your path. Each faint branch is where the other answer leads. Turn the dial to your stage; slide or type your headcount.
Where are you?
- Before the start date: More questions
- At day 30: More questions
- Germany, month 4: More questions
Is the gap between signed offer and start date longer than four weeks?
- Yes: Run a preboarding track
- No: More questions
Will you onboard more than about 3 people in the next quarter?
- Yes: Run cohorts and automate access
- No: More questions
What role type is joining?
- Technical individual contributor: Two weeks general, then the team
- Go-to-market (sales, customer success): Training, shadowing, then coached calls
- Operations, finance, people or other G&A: Own one process by day 30
- Manager of a team: Add manager onboarding
- Executive or head of function: A 100-day plan with the CEO
Does the new hire know in one sentence what success looks like at day 90, and have they shipped or closed one small real item?
- No: Reset the plan this week
- Yes: Continue and ask what was missing
Is the hire still in probation with the decision open?
- Yes: Review by month 4
- No: Continue the 90-day plan
Run a preboarding track
A weekly touch from the manager, the contract and written terms sent early, and equipment ordered. Share the first-week schedule at least two business days before the start.
Run cohorts and automate access
Group the starts, run a standard week one programme and automate access provisioning. One vendor case reports a 75% cut in HR and IT task time. That is a vendor figure.
Two weeks general, then the team
Company onboarding for two weeks, then team onboarding from week three. Ship a first real change in week one or two, with a buddy on the team. Own a bounded area by day 90.
Training, shadowing, then coached calls
Product and process training in weeks 1 to 2, shadowed calls in weeks 2 to 4, then coached live calls. Write the quota ramp down. Relationships early beat an information dump.
Own one process by day 30
Day-one access and a map of the processes they own. They take over one recurring process by day 30 and improve it by day 90. Give them a buddy outside the function.
Add manager onboarding
A listening tour, a one-to-one with each report in week one, a peer network and a 90-day plan agreed with their manager. New employees get about 90 days to prove themselves.
A 100-day plan with the CEO
A board introduction by day 30, a structured listening tour and three early quantified outcomes. The 100-day shape is practice.
Reset the plan this week
The manager rewrites the 30-60-90 on one page and picks a first win. Employees are 3.4 times as likely to rate onboarding as successful when the manager takes an active role.
Continue and ask what was missing
Log the 30-day check and ask the new hire what was missing.
Review by month 4
Hold the probation review by month 4, so the decision is not forced at the end of month 6. Notice is two weeks during probation. The timing is practice.
Continue the 90-day plan
There is no time pressure. Keep the weekly one-to-one going.
Answer the last question to see your outcome.
Stage
Before day one, and week one
Numbered steps, each with an owner, a time cost and a document.
Send the contract pack
A signed contract copy and the written-terms pack. In Germany, signed paper originals.
Order equipment and accounts
Order for delivery before day one.
Keep in touch
A weekly or fortnightly touch while they wait, not about work output.
Send the welcome email
At least two business days before the start, with the day-one timeline, location and who to meet.
Name the buddy
Share the plan outline with the hire and the buddy.
Collect the compliance items
Works council consent where it applies, right-to-work check, and tax and payroll forms.
Day one
A welcome, a working laptop, working accounts, a team lunch and the one-page role brief.
Buddy calls
A call late on day one, at least two in the week after and at least one in the rest of the month. GitLab’s guidance.
Week-one one-to-one
Expectations, how we work, what good looks like, and the first win.
Intro meetings
With 4 to 6 cross-functional people. The hire runs them, not the manager.
End-of-week check-in
What was confusing, and what was missing.
Run a pulse
Three questions at 30 and 90 days: clear on expectations, able to do the job, someone to ask.
Track the numbers
First-90-day attrition, and time to first meaningful output, defined per role.
Update the checklist
Refresh the checklist and the buddy guide each quarter.
Who owns onboarding
Set by the dial on the instrument. It follows your headcount until you turn it.
- Runs it
- The founder, with a co-founder as backup.
- You keep
- The day-one welcome, the week-one one-to-one and choosing the first win.
- Hand off
- Equipment orders and payroll set-up.
My stance
Every tool on day one. The founder always talks with each new hire, and sits side by side only with key hires.
- Runs it
- Hiring manager for the plan, with an ops generalist or Chief of Staff for the checklist and paperwork.
- You keep
- The welcome, the culture story and the 30-day review for the first 10 hires.
- Hand off
- Provisioning, paperwork, buddy admin and the checklist.
My stance
The ops generalist owns the checklist and the paperwork. The hiring manager owns the week-one plan. Everyone gets a buddy who is not their manager.
- Runs it
- Hiring manager for the hire. Ops or Chief of Staff owns the system.
- You keep
- The company story session and onboarding for exec hires.
- Hand off
- The programme, content, tooling and metrics.
My stance
A cohort day once a month, pre-recorded intros and a written first-week agenda. Automate provisioning before welcome messages.
- Runs it
- Hiring manager and the People team.
- You keep
- Exec onboarding and board-visible hires.
- Hand off
- Everything else.
My stance
Role tracks, trained buddies and onboarding for first-time managers. Review the pulse every quarter and fix the worst track.
- Runs it
- A People or enablement team, with managers.
- You keep
- Exec onboarding.
- Hand off
- Everything else.
My stance
Treat onboarding as a product with an owner and a roadmap. Publish ramp time per role.
Efficiency savers
What each step saves. Where nobody publishes the number, it says estimate.
Automate account provisioning
One vendor case: HR and IT task time fell 75%, and onboarding that took about 6.5 hours was cut. Vendor-reported.
Rippling, Superhuman case study: secondary source (opens in a new tab)Standard checklists and templated emails
Saves 2 to 3 hours of ops time per hire.
Estimate, no published data: estimateOrder equipment at signing
Removes a day-one delay for most hires.
Estimate, no published data: estimateManager active in onboarding
Gallup: employees are 3.4 times as likely to rate onboarding as successful. No sample size stated.
Gallup: primary source (opens in a new tab)Realistic job preview in hiring
Bauer: in one experiment, the preview group was more likely to reject the offer but had 50% less turnover.
Bauer, SHRM Foundation: primary source (opens in a new tab)Buddy with a written guide
GitLab provides a guide, a call late on day one and scheduled follow-ups. No time saving is stated.
GitLab handbook, via search summary: secondary source (opens in a new tab)
How onboarding goes wrong
Failure modes
- Nothing is ready on day one
Order equipment and accounts at signing, and test the laptop before the start.
- Information dump
Build a relationship map and pick a first win. Spread the learning over weeks.
- Manager absent
The manager owns the plan. Gallup: 3.4 times as likely to succeed with an active manager.
- Probation cliff in Germany
Review at month 4 and decide by month 5, inside the six-month period.
The biases behind them
- Halo effect after hiring
A great interview becomes assumed competence, and problems are noticed late. Review against the plan, not impressions.
- Curse of knowledge
Veterans underestimate what a new hire does not know. Ask the hire to write down every confusing item in week one.
- Planning fallacy
Ramp time is underestimated. Plan for the long end. Gallup reports 12+ months to get up to speed in most jobs.
- Similarity bias
The buddy is chosen because they are like the manager. Choose for knowledge and availability.
Rules by country
Since 1 August 2022, essential terms must be in writing and signed by the employer. The first group is due on the first working day, a second within seven days and the rest within one month. Electronic form is excluded. Fines run up to EUR 2,000 per violation. This is from law firm summaries.
Up to six months, with two weeks’ notice.
Works council
BetrVG §99: primary source (opens in a new tab)Consent is needed before the hire.
Written statement
gov.uk: primary source (opens in a new tab)The principal written statement is due on the first day.
Check before the start.
Section 1 by day one. Section 2 within three business days.
General information, last checked 29 Oct 2026. Not legal or tax advice.
Where the evidence disagrees
The 69% more likely to stay figure
Bauer reports that at Corning Glass Works, new employees who attended a structured orientation programme were 69% more likely to remain up to three years. That is one organisation, not a general finding. Use it only with that scope.
Bauer, SHRM Foundation: primary source (opens in a new tab)How long does ramp take
Gallup
12+ months for most people to get up to speed in most jobs. No method stated.
Gallup: primary source (opens in a new tab)Linux Foundation
4.8 months on average for technical hires to reach normal productivity, in 2024.
Linux Foundation 2024, via aggregator: secondary source (opens in a new tab)Unit4
59.1 days in professional services and 84.9 days in SaaS services, in a 2021 survey.
Unit4, 2021 survey: secondary source (opens in a new tab)They measure different endpoints, so there is no single figure.
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