Onboarding Experience Evaluation

On my first day as a project manager at a new company, I was handed three things: → A few tool logins. → A couple of links to a document library. → And “Good luck.” No walkthrough. No context. No real training. For the next two months, I was on my own. My boss checked in for a few minutes every couple of weeks. Mostly to tell me I was doing it wrong. But here’s the thing… There are hundreds of ways to manage a project. Every company does it differently. Experience does not mean we automatically know your way. Bad onboarding looks like: ❌ Dropping someone into a tool with no context ❌ Sending a few document links and calling it training ❌ Checking in occasionally to see if they have figured it out Good onboarding looks like: ✅ A clear schedule to ramp up skills and knowledge ✅ Real examples of how your company runs projects ✅ Shadowing experienced PMs who know how to teach ✅ Access to stakeholders and decision-makers early ✅ Clear expectations of “the way we do things here” If you want PMs to deliver in your environment, you have to give them the map first. What is the worst onboarding experience you have ever had as a PM?

Onboarding in a new job is often a box-ticking exercise with no real thought put into it. A laptop, a few meetings, a pen, a ‘Welcome!’ email - that’s not onboarding. That’s admin. Yet, for too many companies, that’s where it starts and ends. 👉Real onboarding starts the moment someone accepts the job. That period between resigning and starting can be a weird limbo. Excitement mixed with uncertainty. A simple email outlining what to expect, a virtual office tour, a casual coffee with their new team… these things matter. 👉A proper onboarding makes all the difference. A clear 30-60-90 day plan with actual expectations and milestones - not just “shadow James for a few weeks and see how you go” and a few meeting with random stakeholders they know nothing about. 👉Onboarding should remove barriers, not create them. New hires shouldn’t feel like they have to get everything right the first time. A good onboarding process makes it easy to ask questions, again and again, without feeling like a burden. Clarity and confidence come from repetition, not from guessing. 👉Culture isn’t just a buzzword. You spent the entire hiring process talking about it, so why does it disappear once they start? Onboarding should immerse people in the company culture, not just mention it in an HR slide deck. 👉Why rush it? Most probation periods last 3-6 months. Onboarding should last just as long. The first week might cover the basics, but real success comes from continuous support, not a crash course. A great onboarding experience isn’t just a nice extra, it’s the difference between a disengaged hire and a high performer. Ever had an onboarding experience that set you up for success? (Or one that made you question your decision to join!?)

We interviewed 30+ people about their new employee onboarding; here’s what we found When we were first exploring the idea of starting Allboarder, Kylie and I launched a research effort which included interviewing as many people as possible who had been onboarded into a new job in the last 6 months. We quickly learned what went well, and what didn't go so well. We ended up talking to more than 30 people, and here’s what we found: Starting a new job is a vulnerable feeling Whether you just left a job to start a new role, or you have been hunting for a job for a while, starting a new job can feel pretty vulnerable. This can leave new employees feeling pretty anxious. People generally have a deep desire to do well in a new role, so show them that path and make the most of the momentum that the new-job energy can create.  Bad onboarding puts early-career folks most at risk The earlier in their career, the more a poor onboarding experience puts a new employee’s success at the company at risk. This goes double for remote settings. Newer folks have a harder time because they don’t know what they don’t know, so they can’t seek out answers to fill gaps left by poor onboarding. The earlier the onboarding plan is shared, the better Many newly hired employees shared the anxiety of not knowing what to expect on their first day and how they questioned their role because of the lack of communication.The time between accepting a new role and starting is the right time to actively share your new employee’s onboarding plan, including all the details about their first day and week. It will let them know that you have already planned for their success, and assure them that their decision to join the company is a good one. Be clear about what success looks like in the first 30 days After starting, the employee receives a barrage of information, sometimes in a strange sequence, making it difficult to gather enough context to feel confident and get off to a good start quickly in their new role. This places stress on the whole team who struggle to fill in the information gaps and needs this person to start participating in the work. A well thought through onboarding plan eliminates this mess, and can provide a successful path to get up to speed and successfully contribute in half the time. At the end of the day, your new employee wants to be successful in their role as quickly as possible, and be assured that they made a good decision for this next step in their career. If you don’t do the work to set your new employee up for success, you can’t be surprised when they don’t succeed. P.S. We know that building great new employee onboarding experience takes a lot of work. Learn how to use Allboarder to build it once and automate it, instead of repeating all your manual tasks every time you welcome someone new. Your future self (and employees) will thank you! 👉 Reach out though links in comments.

𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐇𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 (𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐎𝐧𝐛𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐍𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞) A recent study published in Frontiers in Organizational Psychology explored how newcomers learn during onboarding by looking at three key learning forms:  • 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 (structured training, onboarding plans)  • 𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 (peer conversations, job shadowing)  • 𝐒𝐞𝐥𝐟-𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠(goal-setting, reflection, proactive follow-ups) The findings reveal something powerful: Onboarding is most effective when organizations move beyond rigid training programs and create opportunities for self-directed, informal, and interactive learning. New hires who actively shape their onboarding—asking questions, seeking feedback, reflecting on progress—adjust faster, feel more connected, and stay longer. So, 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞?  • 𝐑𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 & 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭: Poor onboarding is one of the top reasons for early turnover.  • 𝐅𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐩-𝐮𝐩: Structured and self-directed learning accelerates role clarity and confidence.  • 𝐂𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 & 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Informal learning helps newcomers integrate socially and culturally, which is often overlooked in formal training. What can I/O Psychology and L&D practitioners do?  • Design onboarding that blends 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬(e.g., mentorship, peer learning, shared breaks).  • Incorporate 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟-𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐬 like reflection prompts, learning goals, and follow-up checklists.  • Map onboarding activities to 𝐤𝐞𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬—compliance, clarification, connection, and culture—so learning is intentional and complete.  • Use data to 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 with both formal and informal learning pathways, not just training completion rates. Onboarding should be a co-created learning experience, not just a process to get through. When we empower new hires as active participants in their learning journey, everyone wins—newcomers, teams, and the entire organization. #WorkplaceEngineer #IOPsychology #LearningThatSticks #TrainingAndDevelopment #Onboarding #EmployeeExperience #LeadershipDevelopment

Your best ideas die in dashboards. They fail because you waited too long for answers. Most teams don’t lack data. In fact, they’re buried in it. But it’s often stuck in dashboards or behind groups of people who aren’t designed or organized to help you decide what to do next. The real problem is clarity. Without it, decisions slow down. Direction gets fuzzy. Dashboards are built to reduce risk, not to help teams move forward with confidence. I see teams launch a new idea, only to wait and see if it works. They wait for analytics to catch up. Wait for users to churn (or not). Wait to find out if it worked. By then, momentum is gone. That’s why defining your UX metrics upfront changes everything. It gives you three fast ways to know what’s happening: → Attitude, why they feel the way they do (whether they trust it, get it, or feel lost) → Behavior, how users interact (where they click, what they skip, where they get stuck) → Performance, what happened (like completion rates, errors, or time on task) You stop relying on lagging indicators and start seeing live signals, while there’s still time to make the idea work. Here’s how to think about this: 👉 If you’re redesigning an onboarding flow to help new users activate faster. You don’t want to just know if it worked weeks later, you want to know what’s working and why right now. Here’s how defining UX metrics up front helps you uncover the story fast: 🟦 Attitudinal Metrics These early signs show emotional friction. This issue goes beyond usability problems to gaps in clarity, confidence, and credibility. → Trust: Only 36% of users said they trust the product with their data after onboarding → Expectations: 41% said the steps didn’t match what they expected → Helpfulness: Only 33% felt the tips and instructions were helpful → Satisfaction: 48% reported feeling satisfied after onboarding 🟩 Behavioral Metrics Reflects the attitudinal story that users aren’t just slow, they’re unsure and disengaged. → Completion: Only 62% finished onboarding → Comprehension: 27% answered a comprehension check incorrectly (about how to import data) → Effort: Users took an average of 12 clicks to complete a 5-step flow → Intent: 46% skipped optional setup steps, signaling disengagement → Usability: Heatmaps show users repeatedly hovered over unclear icons with no labels or tooltips 🟨 Performance Metrics These lagging indicators validate the issue, but UX metrics let you act before the damage spreads. → Activation rate down 18% → Retention after Day 1 down 12% → Click-back rate to onboarding emails spiked 2x Set your metrics early, and you don’t wait for clarity...you create it. #productdesign #uxmetrics #productdiscovery #uxresearch

Of course your onboarding program failed. You built it to serve you — not your customer. I see it all the time. Companies over-engineer onboarding to hit internal milestones, check off boxes, and declare victory when they say it’s “done.” But here’s the truth: Just because you wrapped onboarding doesn’t mean your customer is ready. They’re still dealing with: Misalignment Confusion Internal resistance A tool they don’t fully understand how to use, let alone adopt. Here’s what’s actually going wrong: 1️⃣ You treat onboarding like a training event, not a change process 2️⃣ You deliver the same training to every user, regardless of role 3️⃣ You never define what success actually looks like 4️⃣ You don’t empower internal champions 5️⃣ You abandon them the second onboarding is “over” 6️⃣ You think “Go-Live” means “Mission Accomplished” 7️⃣ You ignore resistance to change 8️⃣ You don’t communicate enough (or clearly) 9️⃣ You overload them with info 🔟 You never got executive buy-in Want to fix it? Here’s where to start — tomorrow: ✅ Build a post-onboarding success plan Pre-populate it with the customer’s goals and share it before onboarding ends. ✅ Identify and empower champions early Find them at kickoff. Equip them to lead. Keep them close. ✅ Reinforce the WHY Stop talking about features. Start connecting usage to business impact. ✅ Monitor early signals and take action Don’t just measure adoption. Share it. Explain it. Adjust as needed. ✅ Keep the learning going Enablement isn’t one-and-done. Build ongoing learning paths and resources that scale. Let’s stop designing onboarding for our own convenience. And start designing it for customer success. Put them back in the driver’s seat. ____________________ 📣 If you liked my post, you’ll love my newsletter. Every week I share learnings, advice and strategies from my experience going from CSM to CCO. Join 12k+ subscribers of The Journey and turn insights into action. Sign up on my profile.

My two cents… I had an enablement colleague ask me a question about onboarding and how it’s changed, how we tailor it, what reps should know and when, how much selling vs. product vs. industry training should be done, and when they should start selling. My peers in the business know this line of questioning well. In my opinion, onboarding programs need to shift away from focusing on content and move toward sequence and intent. Stop prioritizing information completeness and instead design around progressive capability. New hires should start doing real things earlier. Do small things first, then bigger ones. The training doesn’t disappear; it gets reorganized around the doing rather than the knowing. Here’s a reframe that changes how I think about onboarding entirely: new hires should be selling from day one. What they’re selling evolves. Day 1–10 – Selling themselves internally. Learning the business, earning trust, building relationships. Understanding how the organization actually operates and not just what the org chart says. (And ideally not asking where the coffee machine is for the fifth time.) Day 10–30 – Selling curiosity externally. Joining calls, asking smart questions, observing experienced reps navigate conversations. Not pitching like a caffeinated product brochure. Listening. Reading the room. Developing instincts. Day 30–60 – Selling pieces of the deal. Running discovery. Owning the recap. Setting next steps. Still supervised, still supported. Think of it as a learner’s permit where you have real driving in controlled conditions. Day 60–90 – Selling full-cycle. Pipeline, deals, forecasts; basically the whole beautiful, complicated mess. Accountable for outcomes, supported by the system, coached by the manager. Actually in the game. Designed this way, onboarding isn’t a waiting room before the job starts. It is the job, at progressively increasing altitudes. The new hire is never a spectator. They’re always a participant. The only question is what role they’re playing this week.

👋 Onboarding is the first trust test — and most companies are flunking it. After a layoff, your new hires are walking into uncertainty. 😱 They’ve read the headlines. 😮 They’ve seen the Glassdoor reviews. They’re wondering: | "Will I be next?" | "Can I actually thrive here?" | "Did I just make a mistake?" If your onboarding starts with logins, policies, and workflow tools... REAL TALK: You’re answering none of those questions. 📣 Here’s the truth: Post-layoff onboarding is not about operational efficiency. It’s about rebuilding trust from day one. Your new hires want to feel: ➲ Safe to ask questions ➲ Seen as individuals ➲ Supported by humans—not just the HRIS platform ➲ ...and like they've made the right decision accepting this job. 💡 Today’s one simple tip: ⇨ Replace one onboarding slide with a short, personal video from the hiring manager. Doesn’t need to be fancy. Just real. Here’s a simple script to start with: ⦿⦿⦿ “Hi, I’m thrilled you’re here. I know this company has gone through some changes recently, and I want you to know we’re rebuilding—with intention. I hired you for a reason and I’m here to support you every step of the way.” I can tell you... That 30-second video is worth more than 30 polished slides. 👋 Q: What do your new hires (currently) hear in their first 30 minutes? Drop a comment below or DM me—I'd love to hear what you're doing differently now and I'll share a couple of ideas of what I've seen that works too. #EmployeeExperience #Onboarding #TrustBuilding #PostLayoffCulture #NewHireJourney #LeadershipDevelopment #CultureReset #HRLeadership #PeopleFirst #Preboarding

"We have a comprehensive onboarding program," the CHRO said. "How comprehensive?" I asked. "Eighty-three page manual. Four-day orientation. Six different training modules." "How long until new hires are productive?" "About four months." "Show me day one," I said. We followed Jordan, a new marketing manager. 8 AM: Wrong building. No badge. 9 AM: IT hasn't set up her laptop. 10 AM: Orientation video from 2019. 11 AM: Lunch alone. 2 PM: Manager in meetings all day. 4 PM: Reading the manual. Page twelve of eighty-three. "How do you feel?" I asked her. "Overwhelmed. And somehow also bored." "That's your comprehensive program," I told the CHRO. "It covers everything they need." "Everything except making them feel welcome." Two weeks later, Jordan was still waiting. Just got her laptop. Still reading manuals. Her manager had rescheduled their first one-on-one three times. "I'm starting to wonder if I made a mistake," she said. Six months later, the CHRO called. "We simplified everything," she said. "How simple?" "We fought it for months. Then we tried it. Day one: Laptop ready. Manager cleared. One buddy assigned. Week one: Three key meetings. One clear project." "The eighty-three page manual?" "Now it's a two-page quick start guide. The rest is searchable when they need it." "Results?" "Time to productivity down to six weeks. Early turnover dropped 40%." "What made you change?" "Jordan quit after three months. Her exit interview was brutal. Said we made starting here harder than her actual job." Here's the truth about onboarding: It's easy to create something hard. Do an information dump on a new hire. Cover every possible scenario. It's much harder to create something easy. Easy requires curation over completeness. Easy means one clear win their first week. Easy means treating day one like it matters. Because you only get one chance to show someone they made the right choice. And if you make joining your company feel like a bureaucratic marathon, your best hires will sprint for the exit. _____ Like my content? Give me a follow. Want to see more of it? Click the 🔔 on my profile. Have you used one of my stories in your company? Please DM me and tell me about it. .

Onboarding new execs: what actually works — and what’s just theater 🎭 There’s no shortage of onboarding “best practices.” The playbooks are polished, the Slack intros cheerful, the strategy decks crisp. But after coaching dozens of CEOs through exec transitions, here’s what I’ve learned: The difference between a smooth onboarding and a shaky one rarely comes down to what’s present — it’s what’s missing. Too often, we over-index on optics: - A welcome all-hands - A neatly bundled 30/60/90 plan - An org chart walkthrough with “open door” promises These moves are mostly performance — helpful for orientation, but not what builds traction. What actually works? - Unvarnished context Let them see the political knots, not just the vision decks. Give them access to the mess — who’s misaligned, what initiatives are fragile, where past leaders fell short. - Explicit success criteria Not vague goals or startup platitudes. Be precise. “If you do X by Y, we’ll know it’s working.” Bonus points if the whole exec team agrees on it in advance. - Time with skeptics Not just the welcoming committee. New execs gain more from five minutes with a sharp internal critic than five days of corporate onboarding videos. - CEO signal amplification If you hired them for a reason, show it. Back them — loudly and repeatedly — in rooms where power accrues informally. Most new execs don’t fail from incompetence. They fail from silence. - Structured listening tours But not to collect “feedback” — to map power. Who influences whom. Who gets things done. Where decisions actually live. Great exec onboarding is not about making people comfortable. It’s about accelerating clarity, alignment, and power-transfer. When was the last time you audited your onboarding experience from the perspective of real power dynamics?