What the program includes
- Pre-start checklist: access, equipment, schedule and a named buddy before day one.
- A first week plan with one real task finished by Friday.
- A role map: the skills a new hire needs, in the order they should learn them.
- Short modules for each skill, built from your SOPs.
- Sign offs: a lead watches the new hire do the task before they work alone.
- Manager checkpoints at 30, 60 and 90 days.
- Ramp KPIs: time to first solo task and 90 day retention.
Why onboarding is worth designing
Onboarding is where retention is won or lost. Work Institute (2025) found as much as 40% of turnover happens in the first year. BambooHR (2023) found 44% of new hires regret their decision within a week, and employers have about 44 days to win them over. And only 12% of employees strongly agree their company onboards well (Gallup, 2018).
How it gets built
- Shadow your best. Watch top performers to see what the job really requires.
- Map the role. List the skills, the order and the sign off standard for each.
- Build modules. Short and specific to your tools, forms and customers.
- Pilot. Run a real cohort through it and fix what breaks.
- Roll out and hand over. Train your successor and team leads to run the program and update it.
We have built onboarding for large, distributed operations, including new site launches and train the trainer programs, and has hands on experience with platforms such as Absorb LMS, Xyleme and Whatfix. The approach scales down to a 15 person team as well as up to 250.
Do you need an LMS?
Not always. Many teams under 50 people do well with well organized documents, a checklist and a simple tracker. Larger or multi site teams often benefit from an LMS for assignments and reporting. We help you decide with numbers, and we build inside what you already own before suggesting anything new.
What the pilot cohort tells you
Every onboarding program is tested before it goes company wide. The pilot is a real group of new hires going through the new path while your successor and our team watch closely. We track where people get stuck, which modules take longer than planned, which sign offs managers skip and what new hires say at day 30.
The pilot almost always changes the program. A module gets split, a checklist gets shorter, a step moves to week two. That is the point. Rolling out an untested program to every new hire just spreads its flaws faster.
Questions owners ask
What should an onboarding program include?
Pre-start setup, a week one plan, role training, a buddy, manager check ins and a 30/60/90 plan with measures.
Can you build it in our LMS?
Yes. We work tool neutral inside the platform you already have.
How do we know it worked?
We set a baseline for time to productivity and 90 day retention, then track both for every cohort.
How long does it take to build?
A first framework and pilot fit inside The Prelude (3 months). A full academy is part of The Blueprint (6 months).
The Blueprint
6 months, from $5,000 a month
An onboarding framework and pilot cohort are Month 3 of The Prelude. The full onboarding academy with interactive modules is the center of The Blueprint.
Not sure yet? Start with the 2 week Operational Diagnostic, $5,000 and fully credited if you continue.
