Onboarding with Experience

Daniel Goleman is author of the international best-seller Emotional Intelligence and Optimal: How to Sustain Personal and Organizational Excellence Every Day. He is a regular contributor to Korn Ferry. 

You never get a second chance to make a first impression.

For organizations, that first impression is the onboarding process—a mishmash of practices aimed at getting new employees acclimated and up and running as quickly as possible.

The cost of not getting this moment right is immense. In a recent look at technology roles, one firm estimated that US organizations spend almost $2.2 billion a year on rehiring costs due to poor onboarding practices. In many companies, the average cost of replacing a technical role is over $76,000. This lines up fairly well with what The Center for Accountability and Performance estimated a few years back: For mid-range roles, employee turnover costs roughly 20% of the salary and for executive positions it skyrockets to 200%.

According to Gallup, in most organizations it typically takes a year for employees to reach their full potential for performance—a sharp difference from the 90-day onboarding process most companies seem to offer. But the length of onboarding isn’t really the biggest issue—the big question is what companies focus on during the time they have set aside.

Any strong leader knows that onboarding is the first place newcomers get a taste of the culture. In today’s climate of uncertainty, it’s also the first moment an employee decides whether or not they are tethered to the right team. Layoffs, AI disruption, and shifting economic winds mean employees aren’t just looking for a place that feels good—they’re looking for the stability, clarity, and sense of purpose that will help them find a center in the middle of the chaos. They need to feel connected to their teams, aligned with their leaders, and confident that no matter what, the train is on the right track.

This is where the discipline of experience design comes in. Traditionally associated with product and service design, experience design is being widely applied to the realms of learning, connection, and culture building. Instead of asking “What does this person need to know?” an experience designer asks, “What do we want this person to feel?” In the context of onboarding, an experience designer wouldn’t just focus on technical things like passwords, codes of conduct, or even employee values. Instead, they would be thinking about the entire arc of an employee’s first three to 12 months: who they need to meet, how they are going to be meaningfully introduced to their team, what mentors they might be paired with, and how to more broadly create experiences that draw on their unique talents in order to reinforce their decision to work somewhere.

According to one report, over half of employees would go “above and beyond” in their jobs if they had a good onboarding experience. Especially in tech, where complexity is high and innovation is a matter of survival, these first months can make or break performance. If leaders want teams that can innovate, fail fast, and drive new technologies, they need teams where psychological safety and communication are constantly being strengthened. These kinds of skills aren't reinforced by company manuals—they are built by intentional opportunities for meaningful connection and transformative conflict.

Too many leaders assume onboarding is HR’s responsibility. But when seen as an experience of the culture, the responsibility belongs to everyone. Instead of a ramp up, onboarding is better viewed as a threshold: the moment a new employee goes from outsider to insider—from potential to participation. It’s where their identity is negotiated, new relationships take shape, and someone’s sense of meaning is (or isn’t) aligned with the larger goals of their role.

When Gallup looked at all the reasons people leave an employer, they found that almost 40% of departures are due to issues with "engagement and culture."

A good onboarding process takes into account that culture is built across a series of micro-moments: from a new hire’s first one-on-one to how they are introduced to their team, to the first time they ask a question and experience how curiosity is—or isn’t—received.

The goal: Design an experience that leaves newbies feeling connected, confident, and invested in the bigger picture. In other words, don’t use the first months of an employee's career to give them a playbook—use the time to give them a sense of place.

Co-written by Elizabeth Solomon

Click here to learn more about Daniel Goleman's Building Blocks of Emotional Intelligence.