Most new hires decide to stay or leave in the first 2 weeks
Your onboarding is probably a laptop handoff and a Confluence link. Here's why that's costing you people and how to fix it.
The window is smaller than you think
A new hire walks in on day one full of energy. They left their last job for this. They told their friends about it. They're ready to prove they made the right choice.
Two weeks later, they're either thinking "this was a great decision" or "I've made a terrible mistake." That window is when you keep or lose them - not at the 6-month mark, not at the annual review. Right now, while they're still forming their opinion.
Most companies waste this window completely.
What bad onboarding looks like
Day one: logistics and paperwork
They get a laptop. Someone walks them through the HR system. They sit through a presentation about the company's history and values. They get added to 40 Slack channels. By lunch, they've learned nothing about their actual job and they're already overwhelmed.
Week one: "just shadow people"
Nobody knows what to do with them yet, so they sit in meetings, read documents, and "get up to speed." They feel useless. Their manager is too busy to spend real time with them. They eat lunch alone because nobody thought to invite them.
Week two: sink or swim
Someone finally gives them real work. But nobody explained how things actually get done here - who to ask, what tools to use, what the unwritten rules are. They make avoidable mistakes. They feel stupid. They start wondering if this job was the right move.
Sound familiar? This is how most startups onboard people. And then they're surprised when someone leaves after 4 months saying "it wasn't what I expected."
What actually matters in the first 2 weeks
They need to do real work on day one
Not busywork. Not "read through these docs." An actual task that contributes to something real. It can be small - fix a bug, write a first draft, set up a campaign. The point is they go home on day one having done something that mattered.
This means you need to prepare before they start. Have a task ready. Have the tools set up. Have their accounts created. The number of companies where someone starts on Monday and can't log into email until Wednesday is embarrassing.
They need a person, not a process
Assign someone specific as their go-to person for the first month. Not their manager - someone at their level who can answer the questions they're embarrassed to ask their boss. "Where do I get office supplies?" "Who actually makes decisions about X?" "Is it okay to leave at 5?"
This person should proactively check in, not wait to be asked. New hires won't ask for help because they don't want to seem incompetent. The buddy needs to offer it.
They need context, not information
Don't dump 50 documents on them. Instead, tell them the 5 things they actually need to know to do their job this week. Who are the key people? What are the current priorities? What's the one thing the team is struggling with right now?
Context is "here's why we do it this way and what we're trying to achieve." Information is "here's our 30-page wiki." One is useful. The other is homework.
They need early feedback
Don't wait for the 3-month review. Give them feedback in the first week. "That was exactly right" is just as important as "here's how to adjust." New hires are constantly guessing whether they're doing okay. Remove the guessing.
A 15-minute check-in at the end of each day in week one is worth more than a formal 30-day review. By the time you get to 30 days, patterns are already set.
The manager's job during onboarding
Your calendar is full. You have deadlines. You didn't plan for the new hire's first week because you were too busy hiring them. This is the most common onboarding failure.
Block 2 hours on day one. Not "I'll try to find time." Block it. Sit with them. Explain what the team is working on, what their role is, what success looks like in 30/60/90 days. This conversation sets the tone for everything.
Have lunch with them every day in week one. Yes, every day. It's 5 hours of your time. That investment prevents months of disengagement or a resignation at month 3 that costs you 6 months of salary to replace.
Give them a real project by day 3. Not a training exercise. Something the team actually needs. Scope it so they can finish it in a week. When they deliver it, they feel like part of the team. When they don't get real work for 2 weeks, they feel like a burden.
What to do before they start
The best onboarding starts before day one:
- Send them a welcome message the Friday before. Not from HR. From their manager. "We're excited you're starting Monday. Here's what your first day looks like." This reduces the anxiety that every new hire feels over the weekend.
- Set up everything. Laptop configured. Email working. Slack access. Tool logins. Calendar invites for the first week. If any of this isn't ready on day one, you've already told them they weren't a priority.
- Tell the team. Announce who's joining, what they'll be doing, and ask the team to introduce themselves. The new hire shouldn't have to figure out who everyone is by reading Slack profiles.
- Prepare their first task. Have something meaningful ready for them to work on. Brief it clearly. Make sure whoever they need to collaborate with knows it's coming.
The 30-60-90 framework that actually works
First 30 days: learn and contribute. They should understand how the team works, build relationships with key people, and deliver 2-3 small pieces of work. The goal is confidence - they should feel like they belong here.
Days 30-60: own something. Give them a project or area that's theirs. Not supervised. Actually theirs. They make the decisions, they own the outcome. This is where you find out if the hire was right.
Days 60-90: improve something. By now they've been here long enough to see what's broken but new enough to question it. Ask them: "What would you change?" Good hires will have a list. Great hires will have already started fixing things.
The cost of getting this wrong
20% of employee turnover happens in the first 90 days. Most of that is preventable. Every person who leaves in their first 3 months cost you the recruiter fee, the interview time, the onboarding time, and now you're starting over.
For a role paying 60,000, a failed hire in the first 90 days costs roughly 30,000-50,000 when you add everything up. Spending 10 hours on proper onboarding is the cheapest retention investment you'll ever make.
The bar isn't high. Most companies are so bad at onboarding that doing it even slightly well makes you stand out. Your new hire will notice. And they'll stay.