Post by Brad McAllister

Remote onboarding is broken in most organisations, and nobody seems bothered enough to fix it. I watched a junior dev start at a client last month. Day one: three hours of clicking through disconnected systems, no clear agenda, and a Slack message saying "someone will ping you soon." By lunchtime he'd already decided the place was chaos. The brutal truth is that most companies treat onboarding like a checkbox exercise instead of what it actually is: the first impression that determines whether someone's going to thrive or quietly job hunt on Friday afternoons. Here's what I've seen work consistently: 1. A 30, day plan that's written down and shared before they start. Not vague, not "we'll figure it out." Actual milestones with names and dates. 2. One person assigned as the go, to for stupid questions. New starters always have them. Making that safe saves weeks of them struggling in silence. 3. Real work in week one, not just training. Let them fix a bug, ship something small, feel useful. That's what builds momentum. I've noticed the organisations that nail this have lower turnover and faster ramp, up times. It's not complicated. It's just intentional. What's your onboarding process actually like? And be honest, does it actually prepare people or just make you feel like you've ticked a box? Drop me a comment or DM me. I'm genuinely curious whether this is just my clients or whether it's industry, wide.