4 ways to help new hires ramp faster
Hi Everyone,
There's a reliable way to get new hires up to speed much faster, and it only takes around six hours. Most companies already do it, but badly.
Today, we're sharing the fundamental rules for an effective onboarding buddy system.
Book the meetings before they start
Put a recurring call between the buddy and the new hire on both calendars before their start date.
Microsoft found that meeting frequency made a big difference. In their pilot, 56% of new hires who met their buddy once in the first 90 days said the buddy helped them become productive quickly. Among new hires who met their buddy more than eight times, that figure rose to 97%. So book the call weekly.
Who should the buddy be?
Pick a peer, not the manager. A new hire won't ask their manager everything, because the manager is the person who evaluates them. Nobody wants to look lost in front of their boss in week two.
The everyday questions about how the company works can go to the buddy instead. The manager still sets goals and judges the work.
Buffer, a fully remote company, splits the role in two. A role buddy from the same team handles task-related questions once or twice a week, and a culture buddy from a different team explains how the company works. Neither buddy evaluates the new hire, and anything about performance goes back to the manager.
A small company doesn't need two buddies. The useful habit is defining the role clearly, in writing. In a short note, write down what the buddy handles and what remains the manager's responsibility.
Ask for volunteers, and cap the load
Recruit buddies instead of assigning them, and tell people up front how many hours the role demands.
At UC Irvine's 420-person IT organization, the time commitment is built into the program: about six hours of meetings across the new hire's first three months. That's roughly one half-hour call per week. People volunteer for the role with their manager's approval, and nobody supports more than two new hires at a time.
Put an end date on it
When you pair a buddy with a new hire, agree on an end date from the outset. Buffer ends the culture buddy arrangement after six weeks of weekly meetings. UC Irvine keeps pairs together for three months, sometimes six.
An end date makes it easier to volunteer, because the buddy knows exactly what they're agreeing to. Many pairs stay in touch afterward anyway.
Try this today
Before your next hire's first day, send your team something like this.
"We've got a new person starting soon and decided to set up a buddy system. I'd love a volunteer for the first one. You'd be the person they can always ask about how things work here. The time requirement is about half an hour a week for three months. Reply if you're up for it."
Once you have your volunteer, book the weekly call and set the series to end after three months.
Go deeper
👉 Microsoft: Every new employee needs an onboarding buddy — read this for the full pilot, including what buddies covered in week one and the reminder system that kept meetings happening.
👉 Buffer: The evolution of onboarding at Buffer — read this before copying the two-buddy split; Buffer explains what each buddy covers and what the manager keeps doing.
👉 GitLab: Onboarding buddies — use it as a copyable role description, from the first scheduled call to the feedback survey.
👉 UC Irvine OIT: Peer onboarding program expectations — use it to set your own limits; the two-hire cap, the six-hour commitment, and the three-to-six-month window are all stated in plain terms.
Coming up next
Aino Corry has run team retrospectives for more than 15 years, and one of the most common mistakes she sees is teams going straight from complaints to fixes.
In the next issue, we'll cover how to avoid this, with four questions and a template.
Have a great week!
P.S. A heads-up before we go. Starting this week, we'll send ExecEdge on Mondays and Fridays instead of every weekday. We're putting the extra time into ExecEdge PRO, and you'll hear more about that soon.