# HR Onboarding Commander
**Turn new hires into productive, engaged team members from Day 1.**
Most companies treat onboarding as paperwork. Great onboarding is a strategic investment that reduces ramp time by 40% and improves 1-year retention by 82%.

## Philosophy
Onboarding is not a single event — it's a **90-day journey** from stranger to contributor. The goal is threefold:
1. **Productivity** — How fast can they do meaningful work?
2. **Belonging** — How fast do they feel like part of the team?
3. **Retention** — How confident are they this was the right decision?

The model:
1. **Pre-boarding** — Set up everything before Day 1
2. **Week 1** — Welcome, orient, and connect
3. **Week 2-4** — Learn the systems and start contributing
4. **Month 2-3** — Own work, build relationships, find rhythm
5. **Day 90 Check-in** — Confirm fit, set trajectory

## Input Required
- Offer letter details (title, team, manager, start date)
- Role requirements and first-quarter goals
- Team structure and key contacts
- Technical setup requirements (hardware, software, access)
- Company onboarding materials and policies

## Workflow

### Phase 1: Pre-boarding (Before Day 1)
```
Preparation checklist (complete before start date):

Logistics:
□ Hardware ordered and configured (laptop, monitors, peripherals)
□ Software licenses provisioned (IDE, Slack, email, calendar)
□ System access granted (GitHub/GitLab, AWS/GCP, Jira/Linear, docs)
□ Badge/office access set up
□ Parking/desk/locker assigned (if applicable)
□ Email and calendar account created

People:
□ Manager: Schedule welcome meeting (Day 1, first thing)
□ Buddy assigned: Peer who helps with day-to-day questions
□ Mentor assigned (for senior roles): Someone outside direct team
□ Team notified with start date and brief intro
□ Cross-functional partners alerted (PM, design, etc.)

Communication:
□ Welcome email sent (1 week before):
  "Hi [Name], we're excited to have you start on [date]!
   Here's what to expect on Day 1:
   - [Schedule overview]
   - [Who you'll meet]
   - [What to bring]
   - [Where to go / video link]
   Your onboarding buddy is [Name] ([brief intro]).
   See you soon! — [Manager Name]"

□ Pre-reading packet sent (3 days before):
  - Company handbook or culture doc
  - Team wiki or README
  - Recent project overviews or RFCs
  - Org chart
```

### Phase 2: Week 1 — Welcome & Orient
```
Day 1:
□ Manager welcome (30 min)
  - "We're thrilled you're here"
  - Walk through the week's schedule
  - Answer immediate questions

□ IT setup and access verification (1 hour)
  - Confirm all accounts work
  - Test VPN, email, Slack, calendar
  - Set up development environment

□ Buddy introduction (30 min)
  - Informal, unstructured
  - "Ask me anything — no question is too small"
  - Show them around (office or virtual spaces)

□ Team lunch/coffee (1 hour)
  - Informal, social, no work talk
  - Help them learn names and roles

□ Company overview (1-2 hours)
  - Mission, values, current priorities
  - Org structure and where their team fits
  - Recent wins and current challenges

Day 2-3:
□ Product walkthrough / shadow sessions
  - See the product in action
  - Understand the user journey
  - Learn the business model

□ Meet cross-functional partners
  - PM, design, data, ops — whoever they'll work with
  - 15-30 min each, informal introductions

□ First small task (half-day effort)
  - Something real, not a toy project
  - Well-scoped, achievable, with clear success criteria
  - Example: bug fix, small feature, documentation update

Day 4-5:
□ Architecture/codebase walkthrough
  - How the system is structured
  - Where their work will live
  - Key patterns and conventions
  - Common pitfalls

□ Process orientation
  - How the team plans work (sprint, kanban, etc.)
  - Code review expectations
  - Deployment process
  - Communication norms (Slack channels, meetings)

□ Week 1 check-in with manager (30 min)
  - "How are you feeling?"
  - "What's clear? What's confusing?"
  - "Anything you need that you don't have?"
```

### Phase 3: Week 2-4 — Learn & Contribute
```
Learning ramp:

Week 2:
□ Complete first real feature/task
  - Scoped for 2-3 days of work
  - Paired with a teammate for guidance
  - Code reviewed thoroughly (teaching, not just checking)

□ Read 3-5 recent design docs / RFCs
  - Understand decision-making history
  - Learn the team's technical context

□ Attend all regular team meetings
  - Standup, sprint planning, retro
  - Observe first, participate gradually

Week 3:
□ Take on a medium-complexity task
  - Requires understanding of 2+ systems
  - Should require asking questions (good sign of engagement)
  - Aim to ship by end of week

□ 1:1 with skip-level manager (30 min)
  - Broader company context
  - Career growth perspective

□ Start documenting what they learn
  - "What I wish I knew on Day 1" doc
  - Helps next new hire, shows growth

Week 4:
□ First independent contribution
  - Own a task end-to-end: design → implement → test → deploy
  - Manager available but not driving

□ First month check-in with manager (1 hour)
  - Review progress against 30-day goals
  - Discuss what's going well and what's harder than expected
  - Adjust 60-day goals based on learnings
  - Ask: "On a scale of 1-10, how glad are you that you joined?"
  - Target: 8+ (if below, dig into why immediately)
```

### Phase 4: Month 2-3 — Own & Integrate
```
Building ownership:

Month 2:
□ Own a feature or system area
  - Not just implementing — designing and proposing
  - Regular check-ins with manager, not daily oversight

□ Build relationships beyond the team
  - Cross-functional project participation
  - Join an interest group or guild
  - Attend a company social event

□ Give first code/design review to a peer
  - Sign of integration and confidence
  - Shows they understand team standards

□ Participate in on-call rotation (if applicable)
  - Shadow first shift, then own next shift
  - Build operational understanding

Month 3:
□ Deliver a significant contribution
  - Something visible to the team or org
  - Demonstrates independent value creation

□ Contribute to team process or culture
  - Propose an improvement
  - Lead a meeting or retrospective
  - Share knowledge (tech talk, blog post, demo)

□ Day 90 Review (1-2 hours)
  Structured conversation:
  1. "What are you most proud of from your first 90 days?"
  2. "What's been harder than you expected?"
  3. "How would you describe your role to a friend?"
  4. "What do you want to accomplish in the next quarter?"
  5. "What could we do better for the next new hire?"
  6. "Would you recommend [Company] to a friend? Why?"

  Manager assessment:
  - Performance against 90-day goals: [Exceeds / Meets / Below]
  - Culture integration: [Strong / Good / Needs support]
  - Growth trajectory: [Ahead / On track / Needs adjustment]
  - Retention risk: [Low / Medium / High — if medium/high, action plan]
```

### Phase 5: Remote Onboarding Adaptations
```
For remote/hybrid hires, add these to the standard plan:

Communication over-investment:
- Daily 15-min video check-in with buddy (first 2 weeks)
- Manager 1:1 frequency doubled (2x/week for first month)
- All meetings have video on by default
- Slack "watercooler" channel for informal chat
- Virtual lunch pairings with team members

Documentation over-investment:
- Everything written down (decisions, context, how-tos)
- Video recordings of all walkthroughs
- Async-first culture explanation
- "How we communicate" guide (which channel for what)

Inclusion over-investment:
- Ship a welcome package to their home (swag, snacks, note)
- Schedule virtual coffee with 5+ people in first 2 weeks
- Invite to all optional meetings (give choice to decline)
- Create a "remote buddy" who specifically helps with remote issues
- Plan first in-person gathering within first 3 months (if possible)
```

## Onboarding Failure Patterns
```
Watch for these warning signs:

Week 1 red flags:
- New hire is silent in meetings and Slack
- Hasn't shipped anything (even small) by end of week 1
- Expresses surprise about role expectations ("I didn't know I'd be...")
- Manager hasn't had a 1:1 yet

Month 1 red flags:
- Still asking basic setup questions ("how do I access...")
- No independent contributions
- Avoiding team interactions
- Manager hasn't adjusted goals based on ramp speed

Month 2 red flags:
- Not owning any work independently
- Negative comments about company or team
- Absent from optional team activities
- "Glad I joined" score below 7

Response protocol:
- Immediate manager conversation
- Identify root cause (unclear expectations, bad fit, support gap)
- Create a targeted improvement plan
- Set a 2-week follow-up
- If unresolved at follow-up, escalate to HR and hiring manager
```

## Integration with Other Skills
- **hr-candidate-hunter**: Candidate data feeds into personalized onboarding
- **hr-interview-designer**: Interview insights inform 90-day goal setting
- **hr-offer-architect**: Offer details set onboarding expectations
- **hr-retention-radar**: Day 90 data feeds into retention analytics

## Files
- `memory/hr/onboarding-[employee]-[date].md` — Individual onboarding plan
- `memory/hr/onboarding-template-[role].md` — Role-specific onboarding templates
- `memory/hr/onboarding-feedback.md` — New hire feedback collection
- `memory/hr/90-day-review-[employee].md` — 90-day review documentation