Rosenverse

This video is only accessible to Gold members. Log in or register for a free Gold Trial Account to watch.

Log in Register

Most conference talks are accessible to Gold members, while community videos are generally available to all logged-in members.

Onboarding: The Ecosystem, not the Afterthought

Gold
Tuesday, November 7, 2017 • DesignOps Summit 2017
Share the love for this talk
Onboarding: The Ecosystem, not the Afterthought
Speakers: Russ Unger
Link:

Summary

Onboarding new employees to your team is all too often treated as an afterthought, or best case, as an at-the-moment-thought. Employees deserve a well-thought out experience that includes them from the very beginning–from the creation of the position description—to that time after they’ve become integrated into our teams and organizations. We can trace some of these imperfect scenarios all the way back to the creation our performance profiles or position descriptions, and how they were created. When we understand the entire journey from candidate to employee we see the value of treating onboarding as an ending of a particular process instead of a solitary event in time.

Key Insights

  • Traditional job descriptions focus on tasks rather than measurable performance outcomes, limiting effective hiring.

  • Performance profiles clarify what success looks like and help teams agree on hiring criteria, leading to better candidate matches.

  • Structured interview guides aligned with performance profiles ensure consistent, fair, and relevant candidate assessments.

  • Unpaid design exercises or take-home tasks can exclude qualified candidates with caregiving or other external responsibilities.

  • The candidate experience after the interview and before the start date is often neglected, causing anxiety and disengagement.

  • Maintaining personal contact with candidates post-offer fosters comfort and commitment before they begin.

  • First day onboarding should be treated as a commencement event, not a paperwork marathon, reducing overwhelm.

  • Buddy systems provide critical social and informational support, improving new hire adjustment and retention.

  • Assigning safe internal projects early helps new hires gain practical familiarity without pressure.

  • Onboarding should be considered a multi-touch ecosystem involving ongoing feedback, communication, and adaptation.

Notable Quotes

"If you really care about success, you define it first and hire against performance, not just experience."

"Manhole cover questions belong in the past. Focus on real skills and relevant experience instead."

"Unpaid design exercises are unfair because they don’t take into account people's real-life constraints."

"Waiting and vague communication during hiring is a painful guessing game for candidates."

"The post-offer period isn’t HR’s alone; hiring teams must stay in touch and keep the candidate engaged."

"Day one is a commencement, a graduation from candidate to employee, not a paperwork slog."

"Buddy systems create leadership opportunities and a support network without changing org charts."

"Internal projects give new hires a safe place to learn how the organization functions without fear of breaking things."

"Hiring managers should facilitate hiring decisions but truly rely on the team members who work daily with the candidate."

"Onboarding isn’t a single event or process, it’s an ecosystem with many touchpoints impacting the new employee experience."

Ask the Rosenbot
Luca Rager
Empowering Gaming at Scale: How Xbox Builds Powerful, Automated, and Distributed Design Systems with Sketch
2021 • DesignOps Summit 2021
Gold
John Paul de Guzman
10k Screens Later: How We Became a Data-Driven Design Organization
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2024
Gold
Paul Pangaro, PhD
Systems Disciplines: Table Stakes for 21st Century Organizations
2023 • Enterprise UX 2023
Gold
Jennifer Strickland
Adopting a "Design By" Method
2021 • Civic Design 2021
Gold
Erika Flowers
AI-Readiness: Preparing NASA for a Data-Driven, Agile Future
2025 • Designing with AI 2025
Gold
Shipra Kayan
Make your research synthesis speedy and more collaborative using a canvas
2025 • Rosenfeld Community
Laura Klein
Human vs. machine: Testing AI’s ability to synthesize and analyze research
2026 • Advancing Research 2026
Gold
Alnie Figueroa
The Future of Design Operations: Transforming Our Craft
2025 • DesignOps Summit 2025
Gold
Silke Bochat
5 Antifragile Strategies for a DesignOps 2.0
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2024
Gold
Jilanna Wilson
Distributed Design Operations Management
2019 • DesignOps Summit 2019
Gold
Nathan Reiff
Research, from Unimaginable to Presently Possible: A Future-Casting Sticky-Note Sprint
2026 • Advancing Research 2026
Gold
Bob Baxley
Theme 4: Discussion
2024 • Enterprise Experience 2020
Gold
Megan Nipe
Human-Centered Design for Engagement: Maturing from Newsletterville to Personalized, One-to-One Messaging
2021 • Civic Design 2021
Gold
Sam Proulx
Online Shopping: Designing an Accessible Experience
2023 • DesignOps Summit 2023
Gold
Theresa Slate
Why Changing Hearts & Minds Doesn’t Work When Promoting DE&I Efforts, but Checklists Do
2023 • DesignOps Summit 2023
Gold
Paul Ford
New work, new words: A glossary for AI
2026 • Designing with AI 2026
Conference

More Videos

Zariah Cameron

"Your breath is the most powerful thing; it reminds us of the power and agency that we do have as individuals."

Zariah Cameron

ReDesigning Wellbeing for Equitable Care in the Workplace

September 23, 2024

Yulya Besplemennova

"It couldn’t find specific interviewees for user archetypes, so I had to adapt and guide the process."

Yulya Besplemennova

[Demo] Stress-testing GenAI in user research synthesis

June 4, 2024

Deanna Mitchell

"Culture is the stories that we tell both ourselves and other people about who we are."

Deanna Mitchell

Designing with culture: Unlocking impactful insights for Product and UX

March 12, 2025

Charlotte Lee

"The metaphorical string of interdependence connects all our civic design efforts."

Charlotte Lee

Theme 1 Intro

December 8, 2021

Leah Buley

"Most service design firms are now focused on digital experience design, close to 70% do that work."

Leah Buley

Closing Plenary: The Crisis of Digital

March 31, 2020

Susan Simon-Daniels

"By taking a moment to pause to just let people be people, we could allow the interview to resume with some dignity and purpose."

Susan Simon-Daniels

War Stories LIVE! Susan Simon-Daniels

March 30, 2020

Nalini Kotamraju

"Research operations is the spine of any successful research and insights group."

Nalini Kotamraju

Research After UX

March 25, 2024

Nidhi Singh Rathore

"Candor and passionate feedback from participants shows they believe their input matters and are willing to be vulnerable."

Nidhi Singh Rathore Amber Davis

Embracing participation to unlock deeper truths in commercial research

March 12, 2025

Louis Rosenfeld

"Give a s**t about your topic. If you’re not trying to change something, why are you on stage?"

Louis Rosenfeld Jemma Ahmed Christian Crumlish Uday Gajendar Chris Geison

Coffee with Lou #3: What Makes for a Successful UX Conference Presentation?

May 2, 2024