Wow, what a gold rush atmosphere! In your company, order numbers are skyrocketing. You've just hired new employees and already need more reinforcements. But what's the best way to onboard new hires?
Especially during phases of high company growth, everything suddenly seems to happen very quickly and by itself. More and larger orders come in, the workload of employees increases and can only be absorbed by a rapid increase in staff. Under this pressure, the impression can arise that there is no time for trifles. New colleagues receive a quick company introduction and then have to jump in at the deep end and be able to act autonomously as quickly as possible after a short onboarding process to cope with the workload. This often leads to "less experienced" employees having to explain the job to the "brand new" ones.
If a person who has not been in their position and company for long has to explain the activities in terms of content and process to other newcomers, the error rate is high. Anyone who has just mastered the standard process usually has no good answer to questions about details or exceptions. The knowledge of theoretical procedures - be it processes or the operation of programs - may not yet be sufficiently solidified by practical application to be able to make it understandable to others.
Such a technical induction also takes longer and is less convincing, as it is not yet presented with the routine of an "old hand" or underpinned with practical examples.
In the worst case, misunderstandings or supposed limitations are passed on. The hoped-for increase in productivity due to more personnel is thus delayed for an above-average long time, as the uncertainties lead to a higher need for coordination and rework. In addition, few people feel comfortable explaining something to another person that they themselves have only recently mastered or known. As a newcomer, one hopes to have arrived at a company where everyone knows what they are doing. During induction, finding out that the mentor may also be unsure due to short company affiliation does not directly increase trust.
Studies show that 30 to 40% of terminations in the first six months are due to insufficient induction (Source: Bersin by Deloitte, 2025). Therefore, high-quality onboarding processes are no longer a nice extra today, but are essential for employee retention and long-term company success.
With the keyword trust, we come to the non-technical side of onboarding. We have already seen that a technical induction by inexperienced colleagues can cause stress and uncertainty on both sides. In these uncertain situations, the manager should provide orientation and support, as the expectations of the new job are particularly linked to the hiring managers who supported these ideas during the hiring process.
In situations of high company growth, it often happens that those who have been on board for a long time hold positions with greater responsibility. This is because they already know the company, the business and the industry well and are expected to be responsible for the area.
Experts in the field of leadership have been warning against precisely this principle for years: whoever does their job best professionally or has the longest experience in the position is not automatically qualified to be a manager. Especially with these almost spontaneous promotions in a boom phase, the probability is high that a person suddenly finds himself or herself as a boss who may never have seen himself or herself in this position and has not been prepared for it.
As a result, you have a leader who is technically skilled, but who first has to come to terms with the new role as leader, and thus there is a danger that this will ultimately not be the optimal filling of the leadership position. In this phase of finding a new leader, it unfortunately happens all too often that newly hired operational staff are too often left to their own devices and feel left alone with their challenges.
From the lack of familiarity with the respective tasks - both for the newly promoted manager and for the newly hired employees - a certain hectic quickly arises in onboarding or the feeling of reacting more than acting self-controlled. The general breathless impression of high growth is thus reinforced at all levels. There is little time for extensive communication and growing together, which would be particularly important during the getting-to-know-you phase. The newly formed teams or departments feel more like a jumbled heap than a productive unit. If conflicts or competitive thinking then arise because everyone is perhaps looking out for themselves, the first terminations are almost pre-programmed.
Recent studies confirm that 67% of managers do not feel sufficiently prepared for their role - this underlines the urgency of targeted leadership development in growth phases.
Especially during periods of rapid growth, it is essential not only to onboard new employees but also to further develop existing teams. This includes, in particular, the targeted qualification of new leaders through hr development – for example, via coaching, training or structured leadership development programs. This ensures that even the most technically skilled employees are equipped to perform effectively in their new roles as leaders.
Admittedly, most companies have plans for the technical side of onboarding, usually referred to as induction. But what is the best way to ensure the interpersonal side of the onboarding process?
Our recommendation is to specifically plan and reserve time for conversations and encounters, especially in the initial phase. For example, the direct supervisor should spend at least once a week 30-60 minutes in a one-on-one conversation with the new hire. A person from the team, often referred to as an onboarding buddy or mentor, should ideally check in briefly twice a week to see if everything is going well, or if questions or obstacles have arisen. Sufficient time and opportunity should also be planned for getting to know the entire team and contacts from interface teams in the first 60 days of the new job.
Current studies show that employees who have a buddy are 75% more likely to feel connected to the company and become productive significantly faster (Source: SHRM 2025).
To exchange one's own needs and preferences regarding the way of working, a getting-to-know-you tool is suitable for the onboarding of new employees, especially in digital onboarding. Here we can recommend, for example, the "Manual to Me". This is a kind of questionnaire that all team members can fill out and then discuss. In this way, misunderstandings in cooperation can at least be mitigated, for example, if it is clear who prefers to approach a topic first in concentrated individual work, and who prefers to go directly into exchange with colleagues to better grasp the new topic. The induction of remote employees can also be optimally supported in this way.
Especially in a situation where everything supposedly has to happen very quickly - we remember, people are thrown in at the deep end and have to learn to swim themselves - the first important step is to get rid of the feeling of time pressure in order to create real commitment and short-term productivity among new team members. The business is running, orders or deliveries are coming in in large numbers: is it really not possible to set aside a few hours a week for onboarding new hires? Often, these "unproductive" times can also be well combined with a shared lunch, which is also health-promoting.
Digital onboarding tools and AI now support around 81% of companies and help shorten the induction time by up to 50% (Source: Forbes, 2025). Video onboarding increases knowledge absorption by up to 67%, and gamification elements significantly increase motivation.
Generally speaking, onboarding requires a decision on the part of the management. If one (passively) decides against giving time and thus a corresponding priority to the onboarding of new employees, this sends a signal to the entire workforce: orders count more than the people who process them. Of course, "time is money", but have you ever calculated how much it costs when employees leave after a short time and the recruitment process has to be started all over again?
Here's a quick checklist of what you should consider in the onboarding process:
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If you are currently experiencing a gold rush atmosphere in your company, also take a look at our topic "recruiting in hypergrowth situations" - we already covered that.
