Improving the onboarding experience

Employee experience initiative focused on improving the onboarding process of new international employees at Laerdal.

About

This initiative originated from observations made by the Service Design team at Laerdal regarding the inadequate onboarding experience faced by designers in Norway.

Type of project

This was done as part of my activities as a service design intern at Laerdal during spring 2022.

main focus

Service Design, Strategy

Contribution

My contributions consisted in insights consolidation, concepts creation, pitching, and roadmap planning. The illustrations are made using Laerdal’s design system.

The short version

challenges / opportunities

Onboarding is an moment in the employee lifecycle and has a lasting impact on how people feel over time.

This initiative came from noticing inconsistencies in onboarding due to a lack of structured processes and in response to changing workplace expectations. Poor onboarding put extra pressure on colleagues, reduced employee well-being, and sometimes led to early departures.

We saw improving the onboarding experience not just as a way to increase employee satisfaction but also as a long-term strategy to attract and keep talents.

The Employee Lifecycle, CultureAmp

cover of pitch

Outcome

The final outcome was a pitch to the People’s Department and the launch of a pilot project that continued after my time there. The pitch, along with its research appendix, included analyzed findings on the employee experience and actionable improvement ideas.

These were presented as part of a strategic process with a clear vision, expected benefits, and effort estimates.

the long version

timeline

The initiative kicked off with workshops involving the service design and industrial design teams. I then joined and led the initiative until the beginning of the pilot.

Design process (own visualization)

Analysis

a rough start

I began by consolidating and analyzing findings from the initial workshops, focusing on the steps, emotions, pain points, and opportunities during onboarding.

This showed that onboarding was often experienced as an emotionally challenging journey, with negative experiences having lasting effects. Many employees started their work projects feeling dissatisfied and mentally drained.

employee emotional journey during onboarding period

presentation

example of insight presented

presenting Insights and improvement ideas

It was important for me not only to present improvement ideas but also to craft a narrative that reflected the reality of the onboarding. That’s why I developed a research document while consolidating the ideas into key concepts and made sure I presented the research first.

This helped create an empathetic understanding of the situation and helped when discussing and iterating on the improvement ideas and their prioritization.

providing further context

I conducted additional research to gather data, allowing me to quantify some of the findings.

This illustrated how certain aspects not only impact employees but could also create barriers to attracting talent.

amount if money needed for the first relocation months

co-creation

illustration of co-creation activities, Laerdal illustration system

Involving people

I involved employees and members of the People’s Department throughout the process, which gave me a more accurate understanding of the situation.

This approach proved valuable when presenting the initiative to the entire People’s Department, helping to build support within the company and ensuring its continuation after my time there.

prioritization

I analyzed the effort and impact of the improvement ideas and together with the HR department we discussed how they could be prioritized.

This helped determine which ideas to use as the foundation for the pilot.

This is the default text value

Envisioning

expected benefits of improved onboarding

mapping expected benefits

Finally, I formulated a vision and mapped the expected benefits of the improved onboarding.

This helped generate enthusiasm and initiated discussions to move the initiative forward and launch the pilot.

reflections

from side-task to passion

I really enjoyed working on this topic because it reflected my personal values of creating the best possible experiences and opportunities for people. It also further opened my eyes to the potential of using service design to improve organizations.

My involvement began as a side task, creating visualizations of the ideas discussed during the workshops. But as I asked more people about their onboarding experiences, it became clear that this needed to grow into a full-fledged initiative. I’m grateful for the opportunity I was given to take the lead on it.

This experience showed me how much impact we can have when we’re passionate about something and inspire others to care. I’m proud that the initiative continued after I left.

view from the Stavanger office taken during my internship