DISC profiles Archives

Onboarding Has Become a Tick-Box Exercise. Let’s Fix That.

Once upon a time, onboarding was about helping someone feel welcome. Now? It often looks more like:

“Here’s your laptop.”
“Here’s 17 forms.”
“Here’s the Health & Safety manual.”
“Sign here.”
“Sign here too.”
“Have you done your compliance modules?”

Tick. Tick. Tick.

Somewhere along the way, onboarding quietly shifted from culture to compliance. And while compliance matters (we’re HR people, we’re not about to suggest otherwise!), many businesses have accidentally turned the first few weeks of employment into a giant tick box exercise.

The result? People are technically onboarded, but they’re not actually connected. And that’s becoming an expensive problem.

The Early Exit Problem

The first few months of employment are some of the highest-risk periods in the employee lifecycle. Research consistently shows:

Around 20% of employee turnover happens within the first 45 days. (Harvard Business Review)

Approximately one-third of new hires leave within their first 90 days. (HIGH5 Strengths Test)

More than one-third of employees leave within their first year. (workinstitute.com –)

69% of employees are more likely to stay for at least three years when they experience great onboarding. (flair.hr)

That’s a lot of recruitment fees, training time, management effort, and team disruption walking straight back out the door. And contrary to popular belief, most people don’t leave because they couldn’t figure out how to complete their induction paperwork.

They leave because they don’t feel connected. They don’t understand how they fit. They don’t know what’s expected. Or they spend their first few weeks wondering if they made the wrong decision.

People Don’t Join Companies. They Join Experiences.

Think back to your own first day somewhere new. You probably don’t remember every policy you signed. But you’ll remember:

Whether someone was expecting you.

Whether your laptop worked.

Whether anyone took you to lunch.

Whether your manager had time for you.

Whether you felt awkward or included.

Those moments matter.

Before a new employee has even delivered meaningful output, they’re already deciding whether this feels like somewhere they belong. In fact, some studies suggest most employees decide how long they’ll stay within their first six months. (Enboarder)

That’s not a lot of time to get it right.

The Businesses That Nail Onboarding Do One Thing Differently

They stop thinking about onboarding as a day. And start thinking about it as a journey. Too many organisations treat onboarding as complete once the paperwork is filed and the mandatory training is done.

The reality? The real onboarding starts after that. When the new person begins navigating:

New relationships

New systems

New expectations

New personalities

New ways of working

That’s where confidence is built. Or lost.

The Power of 30-60-90 Day Check-Ins

One of the simplest things businesses can do is create intentional check-in points. Not performance reviews. Conversations.

30 Days

Focus on clarity.

What has surprised them?

What still feels unclear?

What support do they need?

Are expectations making sense?

60 Days

Focus on connection.

Who have they built relationships with?

Are they feeling part of the team?

What’s working well?

Where are they getting stuck?

90 Days

Focus on confidence and future success.

What are they proud of so far?

What development support would help?

What should their next 90 days look like?

These conversations often uncover concerns long before they become resignations. They’re also particularly valuable when you’re operating under a 90-day trial period. Because if performance concerns do exist, you want visibility early, not a surprise in week twelve.

Small Things That Make a Big Difference

You don’t need a Silicon Valley budget to create a great onboarding experience. Some of the most effective things are surprisingly simple:

Be Ready

Have their equipment, access, workspace, and systems prepared. Nothing says “we’re excited you joined us” like spending three days waiting for a login password.

Assign a Buddy

Managers are important. But buddies are gold. New starters often ask buddies the questions they don’t want to ask their boss. A good buddy helps people understand the unwritten rules, social dynamics, and day-to-day practicalities.

Introduce the Bigger Picture

Don’t just tell people what they do. Help them understand what everyone else does too. Give them time with key stakeholders across the business. When people understand how departments connect, they make better decisions and build stronger relationships faster.

Create Early Wins

People want to contribute. Find opportunities for meaningful success early. Confidence grows when people feel useful.

One Size Doesn’t Fit All

This is where onboarding often gets overlooked. Not everyone learns the same way. Not everyone processes information the same way. Not everyone responds to feedback the same way. Some people want detailed instructions. Others want the outcome and freedom to figure it out. Some want regular check-ins. Others want space.

This is where tools like Extended DISC® can be incredibly valuable.

When managers understand a new employee’s behavioural style, they gain insights into:

How they prefer to learn

How they communicate

What motivates them

What may cause stress or frustration

What signs to look for when they’re struggling

How to adapt coaching and support during those critical first few months

It’s not about putting people in boxes. It’s about helping managers lead people more effectively, sooner.

Make Onboarding Human Again

Compliance matters. Employment agreements matter. Policies matter. Health & Safety matters. But none of those things create belonging.

The businesses seeing the strongest retention aren’t necessarily the ones with the fanciest onboarding systems. They’re the ones that make people feel expected, prepared for, connected, and valued. Because at the end of the day, onboarding isn’t just about protecting the business. It’s about giving people a reason to stay.

How Spice Can Help

At Spice, we help businesses create onboarding experiences that go beyond paperwork and process.

From practical onboarding frameworks and manager guidance, through to Extended DISC® insights that help leaders understand how each new team member learns, communicates and develops best, we help businesses build onboarding journeys that actually stick.

Because when people feel connected, clear, and supported from the start, everybody wins.

And that’s how you truly Add Spice!

Mid-Year Pulse Check: Are Your People Still Feeling Heard?

There is a point in every year where things quietly drift. The excitement and energy of January has settled. New initiatives have become business as usual. Workloads have crept up, priorities have shifted, and what felt crystal clear six months ago may now feel a little fuzzy around the edges.

Nothing is necessarily broken. But communication may not be quite as effective. Processes may feel clunkier. Frustrations may be starting to simmer beneath the surface. People may have ideas for improving things but no obvious way to share them.

This is exactly why mid-year can be such a valuable time to check in with your team. Not because you need another survey. But because your people need to know their voice matters.

Why Pulse Surveys Work (When They’re Done Well!)

Most organisations understand the value of engagement surveys. They provide useful trend data, help track progress over time, and give leaders insight into what’s happening across the business.

Annual surveys are largely reflective, however, a mid-year or quarterly pulse survey is different. It’s an opportunity to understand how people are feeling right now, while there is still plenty of time to act on the feedback.

Done well, pulse surveys create a simple but powerful message: “We care what you think, and we’re interested in hearing your perspective.” That matters.

Research consistently shows that employees who feel heard are more likely to be engaged, committed, and invested in the success of the organisation.

The survey itself isn’t the magic. The conversation it starts is.

The Biggest Mistake Businesses Make

If there is one thing that undermines engagement faster than not running a survey at all, it’s asking for feedback and then doing nothing with it.

Most employees don’t expect every suggestion to be implemented. They understand there are budgets, priorities, customer commitments, operational realities, and competing demands.

What people struggle with is silence. When feedback disappears into a black hole, employees quickly learn that completing surveys is unlikely to make any difference. The result? Lower participation. Less honest feedback. Reduced trust.

The very opposite of what engagement surveys are intended to achieve.

Close the Loop

This is where many organisations miss the opportunity. The most important part of any engagement survey happens after the results arrive.

People want to know:

What did we hear?

What themes emerged?

What are we going to do about it?

What are we not going to do, and why?

The last question is often the one leaders avoid, but it’s incredibly important. Just to be clear, you do not need to action every suggestion. But where there are themes, you do need to acknowledge it.

For example: “Several team members told us communication between departments could be improved. As a result, we’ll be introducing a monthly cross-functional update to improve visibility and alignment.”

Or: “A number of employees suggested additional wellbeing benefits. We explored the options, however, due to current budget priorities we won’t be introducing these this year. We’ll revisit this as part of next year’s planning process.”

People may not always agree with the decision. But they are far more likely to respect it when they understand the reasoning.

Transparency builds trust. And trust drives engagement.

Keep It Short, Sharp and Useful

One of the biggest mistakes we see is trying to ask everything. A pulse survey should not feel like an exam. The longer the survey, the greater the risk of survey fatigue, rushed responses, and lower participation rates.

Instead, focus on a handful of areas that genuinely influence the employee experience. Questions might explore:

Clarity of expectations and priorities

Leadership support

Communication and information sharing

Recognition and appreciation

Workload and wellbeing

Resources and tools

You don’t need dozens of questions to gain meaningful insight. Often, a small number of well-designed questions will tell you exactly where your attention is needed.

The goal isn’t to ask more questions. It’s to ask better ones.

Sometimes the Feedback Isn’t About Processes

Not every engagement issue is caused by workload, policies, or organisational structure. Sometimes the challenge is simply how people communicate with one another.

One person wants direct, concise communication. Another wants context and discussion. One leader believes they are being clear and efficient. Their team experiences them as abrupt or unapproachable.

Neither side is necessarily wrong. They’re simply viewing the same situation through different lenses.

This is where tools such as Extended DISC® can be incredibly valuable. They help leaders and teams better understand behavioural preferences, communication styles, and potential friction points.

Similarly, developing people skills such as empathy, active listening, giving feedback, and navigating difficult conversations can have a significant impact on engagement.

Sometimes the solution isn’t changing a process. It’s helping people understand each other better.

The Goal Isn’t Perfection

Engagement isn’t about chasing a perfect survey score. It’s about creating an environment where people feel:

Heard

Valued

Respected

Included

When people believe their voices matter, they are more likely to contribute ideas, raise concerns early, support change, and stay invested in the team’s success. That’s what good engagement looks like.

Not perfection. Connection.

Time to Add Spice

At Spice, we believe engagement surveys should be more than a data collection exercise. They’re an opportunity to listen, understand what’s really happening within your team, and strengthen the connection between your people and your business.

Because engagement isn’t built by asking questions. It’s built by what happens next.

Add Spice.

Building Trust and Psychological Safety, Beyond Buzzwords

If you have been in leadership for more than five minutes, you will have noticed that the phrase ‘psychological safety’ has become one of those workplace favourites. It shows up at conferences, in LinkedIn posts, strategy decks and the occasional team meeting where everyone nods enthusiastically, then quietly goes back to business as usual.

But genuine psychological safety is not built on slogans or laminated posters. It is built on the very unglamorous but potent combination of consistent leadership behaviour, clear communication and shared language. When you add solid Health and Safety foundations, predictable feedback rhythms and tools like Extended DISC, you create the conditions for people to feel safe, informed, respected and valued. That is when trust becomes real, not just an aspirational word written on a wall.

The real ingredients of trust

As a business owner or people leader, you already know that trust is the currency of teamwork. When trust is high, communication is easier, decisions are clearer and problems get solved before they turn into fires. When trust is low, everything takes longer, frustrations simmer under the surface and leaders find themselves firefighting instead of leading.

Many workplaces rely on good intentions and hope, but trust is built on repeatable behaviours. Think of it like your Health and Safety programme. You do not hope people will lift safely, you teach them how. You do not hope they will report hazards, you create systems and expectations.

The same structure applies to psychological safety. People feel safe when:
• Leaders follow through consistently
• Communication is clear, honest and timely
• There is a shared language for how we work together
• Feedback is regular and predictable rather than something delivered only when there is a problem
• Health and Safety processes remove confusion and reduce risk
• Teams understand each other’s preferred communication styles and stress behaviours

When these parts work together, trust stops being a fluffy concept and becomes something people can experience day to day.

Leadership behaviour, the deal maker or breaker

One of the most powerful drivers of psychological safety is what leaders do repeatedly. Consistency signals safety. Inconsistency signals danger. If your Monday message is one thing and your Wednesday behaviour is another, your team will notice, even if they never say so out loud.

This is why so much of our work with clients begins with Acentia Culture Workshops and Leadership Capability sessions. These workshops help teams define what behaviour looks like in practice. Not a list of values written in corporate jargon, but clear expectations built from the inside out.

When leaders demonstrate reliability, fairness, curiosity and transparency, people feel secure. When leaders communicate clearly, hold good one on one conversations and give regular feedback, people feel seen and supported. It is the small everyday actions that create trust, not the once a year town hall.

Shared language, the underrated superpower

If you have ever worked with a team that misinterprets each other often, you know how exhausting it can be. Extended DISC® Effective Communication and Team Collaboration workshops give teams a shared language so they can understand each other in a way that is practical and non judgemental.

Extended DISC® awareness helps people read the room, adjust their communication and understand why someone else might respond differently to the same situation. Suddenly, a colleague’s bluntness is not rudeness, it is a D style communicating efficiently. A teammate’s hesitation is not resistance, it is a C style wanting clarity and time to process.

This shared language removes friction and builds trust faster because people stop filling the gaps with assumption. Instead, they communicate with intention.

Feedback rhythms that reduce anxiety

Nothing elevates heart rates quite like a calendar invite titled Quick Chat from your manager. When feedback is sporadic or only delivered reactively, people feel more anxious and less safe.

Structured feedback and one-to-one frameworks remove that uncertainty. When people know when feedback is coming, how it is delivered and what the conversation is meant to achieve, they stop worrying and start engaging.

Regular one to ones build momentum, strengthen relationships and give people a sense of direction, and the feeling that they are seen and valued. Predictability equals psychological safety. It also reduces the emotional load on leaders, because issues are handled proactively, not stockpiled until they explode.

The Health and Safety connection people often overlook

In New Zealand, Health and Safety responsibilities are non-negotiable. What many organisations miss is that psychological safety and physical safety sit side by side.

Solid H and S systems create clarity, which creates confidence. People feel safer when:
• Inductions are clear and consistent
• Risks are explained in plain language
• Training is easy to access and actually useful
• Documentation removes guesswork
• Processes are followed by everyone, including leaders
• Reviews are done with purpose, not as a tick box exercise

This is why a robust Health and Safety Framework is essential for trust. When physical safety feels organised and well managed, people naturally feel more secure psychologically.

What New Zealand research tells us

The 2024 NZ Workplace Wellbeing Report shows that only around half of Kiwi workers feel safe to speak up when something is not right. Workers who reported high trust in leadership were significantly more engaged, more productive and less likely to be considering leaving their roles.

Trust is not a nice to have in the business context. It drives retention, wellbeing, psychological safety and performance. People cannot do their best work if they feel judged, ignored or unsafe to raise concerns.

Bringing it all together

When you combine leadership consistency, shared language through Extended DISC®, clear communication, structured feedback rhythms and a strong Health and Safety foundation, you reduce uncertainty and increase confidence. That is the true formula for psychological safety.

The good news is you do not need massive programmes to get started. You just need the right structures and the willingness to lead with clarity and humanity.

Where Spice can help

If your workplace is ready to turn trust and psychological safety into lived behaviours, we can support you through:
• Acentia Culture Workshops
• Extended DISC Team Collaboration Sessions
• Feedback and One to One Frameworks
• Health and Safety Framework design including manuals, inductions, training, documentation and implementation reviews

We help you take the mystery out of culture and make it something you can actually build, not just talk about. If you want a workplace where trust is strong, communication is honest and people feel genuinely safe to bring their whole selves to work, get in touch. Let us help you Add Spice