Induction & Onboarding | Professional services
62.5% relative decrease in early attrition. New hires went from overwhelmed to coaching others.
Joining a Big 4 firm is one of the most exciting – and most demanding – career moments a person can have. Like most organisations operating at this scale, the induction experience had grown organically over time, varying across business areas and struggling to keep pace with the ambition of the firm to deliver it. This is the story of how a thoughtful, ground-up redesign became one of the most impactful onboarding programmes in the industry.
What the firm was really up against
At this scale and pace, it’s the first few days that set the tone for everything that follows. When new joiners aren’t equipped with the right tools and insight from the start, the pressure builds fast and what should feel like an exciting career moment starts to feel overwhelming and out of place. Great induction changes that. It creates the conditions for people to feel confident, capable, and genuinely glad they chose this firm.
Inductions were running independently across business areas – which meant what a new joiner received depended largely on where they landed. Information was fragmented. Experiences were inconsistent. This is a firm with a global reputation for excellence and new joiners arrive knowing that. The induction experience needed to match that standard. To deliver exceptional client experiences, they needed to feel the quality of the organisation from day one, not discover it gradually over months.
New hires were telling them the same things, repeatedly: they didn’t feel like they belonged yet. Networks are critical for navigating the firm and the role. They felt overwhelmed by the scale and pace of everything being thrown at them at once.
Stakeholders could see the gap between what the induction was delivering and what the firm needed it to deliver – in engagement, in confidence, in the speed at which new hires became genuinely useful to clients and colleagues. There was an opportunity to do something better, and the firm had both the ambition and the appetite to make it happen.
The Impact
NPS
of managers reported new hires fully self-sufficient and coaching others within 90 days
early attrition – down from 8.03%
The decision that changed everything
A programme of this ambition – spanning multiple business areas, and modalities – required more than a redesign and a fresh set of slides. It required a genuine partnership between Solvd and the firm’s learning team, prioritising shared insight; discovering what was really happening across the business before designing anything.
That investment of time to gain clarity shaped a blended experience that transformed the new joiner journey and continues to drive measurable improvements in confidence, performance, and retention.
Digging deeper to design smarter
The starting point listening exercise, not a content plan.
Solvd partnered with the firm’s learning team to gather insight directly from the people the programme would serve – new joiners, their managers, and key stakeholders across the business. What were the real pain points? Where was the noise drowning out the signal? What did new hires actually need to feel confident, connected, and capable – and when did they need it?
Those insights drove a series of design workshops, where ideas were developed, challenged, and tested before anything was built. Pilots were run. The design was iterated. By the time the final programme took shape, it had been shaped by the people it was built for – which is precisely why it worked.
The guiding principle throughout: cut the noise. Focus new hires on what mattered most, when it mattered most, in a way that felt human rather than overwhelming.
A standout innovation was the IRL client simulation, which embedded real work scenarios while incorporating personas from a neurodiverse range – creating an unwaveringly inclusive experience.”
Judges’ feedback
Onboarding Programme of the Year 2026, The Learning Awards
What we built together
The result was a cohesive, inclusive, 180-day onboarding experience – a transformation from static slide decks into something that combined storytelling, simulation, and genuine human connection across every stage of the journey.
A premium first day
The programme opened with a live broadcast induction event, facilitated by a professional host. Before a new hire had attended a single training session, the message was clear: you’ve joined somewhere that takes this seriously. The production quality set a standard and a tone that carried through everything that followed.
Bringing the role to life
Eight short films, woven throughout one of the virtual experiences, followed four consultants through a day in their working life – client work, network building, the realities of making impact from the inside. New hires didn’t just learn about the role. They saw it, recognised it, and understood what it could look like for them.
Demystifying the business
Custom-built puzzles, breakout sessions, polls, and gamified activities guided new hires through the fundamentals – the engagement lifecycle, acronyms, grades, systems – in a way that was memorable rather than medicinal. The complexity of a Big 4 environment became navigable, one interaction at a time.
Immediate connection
Networking wasn’t an afterthought bolted onto the end of a session. It was built into the programme’s architecture – breakout rooms, collaborative games, and structured opportunities to form genuine relationships with peers and experienced leaders. New hires didn’t leave with a contact list. They left with people they actually knew.
In-person simulation
A full-day simulation mirrored the consulting lifecycle from the inside – giving participants the chance to use the firm’s own tools and systems to work through a real client scenario before they’d ever been in a client meeting. By the time they faced the real thing, it was familiar.
The results, and the ripple beyond them
The numbers tell a story that’s unusual in its consistency and its scale.
98% of attendees agreed the induction was engaging and interactive. 91% felt more confident starting their role. 95% said it was a meaningful opportunity to build their network. 96% left with a stronger understanding of the client engagement process. 84% felt genuinely equipped – with the resources and support they needed to begin their career at the firm.
Managers noticed the difference before the surveys were even in. 52% reported that new hires were fully self-sufficient – and able to coach others – within just 90 days.
And early attrition, the number that matters most to a finance director and a talent team in equal measure, fell from 8.03% to 3.09%. The reduction in early attrition alone represents a significant recapture of recruitment and training costs, and a meaningful strengthening of the firm’s talent pipeline.
These aren’t learning metrics. They’re business outcomes. Which is exactly what the brief called for.
The programme went on to win Gold for Onboarding Programme of the Year at The Learning Awards 2026.
The judges were deeply impressed by the storytelling and presence of the team during the presentation. Despite being a joint submission, the sense of collaboration and partnership was evident throughout. This programme was a masterclass in implementation, moving seamlessly from research and problem statements to agile project management and design.”
Judges’ feedback
Onboarding Programme of the Year 2026, The Learning Awards
