A 90-person consulting firm cut new-starter time-to-belonging from six months to six weeks.
First-90-day survey scores on 'I feel I'm part of this team' moved from 51% favourable to 88%.
Anonymised composite. Drawn from real pilot data — name withheld until the pack signs the release.
What moved
88%
Belonging at day 90
Up from 51% favourable on the same question.
6 → 6
Months → weeks
Self-reported time-to-belonging for new starters.
100%
Cohort uptake
All 14 new starters across two cohorts active by week one.
The situation
A consulting firm hired in cohorts of 6–8 every quarter and had a stubborn pattern: new starters showed strong belonging signals at day 30, dipped sharply at day 60, then recovered around month six. The Head of Talent flagged the dip as 'the politeness wall' — new joiners realising they didn't yet have the relational capital to push back, and going quiet.
What we did
BetterUs onboarding was added to day-one. New starters joined a cohort workspace alongside the firm-wide one. Wolf Mode for the first cohort week was Den (make every packmate feel seen). Mentors paired with each new starter were prompted to send a recognition in the first 72 hours. Daily check-ins ran for the first 14 days, then tapered.
“New consultants used to spend three months waiting to be invited into the conversation. Now they're sending recognitions in week one.”
What changed
Belonging at the day-90 survey question — 'I feel I'm part of this team' — moved from 51% favourable (12-month rolling pre-BetterUs) to 88% across the next two cohorts. Self-reported time-to-belonging dropped from six months to six weeks. The day-60 dip flattened entirely.
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