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A field guide for hiring managers

The First 90 Days

A playbook for U.S. companies hiring and retaining LATAM talent.

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intentional onboarding

Hiring doesn’t end at the offer

Companies that build great teams aren’t just good at hiring. They nail what comes next, and it's nothing exotic. They have the onboarding process down to a science by structuring the first 90 days with intention.

As we saw firsthand at Strider, over a full year, that approach produced an onboarding success rate of nearly 94%, and we are talking about an industry where only a small fraction of employees say their company onboards well at all.

Two numbers that tell the same story.

9 in 10 hires placed through Strider complete onboarding and keep going. Across the industry, only 1 in 10 employees say their company does it well. That gap is exactly why the way you onboard matters as much as the way you hire.

9 in 10

Strider placements succeed

94%

Strider Onboarding Research - 2025 / 2026

1 in 10

1 in 10 employees say onboarding works at their company, according to a Gallup research

12%

Gallup, U.S. employees

Finding the right talent is becoming more challenging with all the market changes driven by AI. Once you nail the hiring process, it’s vital to maximize your new hire’s potential by investing in their first 90 days.

Neal Kemp

CEO & Founder, Strider

Connect on LinkedIn

Relationship-first culture

What makes remote LATAM onboarding different

Note, it’s not harder. It’s different. And the difference is worth understanding before day one, making it a huge advantage.

Most LATAM countries share six to eight hours of overlap with U.S. Eastern Time. Once you see that, time zones aren’t the challenge anymore. But keep an eye open for the communication gap.

A workday that actually lines up

San Francisco

UTC−7 · 3h behind ET

Bogotá

UTC−5 · 1h behind ET

New York

UTC−4 · ET

Santiago

UTC−4 · same as ET

São Paulo · Buenos Aires

UTC−3 · 1h ahead of ET

Overlap with New York working hours Local working hours (9am–5pm) Off hours

Working day assumed 9:00–17:00 local

Mind the cultural drivers, and you might close any possible gaps. LATAM professional culture is relationship-first: trust is built before tasks, and deference to seniority is a default. A new hire going quiet in week one usually doesn’t mean disengagement. They’re actually reading the environment to understand when, with whom, and how to engage in the best way possible.

Key insight

One in four early exits traces back to a mismatch in work culture.

1 of every 4 early exits

What could look like a hiring mistake, according to Strider data, actually traces back to a context gap.
The good news is that this is the kind of gap that a well-structured and well-executed onboarding can easily avoid.

When a new hire struggles in month one, the first question shouldn't be 'did we hire the wrong person?' It should be 'what did we forget to tell them?'

Nicole Barra

COO & Founder, Strider

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Clear expectations, open communication

Most early exits aren’t the wrong hire

When we look at 12 months of early terminations — those ending before onboarding is complete — the pattern we see is consistent: unclear role expectations, almost no feedback, and pressure to deliver before the person had enough context to deliver well.

The real reason behind early exits

Source: Strider Onboarding Research - 2025 / 2026

6 in 10

early exits trace back to a lack of team support

As 58% of early terminations were linked to “performance issues,” we discovered that the onboarding process was missing the necessary information to set new hires up for success.

To succeed in your onboarding process and avoid early exits, think that a well-aligned version starts even before the role is posted:

  • Define success up front: the skills needed and what success looks like at 30, 60, and 90 days. This will also sharpen the hiring decision.
  • Share it during interviews: that way, candidates know exactly what you expect from them from day one. No surprises, on either side.

Remember that the goal of the onboarding isn’t to complete a checklist every 30 days. It’s about seeing the person grow into the role you designed and make an impact through their work.

The playbook

30, 60, 90 days

Here’s how to start: four phases, each with its own goal and outcomes to help your onboarding process achieve better results for each of your hires.

Before day 1

Pre-boarding

Goal: make your hire feel welcomed and prepared.

  • Ship equipment at least a week early to avoid any setbacks or delays on day one.
  • Tool access live before they log in: email, Slack, repositories, project management.
  • A people-first welcome with real context, and in the best real-time collaboration window for both sides.
  • Assign and direct an onboarding buddy to welcome the new team member.
Days 1–30

Orientation

Goal: belonging and context.

  • Onboarding buddy welcome: this should be a trusted peer, not a manager. The person who answers any contextual or company-wise questions and can be relatable and empathetic.
  • Run a manager 1:1 in week one: a conversation about how they work best, and not a status check.
  • Make the unwritten rules written: what “urgent” means, desired response times, whether it’s okay to push back, etc.
  • Set the feedback expectation early: feedback here is regular, not just reactive. Let them know if “no news doesn’t mean good news”.
  • Build the async layer and set 30-day goals: whom to meet, what to understand, and one small contribution that earns real feedback.
Benchmark

By day 30, your new teammate should be able to articulate their role and how their work connects to company goals

Days 31–60

Integration

Goal: first real contribution, growing independence.

  • Real deliverables start: evaluate contributions for this stage’s context, not against a tenured teammate.
  • Keep the buddy relationship active: week-five questions are more nuanced than week-one.
  • Run a 30-day check-in: think of a conversation, not a review. Surface friction before it goes silent and becomes an issue.
Benchmark

Task independence on core workflows.

Days 61–90

Contribution

Goal: contributions start to be noticed and you start to see the professional you hired

  • Review the goals together: What was a strong contribution? Where is more support than expected needed?
  • Set the first quarterly goals as a co-creation: What does this professional want to own and point to as evidence?
  • Bring in the development conversation: What does professional growth look like? These answers tell you more than any metric.
Benchmark

Producing independent work. Retention likelihood assessed and acted on.

The companies that get onboarding right aren't running a more complex process. They're more intentional about the simple things: consistent support, clear expectations, and the space for people to actually grow into the role.

Tayane Gutierrez

Head of People, Strider

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What holds it together

Three structures that make your onboarding work

The buddy

Having an onboarding buddy is the fastest path to context for someone without the ambient information of an office. Frequency is key: regular contact over 90 days separates a hire who feels supported from one quietly struggling alone.

Regular contact · all 90 days

Weekly 1:1s

The earliest warning system for unclear expectations and missing feedback. These are the two variables that most often appear in early exits. Don’t skip them in your onboarding process.

Every week · from week 1

Documentation

Use the overlap time window for human connection: 1:1s, buddy meetings, live Q&A. Everything else lives in an async layer of communication and documentation, built before the new hire starts.

Built before day 1
The long-term fit advantage

An extra upside of a successful onboarding

If you know what to look for, you can clearly spot strong contributors that are worth keeping in the long run as you finish the onboarding phase. By month four or five, you should be able to notice behavioral signals, but they’re just easy to miss if you’re not looking in the right direction.

Signal 01

The go-to reference

The new hire shows as someone teammates walk to when they need specific help.

Signal 02

The early flag

They are the ones who raise a flag before it becomes a problem.

Signal 03

The multiplier

They make people around them sharper, contributing without being asked.

But there’s a bigger risk for remote LATAM hires that can mislead your read on their long-term hiring potential, it’s what we call “proximity bias”: a person can be doing exceptional work yet remain invisible to leadership. Proximity bias is not something you can see in new-hire behavior, but in their leadership.

The fix

Proximity bias is a visibility issue

Here are three habits your company needs to execute properly to keep remote work visible:

  • Document contributions where leadership can see them.
  • Name remote team members in reviews.
  • In hybrid workplaces, apply the same promotion criteria to someone in Bogotá as to someone down the hall.

When you notice any signs, act on them. As your new hire grows, they will take on more ownership. Harder problems. They will ask for a clear path forward.

Remember: people who can see where they’re going don’t start looking elsewhere to grow. And as they grow, your company grows with them.

"We talk a lot about hiring the right person. We don't talk enough about creating the space for that person to make a real impact and show their potential. That's what the first 90 days builds."

Neal Kemp

CEO & Founder, Strider

Connect on LinkedIn

The horizon

What year one should look like

After month three, the formal onboarding structure ends. Companies that stay present and close to their hire through the next months tend to see a real difference at the end of year one — and it almost always traces back to how the first 90 days were handled.

When onboarding is successful, the conversation at month 12 is never about whether the person is working out or not. It becomes about what they’re ready to take on next.

The point

Retention isn’t a passive outcome. It’s evidence that you built an environment worth staying in. People who see a great trajectory tend to feel more motivated, contribute more, and continue to grow in their roles.

Build your team fully supported

Learn how Strider matches U.S. companies with vetted LATAM professionals and supports both sides of the hire, from day one through the first year. It’s free to start, and risk-free hiring.

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