# Onboarding Nudge — a worked spec

_By Sandhiya Thiruvengadam · Global People Labs · for HR leaders_

A real example: nudge each manager to finish their new hire's onboarding plan. Built live with a sample sheet and a real Slack nudge. Start with a spec, not a prompt.

## The spec

| Line | What it says |
|---|---|
| **SPEC** | Nudge each manager to finish their new hire's 30 to 60 day onboarding plan, so the team self-serves and no one gets chased. |
| **INPUT** | The onboarding tracker sheet: new hire, manager, manager Slack handle, start date, plan status (Not started / In progress / Done), on leave. |
| **TRIGGER** | Every Friday, check the sheet. Any hire whose status is not Done and who started within the last 60 days. (A scheduled check reads the status column.) |
| **OUTPUT** | A short, friendly Slack DM to the manager who is behind, plus a shared hub channel for general onboarding info. Individual status stays in DMs; the channel never names a behind hire. |
| **INSTRUCTIONS** | Nudge gently, once a week, only the managers who are behind. One bundled message per manager even if they have two hires. Friendly, never naggy. |
| **KNOWLEDGE** | The tracker, the 30 to 60 day onboarding template, the 60-day completion policy. |
| **MEMORY** | Done = every new hire has a completed plan within 60 days. Remember who was nudged this week so no one is double-nudged. |
| **CONTEXT** | Who is on leave this week (skip them); today's date so "day X of 60" is right. |
| **TOOLS** | May read the sheet and send Slack. May not write to the payroll system. May not show one manager another manager's rows. |
| **DONE** | Every new hire has a completed plan within 60 days; managers self-serve; HR stops chasing. |
| **NOT ALLOWED** | Never nudge someone on leave. Never show one hire's status to another manager. Never touch payroll, health, or leave records. |

## The build, step by step

1. **The input (AI).** Create the tracker as a Google Sheet with sample data (the "no data yet, draw it" move).
2. **The trigger + output (AI).** A scheduled routine reads the sheet on Friday, finds the not-Done rows within 60 days, bundles one nudge per manager, and sends a friendly Slack DM.
3. **The shared hub (AI).** A welcome post in a managers channel, in a warm self-serve voice: the template, the policy, an open door for questions. General info here; personal nudges stay in DMs.
4. **The team self-serves (human + later AI).** The team can ask onboarding questions in the channel, or (on a paid Slack plan) ask Claude directly.

## Governance

The tracker is INTERNAL. Leave status is RESTRICTED, used only to skip a nudge, never shown. The limit is written into the spec before building, not caught after.

## Make it yours

Copy the spec lines above and fill them in for your own onboarding flow. If you can complete them, you have a spec, and any tool can build it.