Onboarding Atlas · Company research

Microsoft

Buddies and remote engineering onboarding

Company research and program account

RemoteHybridEngineeringRole learningFirst projectPrivileged systems

Public research summary, not an official company process

This page reports only what was observed in the cited public sources. It does not imply endorsement, and something absent from those sources may still exist inside the company.

Summary

What the sources describe

Checked 2026-09-25

Microsoft has published two relevant pieces: a 2019 account of a 600-employee onboarding buddy pilot, and 2021 research on how its software developers were onboarded remotely during the pandemic.

First weeks

Microsoft found that managers holding one-to-one meetings with new hires in their first week had outsized benefits. S17
After one week, hires with buddies were 23% more satisfied with onboarding than those without; at 90 days the difference was 36%. S17

First months

In the buddy pilot, 56% of hires who met their buddy at least once in the first 90 days said the buddy helped them become productive quickly. This rose to 73% for 2–3 meetings, 86% for 4–8 and 97% for more than 8. S17
Of new hires surveyed during remote work, 40% did not have at least one daily one-to-one conversation with someone on their team. In one Microsoft group, 24% of remote hires completed no pull requests in their first 90 days. S03

Program design

Buddies who reported to the same manager as the hire were rated more favourably. Microsoft advises checking the buddy’s workload and agreeing a fixed duration for the role. S17
The researchers recommend a technical mentor on the same team, an onboarding buddy (often from another team) and a simple first-week task, such as fixing a spelling error, to learn the pull request workflow. S03

Not found in these sources

Absence here does not mean Microsoft lacks it; the reviewed sources simply do not say.

Whether the buddy results are causal; they are self-reported and correlational
Microsoft’s current company-wide onboarding procedure
Results for roles other than software development

WeekOne adaptation

What to borrow, and confirm locally

Put a manager one-to-one in the first week of every plan.
Plan for eight or more buddy meetings in the first 90 days, and free up the buddy’s time to hold them.
Give engineers a small, real first task and track whether a first change is merged by day 90.

These are our suggestions, not Microsoft’s practice. Do not copy company-specific dates, tools or rules without checking they fit your organisation.

Related WeekOne blueprints

Sources and provenance

Read the evidence in context

S17Checked 2026-09-25

Every new employee needs an onboarding buddy

Microsoft · Company program account · 2019-06-07 (republished 2021-09-24)

600-employee buddy pilot: the more often buddy and hire met in the first 90 days, the more hires said the buddy helped them become productive quickly.

Limits: Self-reported and correlational; hires who met more often may differ in other ways.

Open source

S03Checked 2026-09-25

Advice for remote onboarding of new hires

Microsoft Research · Company research guidance · 2021-03-11

Survey and interviews of Microsoft developers onboarded remotely in 2020: a same-team technical mentor, a buddy and a simple first-week pull request.

Limits: 2021 article on pandemic-era remote onboarding; not a current company-wide procedure.

Open source

Not found in a document is not proof the organization has no such process. All task schedules, completion rules and blueprints here are original proposed adaptations. Never infer legal duties, actual policies, licensed tools or production permissions.

Your document, your decisions

Turn a reference into a confirmed plan.

Check your onboarding document