Can you turn employee onboarding into a moment of emotional trust not just operational handovers?

Employee Experience

HR innovation

Behavioural design

2019

Approach

A cross-city Design Thinking sprint with Swiggy’s HR, Talent Acquisition, and business teams to redesign the end-to-end new hire journey from offer letter to Day 30.

Conducted 51+ in-depth interviews and on-ground shadowing across Mumbai and Bangalore
Identified friction points in pre-joining anxiety, induction rituals, KRA clarity, and value alignment
Used real moment from offer acceptance to post-Day 0 reflections—to map emotional drop-offs and co-create solutions
Created How Might We reframes for every stage: Pre-Day Zero → Day Zero → Post-Day Zero

Key Strategic Lever

Output

The Swiggy team co-created over 40 behavioural interventions across key stages. Examples include:

Pre-Day Zero
→ Offer tracker for candidates (real-time status + warm gestures)
→ Pre-joining buddy & fortnightly engagement flow
→ Interview prep pages + personalised recruiter emails
Day Zero
→ Smart asset distribution (gamified collection cues + automation triggers)
→ Induction redesign with org map games, values postcards, and team scavenger hunts
→ Curated welcome meals (with Swiggy credits + playlist for the cab ride!)
Post Day Zero
→ Manager KRA toolkits + automated reminders for check-ins
→ Chatbot nudges to assess new hire pulse at Day 10, Day 30
→ Values card activity + handwritten letters home from new joinees

These weren’t “ideas for HR.” They were empathy-tested moments small shifts with disproportionate cultural impact.