Why I’ve Joined Enboarder as CEO

Sometimes an opportunity comes your way that you just can’t pass up.

After a lengthy career in HR tech, holding leadership roles at companies like Yahoo!, HotJobs, Jobvite, and Careerbuilder, it wouldn’t be surprising if people thought I should retire and play the drums more – or try my hand at something like fishing or golf. And while that time will hopefully come one day, I want to share why I’ve become so passionate about Enboarder’s mission and excited about my new role as CEO.

When I visited Sydney and first met Brent Pearson, Enboarder’s founder and former CEO, we talked a lot about the “new normal” of distributed work. We could see so many wonderful things associated with post-pandemic work. Schedules are much more flexible. Companies can hire the best-fit talent anywhere in the world. For many workers, it is now much easier to juggle your work and life responsibilities, not having to be in an office every day, Monday through Friday. We all remember how difficult that was not that long ago, forced to choose between our children’s school events and an early evening meeting or business trip.

And the good news is this new way of working is not going away. In fact, according to Gallup, 53% of remote-capable jobs in the U.S. are now working hybrid, and another 27% are fully remote. Only 21% are working on-site 5 days a week. It simply can not be exaggerated what a rapid, massive, and sweeping change this has been for the global workforce.

But Brent and I also talked about the downsides. There  is a new, growing price to pay for this flexibility. Collaboration and cross-functional problem solving is a lot more challenging now in organizations, large and small. I believe something even deeper and potentially unhealthy has also been revealed. Researchers have known for decades that the social bonds and personal connections we make through collaboration on the job are big reasons for much of the joy we get at work. Studies have forever shown you can hate your job – and your boss – but also love the people you work with. I think this growing social alienation is something we can and should do something about.

Many of us now don’t see the people we collaborate with in person all the time – and sometimes ever. Our completely digital relationships simply can not feel as intimate and meaningful.

The Surgeon General is calling this an “epidemic of loneliness” and social isolation, and there is a real bottom-line impact. One study from the Journal of Organizational Effectiveness notes that lonely employees are 2x as likely to quit and have higher rates of absenteeism, costing employers more than $154 billion annually. 

Think about what it feels like to start a new job in a distributed workforce, possibly at a job you have not done before. How do you navigate the landscape of a new organization? Find the right people to ask questions about the job and acquire new skills? How can you ramp up quickly, no matter where you sit? We at Enboarder will be unveiling new research soon showing just how poor the onboarding experience is for most hybrid and remote workers.

This is the challenge I am now passionate about solving for Enboarder’s customers. Our technology makes building and scaling relationships easier. We provide employees with an enriching “onramp” experience on any device, anywhere in the world. Enboarder automates the necessary evil of paperwork and compliance – the stuff every new hire has to do – while jump-starting new friendships and relationships that anchor a person’s social connection at work.

My goal is for every employee to achieve “flow” and fulfillment at work as fast as possible. I want employees who use Enboarder to say, “That was the best onboarding experience I’ve ever had.” 

Our mission is to help employees onboard and “onramp” quickly, connecting employees with the right people, technology, and training, not only to do their jobs well and ramp quickly, but to have fun and enjoy it too.

Now I am excited to get to work.