Building a Future-Ready Workforce: How Cornerstone Elevated Employee Experience with Enboarder
What if you could reduce candidate dropout by 80% without adding headcount to your People team?
For global HR technology organizations managing high-volume hiring across dozens of countries, onboarding fragmentation isn’t just an operational challenge—it’s a direct threat to employee experience, manager effectiveness, and business scalability. With 750+ new hires annually across 26 countries and three legacy entities from M&A, Cornerstone faced a critical decision: continue managing hundreds of manual onboarding tasks, or transform the entire experience through strategic automation.
The result? A reimagined onboarding journey that elevated engagement, eliminated chaos, and freed the People team to focus on what matters most: connection, not coordination.
At a Glance:
Cornerstone is a global leader in the HR technology and talent development industry. With
a diverse team of 4,000+ Cornerstars, we support over 7,000 organizations and 125 million
users across 180+ countries. Our AI-powered platform, Cornerstone Galaxy, enables
companies to build agile, future-ready workforces by identifying skills gaps, offering
multimodal learning experiences, and engaging top talent. From global enterprises to
growing businesses, we help organizations thrive in a rapidly changing world.
80%
reduction in candidate
dropout during India hiring process
+10
point increase in new hire engagement scores (employees with <1 year tenure)
4.52 / 5
average rating for onboarding experience from new hires
The Challenge:
Before implementing Enboarder, Cornerstone struggled to deliver a consistent onboarding
experience across its global workforce – an especially pressing challenge given the
company hires an average of 750 new employees each year. The onboarding process was
fragmented and decentralized: new hires received information from multiple sources,
including emails from their managers, the People team, and ad hoc documentation. This
made it difficult to understand what was critical, when to expect it, or where to find it. At
such a high hiring volume, even small inconsistencies were magnified – leading to
confusion, delays, and varied first-day experiences depending on location, team, or role.
As one new hire put it:
“I appreciated the effort, but it was hard to know what was most important. I was
getting info from four different places, and much of it didn’t match. A clear roadmap
would have made a huge difference.”
The impact wasn’t limited to new hires. Behind the scenes, the People Services team was
managing a highly manual onboarding process, responsible for coordinating logistics,
chasing documents, and sending hundreds of individual emails to new joiners and
stakeholders each year. This workload created operational inefficiencies and left little room
for more personalized or strategic support.
Remote and regional hires were especially vulnerable to these gaps – sometimes starting
without essential tools or clear guidance for days. Internal feedback confirmed the
experience felt disjointed and stressful, misaligned with Cornerstone’s people-first values.
It became clear that Cornerstone needed a centralized, automated, and scalable
onboarding solution – one that could deliver clarity, connection, and consistency from day
one while unburdening the People Team from time-consuming administrative tasks.
The Goals:
Cornerstone set out to transform its onboarding experience with a clear priority: to increase
engagement among new hires from the moment they signed their offer, while also easing the operational burden on the People Services team. With onboarding processes varying across regions and legal entities during M&A harmonization, a high volume of manual coordination, and the need for a scalable, consistent, and engaging approach, were critical.
To support this, the team focused on six core goals:
- Drive engagement and excitement with timely, personalized preboarding and
cultural touchpoints. - Ensure global consistency by reducing reliance on individual teams and regional
differences. Cornerstone strived to become “Glocal” – with one global approach,
while staying compliant with local requirements. - Reduce new hire uncertainty through clear, proactive communication.
- Centralize onboarding content and tasks in one streamlined platform.
- Automate manual admin to free up the People Team and managers for more
meaningful interactions. - Increase manager support and engagement with a guided experience and timely
notifications.
Ultimately, the goal was to deliver a seamless, welcoming experience for every new hire –
while making the onboarding process more efficient, scalable, and reflective of
Cornerstone’s culture. Central to this vision was automation and digital transformation.
“The onboarding work prior to my start date helped me feel confident before day one
by simplifying onboarding tasks, introducing the company culture, and creating a clear
communication channel with my manager. The thoughtful message the day before
“Restless for tomorrow?” captured my excitement and eased any first-day nerves.”
~ New Cornerstone Hire
The Solution:
To address fragmentation, reduce manual workload, and elevate engagement, Cornerstone
implemented Enboarder as the central platform for onboarding communications, task
management, and experience design. Planning began in May 2020 across 26 countries and
three legacy entities: Cornerstone, Saba, and Lumesse – each with unique processes and
regional nuances. Enboarder was officially launched in December 2020.
The implementation went beyond a simple tool rollout. It was a transformation of how
onboarding was experienced by new hires, their managers, and the People team. The team
redesigned and automated the full onboarding journey, from offer acceptance through the
first weeks on the job, creating consistency at scale while retaining personalization and
cultural relevance.
Key enhancements included:
- Redesigned preboarding communications to begin earlier, building excitement and
reducing anxiety with timely, relevant information. - Integrated IT workflows, developed in partnership with the IT team, to ensure
smoother device provisioning and access setup. - Customized M&A onboarding workflows to support employees joining via mergers
and acquisitions. - Embedded probationary period workflows for EMEA countries, ensuring compliance
and alignment with local employment practices. - Three distinct experiences built into the platform – for new hires, their managers,
and the People team – each tailored with the right touchpoints, reminders, and
resources. - Automated task management that streamlined follow-ups, reduced manual emails,
and ensured consistency across countries, roles, and business units.
To further reduce administrative burden, Cornerstone integrated DocuSign into the
onboarding flow. This eliminated the need for manual document handling and signatures,
saving significant time for the People Services team and streamlining contract
management in a secure, scalable way.
What began as a solution to fix fragmented onboarding has evolved into a strategic, end-to-
end experience that balances global consistency with personalized human touch, at scale.
Manager & Employee Experience Improvements:
After implementing Enboarder, Cornerstone saw a significant improvement in the new hire experience, particularly in engagement, clarity, and early connection. New employees reported feeling more confident and excited ahead of day one, thanks to timely, proactive communication that reduced uncertainty and helped them feel supported from the start.
As a new hire shared:
“Any new hire is nervous leading up to their first day – I loved the continuous/regular
emails from the onboarding tool as it gave me that reassuring touchpoint I needed –
even if I knew it was automated!”
Engagement scores reflected this shift. In Cornerstone’s post-onboarding engagement surveys, new hire engagement have continued to rise by 10 points compared to pre- Enboarder levels, signaling a meaningful impact on how employees experienced their first days and weeks.
Managers also reported feeling more equipped and less burdened, with Enboarder streamlining administrative tasks and prompting timely actions throughout the onboarding journey. Together, these changes helped Cornerstone create a more consistent, scalable, and welcoming experience that truly reflects its culture.
Results & Metrics:
- Following the launch of Enboarder, new hire engagement scores (for employees with less than one year at Cornerstone) saw an immediate 5.4-point increase. Since then, engagement has continued to grow, with scores rising by a total of 10 points over time, reflecting not only the contribution of Enboarder but also the impact of ongoing enhancements and initiatives.
- Candidate dropout decreased by approximately 80% in Cornerstone’s India hiring process, reflecting stronger engagement from offer to start date. This improvement can be attributed in part to the implementation of the platform, alongside other process enhancements.
- New hires rated their onboarding experience an average of 4.52/5, praising Enboarder’s clarity and pacing, with especially strong feedback on Day 1 communication and preparedness.
What’s Next:
Following the success of the new hire onboarding transformation, Cornerstone is now looking to expand the use of Enboarder to other moments that matter. Plans are underway to launch new workflows for M&A, onboarding buddies, and return-to-office experiences.
The team is also exploring deeper integration with engagement surveys and other platforms to better track onboarding impact in real time. With engagement already rising among new hires, Cornerstone is committed to continuously evolving the experience to meet the needs of a dynamic, global workforce, and to ensure that every employee journey begins with clarity, connection, and purpose.
Want to replicate their success?
If your organization is managing high-volume hiring across multiple countries, navigating M&A integration challenges, or drowning in manual onboarding coordination, you’re facing the same pressures Cornerstone did. The universal truth: fragmented onboarding doesn’t just frustrate new hires and burden HR teams—it directly impacts engagement, retention, and your ability to scale.
Key Takeaways:
✓ Scale requires automation: Managing 750+ hires annually across 26 countries demands systematic automation, not heroic manual effort
✓ Fragmentation kills engagement: When new hires receive conflicting information from multiple sources, confusion replaces excitement—even before day one
✓ Global consistency + local compliance is possible: A “Glocal” approach delivers standardized excellence while respecting regional requirements
✓ Integration amplifies impact: Connected systems (IT workflows, DocuSign, HRIS) eliminate handoffs and create seamless experiences
✓ Early engagement prevents dropout: Proactive preboarding communication reduces candidate anxiety and significantly decreases offer-to-start attrition
✓ Three experiences, one platform: Purpose-built workflows for new hires, managers, and People teams ensure everyone has what they need, when they need it
✓ Manager enablement matters: Automated reminders and guided workflows help managers deliver consistent support without additional burden