How to use a buddy system in digital preboarding

The difference between information and connection

Most preboarding tools do the same thing: they push new hires through a sequence of documents, videos, and checklists. That is useful. But it is rarely enough. What people actually need in those weeks between signing and starting is not more information. It is a person.

A buddy system addresses that directly. You pair a new hire with an existing colleague before day one. Not a manager. Not someone from HR. Someone close to the role who is willing to be an informal point of contact.

At Livewall, we build pre-boarding tools for retailers, care organisations, and large employers across the Netherlands and the UK. The pattern is consistent: teams that build human connection into their digital preboarding flow see significantly lower early dropout. The buddy mechanic is the most direct lever for that.

What a buddy does, and what they do not

A buddy is not a mentor and not a supervisor. The role is deliberately kept light. A buddy:

• Sends a short welcome message after the hire is confirmed
• Answers practical questions that feel too informal for HR
• Greets the new hire on day one and shows them around
• Is available for a coffee conversation in the first two weeks

None of these are large time commitments. But the impact is significant, precisely because it is personal. An automated welcome message does not have the same effect as a real colleague saying: 'Great to have you joining soon. Feel free to message me if anything comes up.'

How to build it into your digital platform

Integrating a buddy system digitally takes more than dropping a name into a welcome email. The most effective approach we have built works in three steps.

Step 1: Match on role and location

Do not pair new hires randomly. Match them based on function, team, or branch. In a platform, this can be automated: as soon as HR creates a new starter, the system selects a suitable buddy from a pre-approved pool. That pool is filled in advance by employees who have volunteered for the role.

Step 2: A structured introduction before day one

Give both sides a simple structure. That might be a short introduction card inside the preboarding environment, showing the buddy's name, photo, and a few personal lines. Give the buddy a specific prompt to reach out, ideally within 48 hours of the new hire being confirmed.

Step 3: Light monitoring, nothing heavy

Add a simple check-in after the first week. Has the buddy made contact? Has the new hire been able to ask questions? Those two signals tell you what you need to know. There is no need to make it more complex than that.

Why gamified onboarding fits well here

The buddy system becomes stronger when it connects to broader gamified onboarding mechanics. Consider a short mission where the new hire and buddy complete a task together. Or a checklist that both sides unlock once the first conversation has happened.

This does not need to be elaborate. But it gives structure to something that would otherwise rely too heavily on individual initiative. And it makes the interaction visible inside the platform, which reinforces the feeling that preboarding is building toward something.

In our work on Partou's preboarding platform, a digital buddy component is woven into the new hire's personal journey. New starters see their buddy's profile from day one and have a clear, low-friction path to reach out. That reduces the hesitation most new hires feel about contacting someone they have never met.

Common mistakes to avoid

Many organisations try a buddy system and find it stalls in practice. These are the patterns we see most often.

No clear expectation set for the buddy. If you do not define what the role involves, everyone interprets it differently, or does nothing at all. Write it down concisely: two or three concrete things, no more.

Pairing happens too late. If the new hire meets their buddy for the first time on day one, the value is already reduced. The buddy connection works best when it happens before the start date.

No pool being managed. If you are manually hunting for a suitable buddy every time, the system does not scale. Build something simple: employees opt in, HR maintains the pool, the platform matches automatically.

For larger organisations looking to build out their onboarding experiences, the buddy mechanic is a relatively small investment with an outsized return.

How Livewall approaches this

At Livewall, we build preboarding platforms where the buddy functionality is part of the core flow, not bolted on afterward. We think through matching logic, buddy profiles, notification triggers, and the moments where the platform actively prompts both sides to connect.

What we have learned: the technology is the easy part. The organisational side, convincing managers to release employees for the role, building a stable volunteer pool, setting the right expectations, that is where the real work sits. We help with that side too.

See our work on Kruidvat Preboarding as an example: a scalable digital preboarding environment built for hundreds of new retail employees a year, with personal connection built into the structure from the start.