Start Off Right

The BEST Awards recognize organizations that demonstrate enterprise-wide success as a result of employee talent development. The winners use learning as a strategic business tool to get results. View the entire list of 2025 BEST Award winners.

Talent development departments lead onboarding strategy at nearly one-third of companies, according to the Association for Talent Development's research report New Employee Onboarding: Setting the Stage for Success. Additional studies suggest that strong onboarding leads to lower turnover and faster time to productivity. It's no wonder that more and more organizations are striving to inject more learning into the process.

In 2023, one such business, Gilbane Building Company, saw an opportunity to introduce a new onboarding program for its business development managers (BDMs), who pursue new projects, build proposals, and generate future revenue.

The initiative involves a hybrid curriculum with five modules, each of which begins with a self-paced course to introduce a step of the sales life cycle. Then, participants apply the information to an action learning plan activity.

From there, a coach steps in. "The business development coach works with BDMs to collaborate on each action learning plan to ensure comprehension and proper application," says Julie Pingel, talent management director at the global builder and real estate developer. "To complete the module, the BDM meets with the coach, analyzes their decisions, and adjusts their sales pursuit road maps as needed."

Since the program's inception, the coaching-forward approach has cut voluntary turnover by two-thirds while improving performance across several key sales metrics.

"As new BDMs progress, guidance from a coach is vital to develop their skills and ensure their success," Pingel states. "These early wins foster confidence to succeed in the role, which, positively influences turnover."

The audit, tax, consulting, and wealth management firm Plante Moran also offers an extensive onboarding program. It revamped two such in-person initiatives in 2024 because "face-to-face interactions are critical to fostering deep client relationships, along with developing our staff," explains Carol Lamb, the company's onboarding, performance, and engagement leader.

The first initiative, for interns, sends participants to Denver, Colorado, for 2.5 days of networking, engagement, and culture training. When employees return to their home offices, they engage in technical training specific to their service areas. "Our intern-to-staff acceptance rates have increased 3 to 6 percent year over year between 2022 and 2024," says Lamb. "Additionally, the overall feedback from the program evaluation showed that 97 percent of participants appreciated the in-person location."

The second program, for experienced hires, brings new staff to the firm's headquarters in Southfield, Michigan. There, they network with fellow new hires and tenured staff, experience the firm's culture, attend panel discussions with senior leaders, and learn about how the firm prioritizes belonging and its people. The experience creates lasting relationships, and "98 percent of those attending the program indicated they could put what they had learned into practice in their current role almost immediately," notes Lamb.

The organization's "one-firm firm" philosophy also influenced the decision to launch the programs. "Since we operate as a collective firm," Lamb explains, "we wanted to ensure our new hires understood the importance of that approach from the beginning."

View the entire list of 2025 BEST Award winners.