# Large-Scale Analysis of New Employee Network Dynamics

**Authors:** Yulin Yu, Longqi Yang, Siân Lindley, Mengting Wan  
**arXiv:** [2304.03441](https://arxiv.org/abs/2304.03441)  
**Date:** 2023-04-07  
**Summary page:** https://www.summarizepaper.com/en/paper/2304.03441v1/

## Key points

- COVID-19 pandemic has led to remote and hybrid work environments becoming more common.
- This shift has accelerated digital transformations but also introduced new challenges, such as difficulties in socializing with colleagues when working remotely.
- New employees face particular challenges in developing workplace networks from the outset.
- A study of over 10,000 Microsoft employees who joined the company in early 2022 aimed to describe how new employees interact and telecommute with their colleagues during their "onboarding" period.
- Results show that although new hires are gradually expanding their networks over time, there are still significant gaps between their network statistics and those of tenured employees even after the six-month onboarding phase.
- Heterogeneity exists among new employees in how their networks change over time; those whose job tasks do not necessarily require extensive and diverse connections could be at a disadvantaged position in this onboarding process.
- Web-based people recommendations in organizational knowledge bases have great potential for improving socialization experiences for new hires.
- The study provides valuable insights into new employee network dynamics in remote and hybrid work environments and may help guide organizational leaders and web application developers on quantifying and improving the socialization experiences of new employees.

## Summary

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about significant changes in the way we work, with remote and hybrid work environments becoming increasingly prevalent. While this shift has accelerated digital transformations across industries, it has also introduced new challenges into workplaces, including the difficulties of effectively socializing with colleagues when working remotely. This challenge is particularly pronounced for new employees who need to develop workplace networks from the outset. To shed light on this issue, a team of researchers analyzed a large-scale telemetry dataset of more than 10,000 Microsoft employees who joined the company in the first three months of 2022. The study aimed to describe how new employees interact and telecommute with their colleagues during their "onboarding" period. The results reveal that although new hires are gradually expanding their networks over time, there still exists significant gaps between their network statistics and those of tenured employees even after the six-month onboarding phase. Additionally, heterogeneity exists among new employees in how their networks change over time; those whose job tasks do not necessarily require extensive and diverse connections could be at a disadvantaged position in this onboarding process. To address these socialization challenges, the researchers investigated how web-based people recommendations in organizational knowledge bases facilitate new employee networking. They found that web-based applications have great potential for improving socialization experiences for new hires. Overall, these findings provide valuable insights into new employee network dynamics in remote and hybrid work environments. The study may help guide organizational leaders and web application developers on quantifying and improving the socialization experiences of new employees in digital workplaces.