rlhf services 30/60/90-day onboarding plan

# rlhf services 30/60/90-day onboarding plan

What should you approve in the first 90 days?

Approve a narrow task first, then increase responsibility when reviewed work meets your criteria. Treat the dates below as proposed checkpoints. They are planning choices, not promises about how quickly every hire will become productive.

For reinforcement learning from human feedback, give the new hire a concrete starting assignment. That might be ranking paired responses, writing corrections, or reviewing another rater's decisions. Specify which work is in scope and who can accept it.

Start the onboarding clock on the first working day. Keep the hiring timeline separate.

Name the buyer-side owner for each decision. A provider contact can help coordinate onboarding, but your team still needs someone authorized to approve the work.

Before day one: prepare the task and the reviewers

Write a short role charter with the first queue, expected deliverables, and approval owner. Include exclusions. A rater hired to assess response quality should know whether fact-checking or rewriting is also part of the assignment.

Prepare examples that show what an acceptable answer looks like. Include cases where a fluent response is wrong and cases where neither response deserves approval. Explain the reason for each decision in language the hire can use.

Choose a practice set that does not expose sensitive production data. Have the security owner approve access and export permissions before issuing credentials. Keep practice work separate from any batch intended for downstream use.

Reserve reviewer time on the calendar. A hire cannot finish calibration while waiting indefinitely for someone to resolve a disputed example. Give the reviewer a backup and state how blocked work should be handled.

Days 1–30: teach the rubric and resolve disagreements

Begin with a walkthrough of the task guide. Ask the hire to explain a decision, including which rule they applied. Correct answers with unclear reasoning deserve review before the queue grows.

Use supervised practice to find gaps in the instructions. If two reasonable readers interpret a rule differently, have the task owner resolve it. Record that decision beside an example and update the guide's version.

Review disagreements by cause. Separate a missed instruction from a factual error, an unclear policy, or a platform mistake. Each needs a different response. More practice will not fix a button that saves the wrong label.

Keep a short decision log with the disputed item, final ruling, and owner. Make it searchable so the same question does not require another meeting.

At day 30, review a fresh sample rather than relying only on corrected practice work. Ask whether the hire can apply the rules without coaching on every item. Also check whether they know when to stop and ask.

Approve only the task types the sample supports. Someone who performs well on general preference ranking may still need separate training for a specialist queue.

Days 31–60: run a bounded production queue

Give the hire a queue with clear limits. Specify the task types, permitted data, and review process. Keep unfamiliar work available for supervised practice without quietly adding it to the production target.

Track output that passes review. A count of submitted labels can conceal repeated rework. Record rejected items and the time spent correcting them so the buyer can see the actual delivery burden.

Choose a review sample that covers the queue's different task types. Do not assess a difficult assignment using only its easiest items. Keep the sampling method stable enough to compare results across review periods.

When the rubric changes, identify the affected work. Decide whether earlier labels need another review and who will perform it. Tell the hire when the new rule takes effect.

At day 60, look for repeatable performance under the agreed conditions. Check the queue alongside reviewer availability and unresolved questions. A backlog caused by delayed approvals calls for a different fix than repeated rating errors.

Days 61–90: test the next scope before expanding it

Introduce a new task type only when someone can teach and review it. Keep the initial batch small enough to inspect before releasing more work.

Use this phase to test handoffs. Have another authorized reviewer follow the decision log and explain what remains unclear. Repair the instructions while the original owner is available.

Review the hire's handling of uncertainty. Reward appropriate escalation in the scorecard rather than treating every question as lost productivity. Define which decisions the hire can make alone.

At day 90, choose a specific next step: expand the queue, retain the current scope, add coaching, or change staffing. Record the evidence behind the choice. Set the next review date and name the person who can approve later changes.

What does hiring data tell you about the start date?

SHRM reports that median time-to-fill in 2025 was roughly a month and a half for executive and nonexecutive positions. It defines that interval as job requisition to offer acceptance. That measure ends before the first working day. SHRM's recruiting benchmark.

Use that definition when discussing a launch date. Ask providers what starts and stops their hiring clock. A shortlist date, an accepted offer, and a ready-to-work date describe different events.

Build the schedule around explicit handoffs:

• The hiring owner approves the role and interview process.
• The chosen candidate accepts the offer.
• The parties confirm the first working day.
• The buyer approves access and assigns a reviewer.
• The hire passes the agreed production gate.

Some preparation can happen during recruiting. Draft the task guide and reserve reviewer time before the candidate starts. Confirm candidate-specific access only after the relevant approvals.

Do not use a broad recruiting benchmark to predict RLHF proficiency. The work sample and your acceptance criteria should determine when production scope grows.

For onboarding, maintain a scorecard with definitions the manager and hire can both explain. Include accepted work, error types, and unresolved questions. Record the task mix and rubric version beside the results.

Set thresholds before assessing the hire. If the task changes midway through the period, record the change and review whether the original target still fits. Otherwise, the scorecard can turn into a moving target.

How do hiring models change onboarding for a nearshore team?

Choose the model by the work you want the provider to own. Confirm that division in the contract and onboarding plan. The label alone does not assign a reviewer or resolve a disputed batch.

For a nearshore or Latin American team, also agree on the shared work window. Name the hours when the buyer's reviewer will be available. Include a plan for meetings, absences, and urgent questions.

When your team directs the work

For staff augmentation, plan around your manager's capacity. Give the hire a named lead who assigns work and explains priorities. Agree on how the provider should respond when performance concerns arise.

A recruiting agency may help fill the role while your team handles onboarding after placement. Confirm the handoff, including any candidate assessments you can review and the process for raising concerns.

An employer of record service should be assessed separately from task delivery. Ask which employment duties it performs and which responsibilities remain with your team. Do not leave technical supervision implied.

When you buy managed delivery

For a managed service, require a delivery lead and a written acceptance process. Ask who trains raters, who checks batches, and who pays for rework under the agreement.

Approve a pilot before expanding volume. Define the evidence you will receive with each batch and how disputed decisions will be resolved. Keep a buyer-side owner available for policy questions.

When comparing business process outsourcing services, translate the sales description into these named duties. Ask the provider to walk through a rejected batch from discovery to correction.

When a platform is part of the purchase

Treat an RLHF platform as a separate part of the onboarding decision. Ask whether the purchase includes software, people, supervision, or a defined combination.

Test task assignment, review, and export with a practice batch. Confirm that users can see only the data their role requires. Decide who can change instructions or release completed work.

A platform walkthrough should end with a completed handoff, including a rejected item returned for correction. That gives the buyer something concrete to assess before production begins.

What should you ask a provider before the first working day?

Ask for answers tied to your actual queue. A general hiring presentation will not tell you who reviews a disputed preference label.

Use the same questions when comparing RLHF companies so differences in scope remain visible.

Who owns training and acceptance?

Request the names or roles of the daily manager, reviewer, and escalation owner. Ask who covers each person's absence.

Have the provider explain what happens when the hire disagrees with an approved example. Your plan should preserve a route for raising a valid concern without changing the rubric informally.

Ask who can approve the day-30 gate. If both parties must sign off, define what happens when they disagree and who decides the next assignment.

What will the work sample prove?

Use a sample that resembles the first assignment. Ask the candidate to explain decisions and identify unclear instructions. Keep the exercise separate from unpaid production work.

For specialist tasks, ask how the provider assesses the required knowledge. Request evidence relevant to the role rather than accepting a general skills label.

Ask what training remains your responsibility after selection. Put that work on the onboarding calendar before you commit to a start date.

How will access and data handling work?

List the systems the hire needs and the permissions for each. Ask whether any work leaves the approved platform, including through downloads or personal tools.

Have your security owner approve the workflow. Document how to report a suspected disclosure and who can suspend access.

Include an exit checklist from the start. Assign responsibility for removing accounts, returning equipment where applicable, and preserving the work records your team needs.

What does the price include during ramp-up?

Request a written quote that explains training time, reviewer support, and any platform charges. Ask how the agreement treats rework, absence coverage, and changes in scope.

For a monthly hire, confirm when billing starts. For batch delivery, confirm what counts as accepted work and how rejected items affect payment.

Ask how replacement affects the schedule. A replacement search and a replacement's onboarding are separate tasks. Decide who maintains the queue while those tasks happen.

What happens when a checkpoint is missed?

Agree on a review process before there is a performance dispute. Start with examples of the missed criterion and give the hire a clear explanation.

Check the working conditions too. Were instructions stable? Did access work? Were reviewers available? Separate those causes from the hire's decisions.

Write the corrective plan with a narrow scope and a new review date. If the role itself needs to change, update the assignment before judging another batch.

For a role discussion, bring the initial queue, required skills, and proposed review schedule. Talk to Opus about a role.

This site is an Opus-owned reference; recommendations are editorial.

Where does Opus fit in this plan?

Opus states: "The client chooses the finalist and manages day-to-day work." Plan for your team to supply the task owner, rubric, and review capacity.

That division suits a buyer who wants to choose a person and direct the assignment. If you want a provider to own batch acceptance and delivery, ask for those duties explicitly before agreeing on scope.

Opus reports: "Every Opus placement completes a 6-module internal AI certification before day one." Require a task-specific work sample as well. Use your rubric to decide which production work the hire can perform.

Opus also states: "Every Opus placement works with US timezone overlap." Agree on the actual shared hours with the finalist and your reviewers. Put those hours into the onboarding calendar.

For pricing, Opus states: "Opus charges one flat monthly rate per hire. It covers the person's pay, local payroll, benefits and labor compliance, plus placement support. There is no separate recruiting fee. The rate depends on role, seniority and location."

Dollar rates: Not published. Ask for a written quote for the role, seniority, and location you are considering.

Opus states: "Every placement carries a lifetime replacement guarantee with no cap and no time limit." Ask how a replacement search would work alongside your queue and who would handle the new hire's calibration.

Bring a short role plan to the conversation. Include the first assignment, required judgment, permitted data access, and the person who will review output. Add the proposed day-30 acceptance criteria so both parties can discuss the same work.

Talk to Opus about a role.

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