Case study: DNV

05/10/2026

DNV is a global assurance and risk management expert, working across nine business areas in more than 100 countries. In 2023 it launched a new global EVP and employer brand, You're at the heart of it, built to improve the candidate and employee experience at every stage, from first connection to last day. Pre-boarding and onboarding presented the clearest opportunity to bring it to life.

DNV's existing process was compliance-led and inconsistent. Every business area and country did things differently or, in many cases, not at all. There was no ownership, no buddies, no guaranteed line manager involvement before day one and no learning pathway. And with no data, DNV couldn't see what that poor experience was costing the business in reneges, low engagement and early attrition.

DNV partnered with Eli to build one global pre-boarding and onboarding experience that balanced the needs of over 100 countries, worked alongside existing systems and kept the new hire at its heart. It launched as a pilot, so feedback from new hires, line managers and stakeholders could shape the full experience, before integrations with DNV's new ATS were built and the global experience went fully live in October 2024.

Each journey is tailored to the individual's location and business area, and runs from offer acceptance to 12 weeks after day one. Content is released along each person's timeline, new hires can message their line manager and buddy before day one, and a twelve-week learning journey begins on their first day. Boomerangs and converted contractors can choose a lighter version, everyone can view the site in their own language, and a line managers checklist ensures key onboarding moments are never missed.

"The wealth of real-time quantitative and qualitative data Eli provides has allowed us to prove the value of our onboarding experience to the business globally."

The results speak for themselves. Since October 2024, Eli has launched the careers of 1,921 people at DNV, with a 94.1% engagement rate and an average of 11.3 logins per person. New hires rate the portal 4.8/5, pre-boarding 4.7/5 and onboarding at 4.6/5, with consistently high scores across every business area and focus country. At week eight, they score 4.54/5 for onboarding confirming their decision to join DNV. 92% were introduced to their new colleagues, and 92% had a manager ready for their first day.

Real-time data keeps the experience improving. Pulse surveys have gathered 968 comments so far, and Eli's wellbeing tracker alerts managers if a new hire is feeling down, so they can turn it into a positive moment. DNV's Experience Team uses these insights to evolve the experience every few months.

And the commercial case is clear. Early attrition fell 17% in 2025, from 194 people leaving within their first 12 months to 161. Using Oxford Economics' replacement cost of £30,614 per employee, that is a cost avoidance of over £1 million in a single year. With early leavers falling again in 2026, those savings are set to grow further.

All this, from a global experience managed by one person, part-time.