Someone joining a team with live agents should spend their first week learning what the agent does, where it stops, and what they must not approve yet. This day-by-day template gives read-only access on day one, shadowing, the shared foundation by day three, practice decisions that do not go live, and a study plan on day five.
Why do new joiners need a different induction?
A new joiner used to learn the job by doing the routine work. In a team with a governed agent, much of that routine work is already done by the agent at depth 3, within bounds. What is left for people are the held actions, the refusals, the exceptions. Those are the hardest cases, and a new joiner meets them without the years of routine that used to build judgement.
That changes what induction must cover. It is no longer only systems, people and policies. It is also: what the agent does here, at what depth, which bound decides each verdict, and why a newcomer has no approval rights until certified. Training the people already on the team is covered in the guide to training teams for AI agents; new joiners need their own route. The problem is set out in how to train new joiners when AI agents already run part of the work, and the general meaning of induction in what induction is.
How do you use this template?
The team lead fills in the names, the agent's capabilities and the red lines before the new joiner arrives. A certified reviewer is named as buddy for the week. Approval rights stay off for the new joiner until their certificate is issued; the template states this on day one so there is no ambiguity.
Adapt the content of each day to the role. An internal auditor joining needs to learn to reconstruct decisions from the record, as in how to onboard a new internal auditor to an AI agent workspace. A manager joining a contact centre needs the cover and calibration duties early, as in how to onboard a new contact centre manager to an AI agent workspace.
The first-week template
Day 1: Arrive and orient 1. Access set up: read-only on the workspace; no approval rights. 2. Meet the team lead and the buddy (a certified reviewer). 3. Read the agent's role charter: capabilities, depths, red lines. 4. Start the shared foundation (depth, verdicts, provenance, the record).
Day 2: Watch the work 5. Shadow the buddy through the held queue for half a day. 6. For each held action, note which bound held it. 7. Watch at least one refusal and one escalation.
Day 3: Finish the foundation 8. Complete the shared foundation and its test. 9. Go through the team's red lines with the lead: what is never approved, and why. 10. Learn the incident route: what to do if the agent's certificate lapses mid-shift.
Day 4: Practise without consequence 11. Decide 15 to 20 held actions in parallel with the buddy; the buddy's decision is the live one. 12. Compare decisions at the end of the day; write down every disagreement.
Day 5: Plan the next weeks 13. Review the week with the lead. 14. Agree a study plan for the certified reviewer track: modules, exam date, practicum window. 15. Confirm in writing: no approval rights until certified.
Worked example
An illustrative payroll team takes on Sample Joiner F, an experienced payroll administrator new to agents. The agent calculates pay changes at depth 3 and holds any bank detail change and any payment over the customer's limit.
On day 1 Sample Joiner F receives read-only access and the role charter, which lists one red line: no bank detail change approved without a call-back to a number already on file. On day 2, shadowing the buddy, she sees a held bank detail change that arrived by email and watches the buddy call the employee. On day 4, she decides 18 held items in parallel; she and the buddy disagree on two, both about overtime calculations from a declared timesheet. On day 5 the lead sets her reviewer modules for weeks 2 to 4, the exam in week 5 and the practicum in weeks 6 and 7.
A memo would have told her about the agent; this week let her see it decide. The case for that difference is made in why every new AI agent needs a short course, not a memo.
Where the Academy fits
Pryme Intelligence Academy fits days 1 to 3 and the study plan on day 5. The new joiner takes Foundations, which is free and takes about four hours, then moves on to Operator for certification. Lessons can be read or listened to as audio, which helps when the first week is crowded, and the team lead sees progress in the admin view.
Questions people ask
Can an experienced hire skip the induction?
Not the agent part. Experience in the role does not tell someone how this agent decides, which bound holds what, or where the red lines sit. They may move faster through it.
What if the team is short-staffed and needs the joiner on the queue?
Put them on work the agent does not touch, or on depth 1 and 2 drafts where the buddy sends. Do not give approval rights early to fill a rota gap.
When should the new joiner's certificate be issued?
After the practicum, usually six to eight weeks in. Until then, every decision they make is checked by a certified colleague.