Inside adidas’ People-First Approach to New Employee Onboarding
What happens when you connect new hires to their teams and goals from day one? adidas discovered the answer, and transformed onboarding for oursourced customer service agents across 20+ countries, earning the 2025 Nurturer Award.
By: Simone Somekh, Content Marketing Manager at Centrical
The global learning and development team at adidas faced a daunting challenge: hundreds of customer service agents across multiple continents, each experiencing different onboarding programs depending on the third-party BPO employing them. There was no standardized approach, no centralized knowledge repository, and no way to ensure every agent felt part of the adidas brand from day one.
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Today, that fragmented landscape has transformed into a unified, engaging learning experience that earned adidas the Nurturer Award at the 2025 Centrical SELECT Awards. This award honors organizations with a people-first approach to employee well-being, fostering workplaces where employees feel supported, valued, and connected. We caught up with Amber Wood, Director of Learning & Development, Global Consumer Services, and Jacob Coetzee, Global Assistant Manager L&D, Global CS at adidas.
The Challenge: Every Support Agent’s Journey Looked Different
Beyond being an operational challenge, standardizing the onboarding experience was essential for a brand as iconic as adidas.
“The first problem was there was no real repository for any information or any training that [was] centrally managed and universally used,”said Jacob Coetzee. “The bigger one was that, because of our structure with external vendors, we had no standardized onboarding program. Every vendor was responsible for their own onboarding programs, which means onboarding looked very different from one vendor to the next, and also from one trainer within that vendor to the next.”
The traditional approach—two to three weeks of in-person classroom training followed by six weeks of nesting—meant new hires spent nearly three months in training before they could handle customer inquiries independently. Those first critical weeks were spent isolated from their teams and team leads, learning from PowerPoint presentations rather than experiencing the collaborative, brand-driven culture adidas wanted to build.
Key Innovation: Building Learning Around How Adults Actually Learn
Before the team could redesign onboarding, they needed the right platform. Centrical immediately stood out for its enterprise gamification capabilities, coaching, and the ability to reflect the “adidas” brand in its interface.
“What stood out for me was the usability of Centrical—the front-end usability, the agent experience, the gamification of it, the fact that you could use it [in] so many ways to motivate learning within the agents, the coaching element of it, the kudos, the badges, the leveling up and all of that, making the call center agents life a little bit more exciting when it comes to learning,” Coetzee explained.
Amber Wood was equally impressed by the platform’s flexibility: “What stood out for me was just that ability for us to personalize it to make it really look and feel like ‘adidas.’”
The reporting capabilities sealed the decision, as they would give team leaders visibility into how agents consumed content, what they engaged with, and how learning connected to performance outcomes.
The “Learn, Observe, Practice” Approach for New Hires
With the platform secured, the team built a program recognizing that adults learn in different ways. The new two-week hybrid program divided learning into multiple phases:
Interactive microlearning modules on Centrical for foundational knowledge
Observation sessions to shadow experienced team members
Structured practice with real-time feedback
“The initiative has transformed how our rookies consume training content and how trainers train,” said Wood. “We’re enabling new hires to connect immediately with their team leads, sit with their teams, and feel at home, rather than isolating them during those critical first weeks of training.”
“The trainers now became facilitators,” Coetzee explained. “So the observation and practice sessions could go much deeper into the content as opposed to trying to teach everything from the beginning and then not having enough time to go deep.”
The team launched the platform just before peak season—from Diwali through Christmas and New Year’s. “We knew we had one chance to get it right,”Wood said. “If we didn’t introduce this in a way that would make learners want to come back, feel engaged, we would lose them when we needed them the most.”
The reception among users exceeded expectations. In the first three months, adoption and completion rates reached 100%.
The solution was also built to reinforce the adidas brand values, such as teamplay and innovation:
“Jacob designed the kudos and the matching awards to be based on the principles we want to share, our adidas values,” Wood explained. “Even just the branding that goes around them really captured people’s attention and helped them understand the values of our company and our brand in a way that nothing else can.”
The Results: A Remarkable Reduction in Time to Proficiency for New Hires
The numbers tell a compelling story of what happens when organizations invest in the employee experience from the start of the employee journey:
33% reduction in onboarding time: From three weeks in person to two weeks of hybrid learning
27% faster time to proficiency: New hires reached productivity in 9-10 weeks instead of 12-14 weeks
100% adoption and completion rates during the adoption period
30,000+ training hours saved annually: Allowing trainers to focus on coaching and deeper skill development
$215K+ in annual savings: Through resource optimization without sacrificing quality
750 brand value aligned kudos exchanged in three months: Building a culture of recognition from day one
The qualitative impact proved equally impressive. New hires felt more confident and connected. Team leads appreciated bringing new members into the fold earlier. Different regions voluntarily began creating their own training content on the platform, a signal of genuine adoption and belief in the system.
What’s Next: From Onboarding Excellence to Continuous Growth
Expanding Learning and Integrating Performance
With onboarding transformed, adidas is building a comprehensive, continuous learning library for all agents, developing certification programs for career progression, and integrating all KPIs directly into Centrical to support ongoing learning through performance-driven coaching and development.
Preparing for the F1 Audi Partnership and the 2026 World Cup
Additionally, with agents in over 20 countries, the 2026 World Cup presents an exciting opportunity to leverage Centrical’s gamification capabilities.
“How do we make the agents a little bit more excited about coming into the World Cup? There [are] going to be things they need to know, the top 10 queries they should expect during the World Cup,”Wood said. “The joy of Centrical is that it allows us to do that pretty quickly. We can introduce that content in a very gamified kind of way. Obviously, with all of the different countries we’re in, plenty of opportunities to tie into the World Cup and a little bit of competition, because adidas loves a little bit of competition.”
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Madeleine Freind
VP, Customer Success
Madeleine Freind is a senior Customer Success leader with deep experience building and scaling SaaS and managed services businesses. At Centrical, she leads the Customer Success teams across North and South America, partnering with clients to drive measurable business impact through the platform.
Before joining Centrical, Madeleine was Head of Customer Success at Quantifind, an AI-powered analytics company, where she led strategic relationships with brands like Hershey’s, KFC, J.P. Morgan Chase, and Dunkin’ Brands. Her ability to translate complex data into clear, actionable solutions consistently helped customers achieve their goals.
Earlier in her career, Madeleine spent over a decade on the agency side, managing CRM and digital marketing programs for Fortune 500 companies through smart, data-driven strategies.
Michael Ciancio
CMO
Michael Ciancio serves as the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Centrical, bringing decades of experience in marketing and go-to-market strategy. In this role, he leads the company’s global marketing efforts to drive brand growth and market expansion.
Prior to joining Centrical, Michael held marketing leadership positions at notable technology companies, including IntelePeer, Infor, and Vonage. Throughout his career, he has successfully guided teams in scaling products, strengthening brands, and significantly expanding market presence.
Michael’s expertise lies in scaling high-growth software companies, particularly in AI, performance management, and employee engagement solutions for customer experience teams. His strategic vision and leadership continue to be instrumental in advancing Centrical’s mission to transform how organizations engage and motivate their frontline teams.
Michael holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Gettysburg College and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Marketing from Montclair State University.
Natalie Roth VP, Corporate Marketing
Natalie Roth brings over 15 years of experience in brand and product marketing for SaaS solutions. Before joining Centrical, she was Senior Product Marketing Manager at Frontline Education, where she led go-to-market strategies for enterprise K-12 solutions and played a key role in integrating and positioning products following multiple acquisitions.
Previously, Natalie served as Director of Marketing at Accelify Solutions, where she drove marketing strategy, new product launches, and customer communications. She played a pivotal role in business growth, expanding market presence, and deepening client engagement, contributing to the company’s success and eventual acquisition by Frontline Education.
Natalie holds a BA in Creative Writing and Digital Media from New York University, graduating magna cum laude.
Linat Mart
VP, Product Management
Linat Polak Mart has more than 15 years of expertise in managing product strategy and operations in high-volume organizations.Previously, she held the role of Head of Product Experience and Communications for LivePerson, a leading Conversational AI platform, where she played crucial part in delivering significant product innovation and customer growth. Prior to her time at LivePerson, she held multiple senior product roles at NICE, a leading enterprise customer experience (CX) software provider, including Director of Product Portfolio and Director of Product Management.
Linat holds an MBA from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Computer Science from Reichman University (IDC Herzliya). She graduated magna cum laude from both institutions.
“CX leaders should stop isolating contact centers from other departments. Customer experience is increasingly cross-functional. In 2025, integrating CX insights across the organization will be critical to delivering seamless and cohesive experiences.”
Tompkins comes to Centrical with more than 25 years of experience in software and hardware sales. Prior to joining his role as Chief Revenue Officer at Centrical, he was CEO at Workspot. He held the position of Chief Revenue Officer at IGEL as well as senior sales leadership positions with Red Hat, Hewlett Packard (now Hewlett Packard Enterprise), and Citrix.
Tompkins holds an MBA in Business Administration and Management from the University of Virginia, Darden Graduate School of Business Administration and served in the US Navy as a Nuclear Propulsion Technician.
“To start, give customers a choice: digital or live support. And if they go digital first and can’t get what they want, make it super-easy for them to connect to a live agent.”
“Knowledge Management: It is not exactly underrated but it will be bigger than what it is in 2025. Vendors are likely to boost R&D investment in knowledge management for contact centers in 2025.”
“Human-centered AI, where AI is used not just to automate and drop money to the bottom line, but used to service up insights to support team members and delight customers. I see generative AI with conversational context and tonal analysis as pretty critical here.”
“The future? Goodness, there’s so much, but I really believe 2025 is the year of community. We’re not just taking tickets anymore—folks we’re drawing people in, getting proactive, and co-creating with customers. Community will become a normal service channel, with customer service workers facilitating and adding value.”
“The myth that technology/AI is a quickly implemented CX superpower. Companies will realize that we can’t harness a lot of these gains without quality data that is clean and well-organized.”
“By 2025 the buzzword omnichannel may be on its’ last leg. Customers want their issues resolved quickly and accurately and they would prefer not to need to contact us in multiple channels that we can see at one time.”
“For 2025, the main trend I’m watching is ‘AI agents’—bots powered by AI that are becoming more autonomous. Unlike basic responses, these AI agents can handle end-to-end customer interactions, reducing the need for human intervention. Expect significant developments from vendors.”
“Stop talking about AI. It’s like talking about the internet being a thing. It’s here. The better focus is start thinking about how AI enhances the lives of your team. So stop talking about AI and start doing something about it.”
“AI and CX will drive hyper-personalization, using consumer data to segment customers, deliver key messages, and provide fast, accurate responses. Technologies like chatbots and predictive analytics will close the gap between brands and consumers.”
“The blending of CX and EX will accelerate. The days of reducing friction for customers at the expense of employees are over. Indeed, because AI-enabled customer experiences often require AI usage by customer-facing employees, leaders will have to ensure a frictionless work experience to drive AI adoption and deliver value.”
One myth that will be debunked in 2025?: “Customers are on the edge of their seat waiting to hear what you have to say. We need to learn about what’s important to customers by asking more questions.”
Doron is a seasoned R&D professional with a a deep expertise in SaaS and enterprise software. He leads product development at Centrical. Prior to joining the company, he was Director of R&D at Tipalti, where he was part of the team that designed and developed the Tiplati product and the infrastructure it uses. Prior to that he was Director of R&D Sensor Management, which joined from Orsus, which was acquired by Nice Systems. Prior to that he held various R&D positions at Orsus. Doron holds a B.Sc in Computer Science from the Tel Aviv Yafo Academic College and a MBA degree from the University of Tel Aviv.
Gal Rimon
Founder and CEO
Gal founded Centrical (previously GamEffective) in 2013, with the vision of helping companies empower their employees’ performance, making them the center of business success.Prior to that he was CEO of Gilon-Synergy Business Insight, a national leader in Business Intelligence. In 2010, Gilon-Synergy was acquired by Ness Technologies (NASDAQ:NSTC) and Gal went on to serve as Senior VP at Ness, and was member of its executive management.
Prior to that he was VP customer relations and operations at Deloitte Consulting. He also worked at EDS and Bashan. He holds a MBA degree in Marketing and Information Technologies from the Tel Aviv University.
Daphne Saragosti
Chief Customer Officer
Daphne has over 15 years of experience in Customer Relations and Retention in both B2B and B2C environments. Her area of expertise is leading customer success, consulting and global professional services teams within public and private sector companies. She is focused on leading teams to grow the partnership with our clients.
Prior to Centrical, Daphne worked software and service companies in the online marketing and gaming industry.
Daphne holds MA in Statistics – Specialization in Operations Research and a MBA degree, both from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Ella Davidson
VP Global HR
Ella Davidson is responsible for managing Centrical’s employee relations worldwide, including organizational development, talent management, benefits and recruitment. Ella has more than 18 years of human resources management experience. Prior to joining Centrical she was vice president of human resources at myThings and OpTier – leading SW companies, and consulted numerous entrepreneurs and startups in the Israeli hi-tech industry and Israel and in the US.Ella holds a B.A in Psychology from the Hebrew University and MSc in Organizational Behavior from Recanati Business School at Tel Aviv University.
Ariel Herman
VP Research and Development
Ariel has over 16 years’ experience in a wide variety of R&D leadership roles. He is highly experienced at building R&D teams from the ground up, driving high levels of accountability and ownership and setting up automation infrastructures. For the past 10 years Ariel has managed both in-house and offshore development teams at companies ranging from startups to enterprise organizations.
Prior to joining Centrical, Ariel served as VP of R&D at Worthy.com where his team dramatically improved product stability, quality and execution. Before that, he was VP R&D at Applicaster where he led infrastructure changes from project to product. Ariel has also held various R&D positions at Retalix (later acquired by NCR).
Ariel holds B.sc in Computer science & Math, and MBA degree in Information Technologies, both from Bar Ilan University
Ronen Botzer
CFO
Ronen is a Finance and Business Development executive with 20+ years of leadership experience in startups and global companies across all aspects of management. He has direct experience with companies in the areas of software, services and capital equipment, including fund raising as well as M&As across different continents. Ronen is a CPA and holds an LLM degree from Bar Ilan university and B.A in business administration from the College of Business Management.
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Madeleine Freind
Natalie Roth
Linat Mart
Doron Neumann
Gal Rimon
Daphne Saragosti
Ella Davidson
Ariel Herman
Ronen Botzer