You are now done with the task of hiring a new employee, what a sigh of relief! Their first day is going to start and you are wondering what the next step in the process is. The next step is preparing for onboarding your new hire to get culturally acquainted with the organization and prepare them to become productive team members.
Let’s start with defining Onboarding:
So, what is onboarding? It is a broad term that includes all stages of new employee orientation and proactively preparing the employee to join their new colleagues within the organization. It includes three main steps: Getting the administrative forms and contracts in place, providing equipment and access so your new hire can do their job, and scheduling training or orientation to understand their role in the organization.
Steps for on-boarding:
- Administrative Forms: Provide your new hire with relevant forms from payroll, human resources and benefits to fill out. Administrators in organizations usually have a checklist to ensure that all the steps are completed. Make sure to use a checklist to ensure their filled out information is in system. Depending on the size of your organization, this can be either paper based or automated.
- Equipment and Access: This includes issuing of equipment, supplies and perhaps work clothing to the new employee. Additionally, the new employee will need to be granted secure access to certain business systems and work facilities. Making sure that your new hire has a desk, computer, phone and required access to a knowledge base will help them learn about your organization. If your office has security keys to enter or exit providing it from the first day will ensure they don’t depend on you for getting in and out of office facilities.
- Mentoring and Training: Scheduling meetings with new bosses and mentors on first day is key to make new employees feel welcome. Enrolling them in appropriate on-the-job or classroom training is also a key step in this new employee readiness process. This helps in getting them up to speed quicker.
If you’d like to be proactive then you can even begin the on boarding process before the employee’s first day. This helps in maximizing the use of time and resources, and reduce the new employee’s ramp-up time during the first few days and weeks at work. Three steps to on board a new employee, sounds simple right?
So what are the common reasons for an ineffective Onboarding process?
Organizations fail mainly due to:
- Use of manual paper-based forms
- Need to input data through spreadsheets and multiple systems
- Absence of clearly documented procedural instructions for on boarding new employees
- Reliance on verbal and paper-based instructions to prepare for new employees
HR software can make your onboarding process more efficient:
The common challenges noted above can be alleviated or eliminated by implementing a solution which supports the on boarding process. Now a days, there are many automated on boarding solutions that let you configure tasks a new hire is required to do that integrate with recruitment and HCM solutions. Integrated systems eliminates the redundancy of data entry, reduces the use of paper-based forms and stream lines the overall process of getting the employee ready to productively performing their work.
If you organization does not already have a system to help with onboarding then it might be a good idea to start using a HR software solution that can replace the paper based forms with electronic ones so the step of data entry from papers can be removed. You can further incorporate workflows that have alerts and procedures defined for each of the steps. Automated processes can support all the mangers despite different locations. It will help in accurate record keeping and make the process smooth for the new hire as well as the mangers who can use just one system of record for the entire process.
A successful, efficient and a welcoming on boarding process can reduce employee turnover, improve morale and reduce your overall human resource costs. Take advantage of the HR technology available in the market to efficiently prepare your new employees with the foundation for a productive and positive work experience within your organization.
Learn more on how to implement an onboarding process in your organization in our Free eBook !