From Offer to Productivity: Employee Onboarding with HR Software
When a new employee accepts a company’s offer letter, their journey has already begun; effective onboarding enables new employees to become productive, engaged, and confident in their new roles. By implementing the most efficient, effective onboarding method, an employer can improve the speed of acclimation and development of new employees. Today’s digitally inclined workplaces have seen many companies transition from the traditional (manual and paperwork) approach to more modern, digital employee onboarding software.
Why employee onboarding is more important than ever First impressions count
Research has demonstrated that new employees are likely to remain employed with an organization longer if they are provided with an effective onboarding program. Poorly executed onboarding programs result in confusion, disengagement, decreased productivity, and excessive employee turnover.
Benefits of effective employee onboarding:
- To establish clear goals and expectations
- To understand and appreciate the cultural and value system of the company
- To accurately maintain compliance and all required documentation
- To create a sense of belonging, confidence, and enthusiasm within the first few days of employment.
HR software provides the necessary methodology to guarantee organizations can create a consistent employee onboarding program with the same expectations, regardless of whether the employee is in a corporate office or satellite office.
Issues That Impact Traditional Processes Used When Onboarding New Employees
An increasing number of organizations continue to utilize various methods of email communication, spreadsheet creation, and manual follow-up to their employees onboard. These traditional processes create some of the following issues:
1) Delay obtaining and verifying employment documents.
2) Inconsistency in the onboarding experience for new employees.
3) Limited visibility to the HR teams.
4) Increased administrative burden.
5) Longer time to be productive for new hires.
HR teams spend a substantial amount of their time coordinating activities instead of focusing their efforts on enhancing the new employees’ experience due to the lack of a centralized system to support the onboarding function.
What a Modern Employee Onboarding Software Enhances the Employee’s Journey
Utilizing modern employee onboarding software allows you to automate and streamline the entire employee onboarding lifecycle—from the moment the candidate accepts their offer through to when the new employee has reached full productivity.
Digital Offer Letters and Document Management
With the HR software, candidates can receive their offer letters electronically and complete all necessary employment documentation electronically. This eliminates the need for physical paperwork, reduces the number of opportunities for errors and speeds up the pre-employment process.
With set structure and process defined for onboard existing employees, the HR Departments can now have a specific list of ‘to-dos’ and set specific due dates for these ‘to-do’ items. The managers can also track the status of the ‘to-do’ items for every new employee, which helps to ensure that no step is taken overlooked (for example – IT access, filling out compliance forms, attending orientation sessions). The automated pre-boarding process allows new employees to complete required paperwork and online courses prior to their formal start date. It also ensures that a new hire feels welcomed and connected to their job from the moment they enter the company, by providing access to a welcome message and/or newsletter, along with policies and procedures for onboarding. Automated role-based user configuration allows the HR Department to pre-configure the new employee’s account with the appropriate tools, systems, and credentials based on the job role of the new employee and eliminates the need for the HR and IT Departments to coordinate and communicate about an employee’s access and system requirements prior to starting work.
Ongoing Access to Information and Involvement in Your Job
Notifications and reminders will keep you up to date with your onboarding tasks, training schedule, and vital updates. Clear communication lessens your anxiety and builds your confidence during the first few days of your new position.
Super-charging Productivity by Improving Your Onboarding Experience
Using employee onboarding software to provide a structured onboarding process for new employees will greatly reduce the amount of time it takes for them to be productive on the job. When you remove administrative tasks from new employees, they can spend more time learning their job responsibilities, learning their job expectations, and adding value to their team.
The increased productivity is realized through:
- Faster ramp up times
- Clear role and goal alignment
- Increased cooperation among groups and increased early engagement and motivation.
The data generated from HR software is critical for successful onboarding as it allows the HR department to monitor the progress of new hires, identify any delays in the process, and analyze the overall effectiveness of their onboarding experience. This data provides the HR teams with the information necessary to make improvements and will lead to consistent onboarding experience throughout the organization.
Read more : (Mastering the Employee Onboarding Process)
As the workplace has evolved, onboarding is more than a single day event—it will be a continuous process of supporting and developing new employees. Companies that invest in high-quality employee onboarding software can help ensure success and retention of their new employees by laying a strong foundation for their ongoing productivity.