Over half (53%) of employees say they would like their job better if they received more comprehensive training, and formal onboarding programs improve retention by 50%. Therefore, statistics present a compelling case for refining your onboarding procedure.
The costs of hiring a new employee are significant, in terms of both time and money. Fortunately, modern HR professionals can use HRIT to facilitate onboarding. Used correctly, modern technologies can help employees get the best start possible, thereby improving success and retention rates.
So, why aren’t companies good at onboarding? First and foremost, there isn’t actually a good definition of what is a “good onboarding”. Second, many freshmen face political and cultural challenges on the way of integration in a new company. And lastly, very few companies see the point of employing a career transition coach.
While these issues tend to require substantial effort and money investment, here are eight ways HR professionals can harness HRIT when welcoming new recruits:
Make Compliance Training Self-Service, And Take It Online
The Challenge: For many new employees, their first day of work means spending hours in a conference room or at their desk filling out pages of paperwork. This is not the best way to engage a new employee, and their time could be better spent elsewhere.
The Solution: A HRMS allows you to store manuals and other information online. New hires can finish reading them in their own time and fit them around their work tasks. In many instances, they can access and process all important information before their first day.
These systems also allow you to deliver health and safety training quickly and efficiently, and to highlight any gaps in your new employee’s knowledge. These systems allow new recruits to enter personal information into a central database, which makes life easier for HR and payroll departments.
Use a learning management system that allows you to gamify the process by tracking employee progress, providing feedback, creating tests, and administering quizzes. You can use e-learning platforms that offer readymade short courses on many business skills, or you can use software that allows you to build your own from scratch.
Use Video To Let New Hires Get to Know Their Team And Environment
The Challenge: The sooner a new employee gets to know their boss and co-workers, the better. However, coordinating all of these introductions can be a logistical nightmare.
The Solution: New employees can be given access to a web portal or intranet site where they can view video introductions and tutorials. You can use a HRIS to upload videos recorded by other employees welcoming new recruits to the company. Employees can also record themselves carrying out key tasks, and upload them to a central database for viewing by other team members who need guidance.
Use Data to Measure Success
The Challenge: No onboarding process is perfect. To refine the process, you need to collect reliable data that help you determine whether your process engages employees, improves retention rates, and encourages good performance.
The Solution: Collect and analyse both qualitative and numerical data in a transparent, systematic manner. Employee and supervisor feedback, retention rates, and exit interview data are all useful. This information can be converted into reports that can be used to help identify where onboarding needs to be improved. All-in-one HRIS, such as Natural HR , keep all your data in one place.
Use Shadowing Programs to Build Familiarity
The Challenge: One of the primary goals of onboarding is to familiarize new employees with the tasks they will perform on a daily basis. Describing these tasks may take a long time, and the new employee may be overwhelmed with information.
The Solution: Pair the employee with a co-worker, and allow them to shadow that person for a few days. They will quickly learn how to use standard procedures in the workplace. It’s also a great way for new employees to get to know their new co-workers.
Another option is to have new employees shadow those they’ll be assisting on a daily basis. By shadowing these workers, new hires can develop a better understanding of the needs and struggles of the people they have been hired to help.
Get New Hires Started on a Positive And Rewarding Project
The Challenge: New employees are often nervous when beginning a new job. They might suffer a lack of confidence.
The Solution: Assign new employees a task that can be completed in a relatively short time, has intrinsic value, and allows them to feel accomplished. Apple provides new employees with an iMac on their first day. Their first project is to configure that to their liking, and ensure it performs functions necessary to their job.
By the end of the day, the workers have checked off an important task that is also enjoyable for them. Set up a simple task list for each new employee to give their first day a structure. Tools such as KiSSFLOW are especially useful for coordinating workflows and to-do lists.
Crowdsource The Onboarding Process
The Challenge: Formal HR-lead onboarding processes don’t always give a new recruit a comprehensive insight into company culture. In fact, many workplaces don’t have a single “culture,” and neither do they have a single set of best practices. Both can vary by department. Onboarding processes often overlook the day to day lived experience of the current workforce.
The Solution: Conceptualize onboarding as something that should concern all, employees, not just HR staff. Work with employees to build an onboarding system that reflects the daily challenges of working at the company.
You can use HRIT to administer surveys to your existing employees to discover what aspects of their own onboarding experience was of value to them, and which were a waste of time. For example, Bob, a HR software company, offer HR professionals the chance to send out surveys to all members of the company. You should also consult with employees when putting together new copies of training materials and policies.
Hiring manager at Pick Writers says, “When it comes to familiarizing new employees with processes and procedures, and helping them fit into the company culture, it’s not always the recruiter or hiring manager that is best suited for the job. In many cases, the new hire’s co-workers are the best choice for these tasks. They can be tasked with providing tips and advice to new employees.”
Tailor Your Onboarding Process to Remote Employees
The Challenge: Almost two-thirds (63%) of companies have remote workers, but many do not have policies in place to support them. This is problematic because this group face unique challenges, and your onboarding process must address them.
For example, remote workers often find it harder to establish connections with on-site colleagues. They also benefit from more precise, in-depth explanations around expectations and performance metrics. It’s also important to make sure that they have an appropriate workspace and the right equipment, and to provide them with a means of handling and signing documents remotely.
The Solution: Choose a reliable tech solution, such as DocuSign, to help remote workers read and sign documents. If you hire many remote workers, you may wish to invest in software specially designed to facilitate communication and file-sharing between teams, such as Redbooth . As well as providing you with a means of promoting team cohesion, these solutions allow you to schedule online training, monitor productivity and store confidential information such as payroll data.
Final Thoughts
Companies that implement effective onboarding procedures have employees that are productive and engaged. This is good for any organization. The best way to create a great onboarding solution is to combine technology, data collection, and a philosophy of ongoing development.
