Employee onboarding is one of the most crucial duties of the Human Resources (HR) department in any organization. To create a pleasant first-day experience for new hires it is imperative that this procedure is carried out smoothly without looking and feeling like an added burden.
In order to prevent the onboarding process from being an uninspiring exercise, companies usually deploy user-friendly onboarding software. Just by incorporating this simple step into the HR workflow, companies enhance the orientation process by creating a streamlined and valuable experience for the employees.
Onboarding software essentially lays the foundation from which stems the entire onboarding experience. To put things into perspective, a customizable employee onboarding software offers an all-in-one HR platform that can help you make a great first impression. Moreover, this leads to memorable first-day experiences and onboarding of new hires within a matter of minutes instead of days.
From the employee’s viewpoint, onboarding provides a quick sneak peek into the organization’s culture and makes a real difference to how they feel about the company they’ve joined. At the same time, it gives HR a prime opportunity to win the hearts and minds of the fresh hires.
Proper Orientation
The majority of the companies treat onboarding and orientation as the same exercise, but that’s far removed from actuality. As the name suggests, Orientation should be focused on ensuring that the newly-joined employees are well-oriented even before they embark on the actual onboarding process.
The initial orientation should include a brief overview of the company’s vision and mission, a tour of the facility and offices, introduction to company technology, among other things. However, it is to be kept in mind that the orientation stage should make for a fairly small portion of the entire onboarding experience.
Due care should be taken to make use of online tools and onboarding software to help ease the paperwork process. Offload the tedious tasks to technology so as to keep it an efficient and streamlined experience for everyone. In the case of online onboarding, use screen sharing software to give virtual office tours if possible.
This will help you forge an open-minded relationship with the new hires and gain effortless insights into what they perceive of the company.
Interactive and Social Experience
One of the more important upgrades to the onboarding process is to make it a social experience. New hires often find it hard to fit into the corporate culture initially, but a pleasant and interactive onboarding can ease the getting-to-know-you stage substantially.
The right onboarding software ensures employee intranet, instant messaging tools, and personalized employee profiles to deeply encourage team building and collaboration in the office. Irrespective of the fact that the new hires are in-house or remote, the latest employee onboarding solutions create a socially-cooperative environment.
In a highly digitized world, getting to know the people you work with might be a somewhat superficial concept, but creating professional bonds solely based on workplace needs also goes a long way. And an onboarding software offers the right medium and channel for new employees to stay in touch and feel like a valued member of the extended family.
This simple addition to the HR arsenal results in employee retention, employee satisfaction, and increased productivity for the company in the long run. And all of this sprouts from striving to create a community-based atmosphere at the workplace.
Data-Driven Approach
In an increasingly digital world, the magnitude of data is increasing exponentially. And data analytics tools help us quantify understandable patterns from this raw data and draw actionable insights.
Incorporating a data-driven approach into HR can be a game-changer and needs to be the top priority for companies looking to stay future-ready. For example, new hires can receive an automated welcome message curated for them personally before their first day. This message (in the form of an email) can consist of paperwork and helpful details – such as what to bring, what to carry, and an onboarding checklist.
Professional data can be used to prepare customized IDs and merchandise to make their first-day a memorable and welcoming experience. The personal touch will make for a stress-free working environment and give them a sense of belonging.
Moreover, onboarding software can also optimize the process over time but drawing useful trends from past data. A post-onboarding survey will help the system learn from the feedback and not only provide real-life insight into your company’s onboarding process but also ensure that all new hires feel heard and involved.
Why Good Onboarding is Key
It is clear as day that without good onboarding, the risk of quickly losing your new staff increases manifold. And if losing staff wasn’t already bad enough, the ensuing turnover costs can create massive aftershocks for your company.
Glassdoor estimated that an average employer in the US spends USD 4,000 and over three weeks before being able to hire a new employee. Therefore, a seamless onboarding software benefits administration and fuels its future prospects.
Statics put forth by Bamboo HR also suggest employees who felt their onboarding was effective were 18 times more likely to feel committed to their organization than those who weren’t onboarded properly.
Moreover, according to The Society for Human Resource Management, nearly 70% of employees are more likely to stay with a company for a period of at least 3 years if they underwent a pleasant onboarding process.
Conclusion
Onboarding software removes manual work like filling out lengthy drab forms and lets HR focus on the stuff that really matters, such as face-to-face contact. All of the information is stored in a centralized location, which can be retrieved at any time with the click of a button.
It standardizes the entire orientation and onboarding process, increases compliance, and ensures that everyone gets the same valuable experience.
Also, if you’re already using HR software, then try integrating the onboarding solution into your overall software ecosystem. Such seamless integration when pulled off properly reduces the need for navigation between multiple platforms and helps create a consistent user interface for a better onboarding experience.
Prioritize user-friendliness over any other feature, and you will have made the right choice. The whole point of installing onboarding software is the simplification of tasks.
