Tools to Develop an Onboarding Program for New Employees
Published: 26/03/2023
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If you're interested in creating a new onboarding programme, this blog article is for you. We'll guide you through the essential tools you'll need and solutions that could be useful. While this article primarily targets business owners, team managers seeking to enhance their team’s performance will also find it beneficial.
We all recognise that onboarding is an unavoidable part of employment. From collecting legal documents to training staff on essential organisational processes, it plays a crucial role. Often, the progress of your new hire, as well as the success they achieve, heavily depends on the foundations laid during their induction. That’s why onboarding should be approached strategically and encompass more than just exchanging documents. Easier said than done, right?
Although the best onboarding samples seem intricate to copy and implement within an organisation, they often are not. The key is that behind every effective onboarding programme, there are various digital tools in use. While they do replace some human interaction, this does not mean they threaten human connections. In fact, they help foster them. Therefore, in this article, we will explore such tools.
There are 5 key elements required for successful onboarding. They all begin with a C, which is why they are known as the 5Cs of onboarding.
Compliance. Naturally, you don’t want to break the law when bringing new workers on board. At this stage, you also want to familiarise your hires with your company's rules and policies.
Clarification. Communicate to them their exact responsibilities and your expectations.
Confidence. You can’t instil confidence directly, but you can be encouraging and positive in your approach to help them achieve it.
Connection. One of the challenges in onboarding is encouraging new hires to integrate into the team. Therefore, it is important they connect and build relationships with their colleagues.
Culture. Working together involves sharing company values and vision. These must therefore be communicated to new starters.
Ticking these boxes in the process helps your new starters integrate smoothly into your company and start applying their skills and knowledge.
While the 5Cs mainly focus on the human aspects of onboarding, they are heavily influenced by the tools used. Naturally, since digital solutions aim at automation, they do not rely on humans and therefore do not foster relationships. However, they assist in making the process quicker and smoother.
A document management platform is arguably the most crucial part of any onboarding programme. Put simply, it is where the documents submitted by your new employees are stored. Ideally, you want a solution that combines the onboarding system with document storage. In that case, it can both collect documentation and store it within the platform simultaneously.
A good idea would also be to get a document management solution that integrates with e-signing. This way, you can start the onboarding process right at the contract signing stage. The proposed approach will significantly reduce the time spent gathering documents and make them easily accessible in the future. Furthermore, you can always upload documentation from your side to the new starter’s folder, where they can access it at their convenience. In short, this is a great tool to establish compliance and improve clarity.
You want to understand where your employees are dedicating their time and effort from the very beginning. Such visibility helps you develop better processes, spot new opportunities, and quickly address any potential issues. Regarding onboarding, it also offers you almost immediate insight into how the new starter integrates into existing workflows. Moreover, this enables you to rearrange the schedules of other staff members to ensure they can spend time with the new hire. All of this can be achieved without compromising your team's performance and efficiency.
Moving forward, the system will also allow you to monitor how the new worker is progressing. Not only will this be useful during evaluation periods, but it will also serve as a valuable way to assess the effectiveness of your onboarding programme. As you may have realised, the tool’s primary purpose is not onboarding itself; however, it plays a significant role in making the process smooth, innovative, and data-driven. Additionally, it will be a valuable addition to your overall strategy, supporting both experienced employees and newcomers.
Just as there are essentials for onboarding, there are also nice-to-haves. The tools we are about to discuss aren’t necessary, but they are a great addition for those looking to create a truly unique onboarding programme. Without further ado, let us introduce you to key tools that can make your onboarding process stand out.
No matter how much prior experience your new hire might have in the industry, they will still need to be trained, mainly on how things are done in your company. This can include anything from specific processes to the software you use. If the candidate is still relatively new to the industry, you will need to teach them the ins and outs. In other words, training is not a part of onboarding that can be skipped. Skipping it will simply lead to lower performance, a longer time for the worker to become fully efficient, and potentially foster mutual resentment.
Traditionally, companies assign an employee with greater seniority but similar responsibilities to handle the training. This is a logical and effective approach. However, is it the most efficient one for your business as a whole? In most cases - no. What it does is pull the older worker out of their routine. Instead of managing their day-to-day activities and driving progress, they are instead sacrificing their time and labour to train the new recruit. Even when it’s simply shadowing the senior employee, their flow will be constantly interrupted to answer questions. A much more effective solution would be to use a platform to host the required training. It’s hands-off, supplies the new starter with what they need, and is usually a one-time investment.
Given that most companies now operate in either fully remote or hybrid environments, it can be quite challenging for workers to establish rapport with one another, especially when they don’t have the chance to see each other face-to-face. We can all agree that email communication often leads to misunderstandings of tone, intentions, or actual points. Since effective communication is essential for your new hire to integrate smoothly, you need to foster a suitable environment for them.
A good suggestion would be to get an internal instant messenger. Not only does it allow your teams to exchange quick, informal messages (much less formal than emails), but most also come with additional features. For example, Slack offers regular calls, video calls, group calls, and even mini-games within their internal messenger. They can also be used for quick document sharing and often have mobile apps. While no communication tool can replace face-to-face interactions, they provide a great alternative when in-person meetings aren't possible.
You might be tempted to kick your feet up and relax once your onboarding process is complete. Sorry to disappoint, but that's not how it works. Like any business process, onboarding isn’t a one-off task, and opportunities to improve it as you go along are virtually endless. In other words, never stop seeking improvement.
You will naturally be biased when judging the effectiveness of your onboarding programme, especially if the figures suggest that your new employees are integrating into your workflows more quickly. However, it's often forgotten that this is much more complex than simple numbers in a report. Despite showing impressive results in meeting your KPIs, there is always a chance that your new onboarding programme wasn’t perceived positively by the party experiencing it - your worker. As we have discussed many times before, the onboarding procedure is essentially your way of setting the tone and expectations moving forward. Negative experiences can become the root of future issues, and you won’t be able to spot this unless you are aware of it.
The problem is, if you request feedback during a 1-on-1 conversation, most people will naturally close up. Not only is it harder to notice if something is wrong in person, but many details are also forgotten when someone is put on the spot. Employee feedback software provides a great environment for gathering insights on the onboarding process. Firstly, if done through a survey, your new hire will only need to rate their experience, making it much less tasking and time-consuming. Secondly, it is the best alternative for companies that employ remote workers. And finally, the tool is useful for other operations as well, not just onboarding. Overall, it’s an excellent solution for assessing your team’s performance, engagement, overall atmosphere, and much more.
Onboarding is much more than just collecting documents. A large part of its success also depends on the human factor. However, this doesn’t mean automation has no role in the process. Quite the opposite. The right tools are absolutely vital in ensuring you meet all the 5 Cs when welcoming your new hires.
Some software, such as a document management platform and a workforce management system, is vital for creating an efficient onboarding programme. Furthermore, these solutions will enhance other areas of your business as they can serve multiple purposes. Other tools are more on the nice-to-have side but can still significantly improve your onboarding process. Overall, modern tools enable you to create quick, smooth, intuitive, and relationship-focused experiences. All you need to do is choose wisely and rely on your company’s values.
There is no time to waste on soulless onboarding methods. Begin the change today.