The Problems with Onboarding
It has become abundantly clear over the last few months that current onboarding practices aren’t up to scratch for 2020. That was true before we entered this decade and now, when more and more recruitment and HR teams are having to manage everything remotely it becomes a major challenge.
So what causes the current problems?
Time
One of the biggest issues is time. HR and recruitment teams spend hours per onboardee in order to get them ready to start on the first day. They take time to create and check offer letters and contracts to make sure everything is correct. Someone also has to collate all the various forms onboardees need to complete. Then they have to spend time tracking the process and chasing for completion.
Data
Another issue that HR and Recruitment teams face is the amount of data that needs to be managed. Someone has to gather together data collated during the recruitment process to get it put into documents. Then, when the information is returned, someone has to check it, decipher it and re-enter it back into other systems. Worse still, the HR team might have multiple systems, none of which talk to each other so they have to do that over and over again.
When you then take the curve ball of enforced remote onboarding and throw that into the mix you end up with challenges that actually magnify the issues rather than negate them.
What do Onboardees Want?
In a survey we ran last year 63% of people said that a positive experience made them more committed to their roles. So what does that include?
Well, the respondents said it needed; clear communication, introductions to their team, getting information early and keeping them in the loop.
This all seems straightforward, so how do you put it into practice and onboard remotely?
The 8 ways that we identified were:
- Mapping out your onboarding process
- Planning your messaging, internally and externally
- Streamline compliance documents and forms
- Create an onboardee checklist
- Planning team building before day one
- Communicate what the first weeks include
- Lay out what success looks like
- Make it easy to gather feedback
If you want to get the whitepaper, which has more information on all of these points, you can download it here.
Have a look through our case studies to find out how we have helped current clients with their onboarding processes.
