In these last months, we all have got accustomed to remote working, adapting to this new normal and virtual method to collaborate with team members. However, HR professionals are still trying to work out a few factors of employee experience and looking for more efficient ways to keep everything aligned. One of the most pressing issues is handling employee onboarding in this culture of work from home. You can’t greet new hires face-to-face on their first day but still as an HR professional or employer, it is your responsibility to put an excellent first impression of your company. This will set the standard for the rest of their time in the organization. Hence, you must ensure a personalized experience right from the beginning.
Traditional onboarding methods are hardly useful these days and only make the process daunting and lengthy. New hires have to spend valuable time signing multiple documents, meet each team member, and wait for orientation and introduction, and whatnot. It’s not only painful for employees but adds to the workload of HR teams as well. So, to replace this manual method with a more upgraded one, companies are investing in HRIS software with a virtual onboarding module. This automated system engages employees and helps them work faster while saving their time and efforts. It simplifies the whole onboarding process and allows HR teams, employees, and new hires to spend time on what’s important and contribute to organizational goals.
From welcoming new hires and educating them about benefits plans to making their first day fun, a centralized employee onboarding software optimizes the existing onboarding program.
Let’s take a closer look at how employee onboarding software enables easy and hassle-free virtual onboarding while resolving various HR challenges:
Optimized Pre-Boarding
Employee onboarding starts with their first interview and as soon as the hiring decision is made. Thus, you have to be sure that from the same moment, you deliver a smooth and enhanced experience to all new hires. It is important to keep their enthusiasm high and stick to their decision of joining your company. Hence, the first step is to eliminate lengthy paperwork and documentation that stand in the way of achieving this. Connect with a trusted IT consultation services provider to implement an all-inclusive onboarding software. It will assist them from the time they sign the offer letter and start their first day, which is a part of pre-boarding.
Using the system, you can set up their email address, ship laptop and other important stuff, share employee handbooks, convey company policies, and collect all the necessary personal details. You can also consider a training session before they start their first day and complete all the formalities related to orientation virtually.
Consistent Training
With remote working being the need of the hour, employees are located in different locations. Also, for large companies that span multiple geographical locations, it is crucial to stay consistent in their training sessions for new hires. Of course, it is a major challenge for HR departments and managers considering the time difference and no face-to-face interactions. Therefore, companies are relying on streamlined and VR-empowered onboarding systems that make learning faster, consistent, and fun for new employees. It allows you to provide the same content, material, information across all locations, and have the same impact.
It lets you experiment with different environments and ideas that are possible only through virtual onboarding and training programs. It establishes a uniform standard for new hire training while offering multiple language support for seamless communication. Companies are also using interesting games to make onboarding and training more exciting and engaging.
Self-Service & eSignatures
Allow your new hires to complete onboarding formalities and the process directly from their devices, be it a smartphone or laptop with an employee self-service portal. You can also use any email or provide a device through a kiosk mode to enable them to own the process. The ESS platform has become a reliable tool for companies to let employees track their progress, edit and update their personal details, select and enroll in the most suitable benefits plans, and check activities they need to complete. With self-service benefits enrollment wizard, new hires can analyze all the plans available, select the best healthcare scheme based on their needs, and opt for voluntary benefits. This makes them feel more valued and engaged from their first day.
Besides, HR professionals are aware of the time taken to sign documents and check every paperwork meticulously. Of course, this paperwork is unavoidable but you can do it right with eSignature capabilities. Now, employees can sign documents, employee agreements & tax information and view, edit & submit pre-hire forms anytime, anywhere at their convenience. It also saves time, reduces errors, mitigates risks, and makes it easier for new hires to complete onboarding within no time. As these records are stored safely on the cloud-based system, you can meet your record-keeping obligations and keep all the documents secure in one place.
Personalized Experience
New hires have many apprehensions and doubts when they join a company. They have questions about the culture, work environment, and much more with constant worries about whether they will be able to adjust in the organization or not. A personalized onboarding experience eliminates most of these concerns and makes them comfortable. Employee onboarding system provides personalized resources to everyone who enters your organization. You can create a welcome message using the portal attached with company documents, information, policies, and instructional videos.
Moreover, you can organize virtual events for online learning sessions that are more vivid, expressive, and involve interactive discussions. The software also supports semi-live, pre-recorded, and live webinars with a Q&A round to involve new hires more and engage them.
Better Networking
Just because onboarding is virtual, it doesn’t mean that your existing employees and new hires can’t connect. You can make them feel at home from the get-go by encouraging your team members to reach out to them and welcome them via email or a unified portal. The software comes with networking lounges with a central space for leaders and employees to interact via group chat, business card exchanges, and thread discussions. For better engagement and experience, team leads can organize virtual lunches and meetings for a few days to create an opportunity for them to network on a personal level.
The software system also allows managers to have one-on-one meetings with each new hire to learn about their roles better and understand the approach to work with other colleagues. They can also view org charts using HRIS to know about the company and team dynamics.
Final Thought
The future of onboarding is undoubtedly employee onboarding software that delivers an intuitive, easy, and efficient process. It automates and streamlines virtual onboarding which is the latest trend in today’s work environment. You have all the key tools and features to make new hires’ first day memorable and fun while providing them with all the relevant information on one platform.
As you make your journey toward virtual onboarding, don’t forget your brand culture and company values. Stay true to them and make the most out of this changing situation to set your employees for a successful and long career at your company.
Author’s Bio: Alicia works with the editorial team of Accomplish EP, a leading company offering benefits administration software. Exploring the latest technologies, reading about them, and writing her views have always been her passion. She seeks new opportunities to express her opinions, explore technological advancements, and document the details. You can always find her enjoying books or articles about varied topics or jotting down her ideas in a notebook.
