While technology is a big enabler, it is talent that truly drives organizations and makes them stand out among competitors. This is all the more true in the case of budding enterprises and businesses. Naturally, a lot of attention and emphasis is put on recruitment activities; unfortunately the same cannot be said about the employee onboarding process.
Simply put, the process and practices involved in integrating new hires into the company, and its culture, are collectively known as employee onboarding. Typically, this process involves orienting the new hires regarding the company’s history, mission, vision, structure, policies, and overall culture. While some aspects of onboarding can be completed with modular sessions in a matter of a few days, the cultural and procedural aspects may take a while longer.
Let us explore the different connotations surrounding employee onboarding and how a robust HR software can make the entire process more efficient as well as mutually beneficial for the employee as well as the employer.
Employee Onboarding and its importance in the Hybrid World
The recent few years have seen a tremendous surge in employees quitting their jobs. Many HR experts have termed it the “great resignation”, the scale of which has been unprecedented.
Here are some statistics that can paint the picture aptly.
CNBC reported that “The cost of replacing an employee can be as high as 6-9 months salary”. This includes the costs involved in attracting new talent, onboarding, training, and the intangible costs associated with loss of productivity and owing to the learning curve. Clearly, it is both financially and productively beneficial to retain existing employees rather than having to replace them.
According to an HR survey conducted by Inc.com, “up to 28 percent of new hires quit within their first 3 months on the job”. That is alarmingly high and with the steep costs involved in replacing employees, you can well imagine the time, effort and costs involved. In the same survey, when asked about their reasons to quit, the number one reason that emerged was the lack of a structured employee onboarding program. Moreover, every exiting employee is also a spokesperson for your brand and culture. Positive or negative word of mouth is rather subjective, and almost entirely depends on the person’s perceived experience during their stay.
Surely, you have caught on to the theme being unraveled here. Employee onboarding is a vital process as it sets the tone for the future stay of new hires in your company. At an emotional level, it becomes the first lasting impression of your employees’ new workplace and its culture. This fitment of organizational culture and employee’s individual values is a vital balance that is often the key factor that decides the employee’s duration of stay and level of productivity in the organization.
In remote and other hybrid working models, the importance of employee onboarding has become significantly amplified. Fast-paced, growth-oriented organizations, including startups, are constantly recruiting new talent. The need for personal connection is far more critical now, more than the usual paperwork that ends up taking precedence in traditional onboarding methods.
The usual informal introductions to the company’s culture used to often take place in the vicinity of coffee machines, breakout areas, or through the ‘water cooler’ conversations. With all that becoming a thing of the past, employee onboarding is no longer the job of the HR team. Peers, colleagues, team members, and direct managers have all now become collectively responsible for ensuring the onboarding of new hires and easing their transition into the new role and culture of the organization.
Onboarding in the remote world
This requires sufficient time, intent, and dedicated effort. Something that is not easily available when a large part of the day is spent pushing through the paperwork. Enter, the automated employee onboarding software.
How an HR Software can help in the Onboarding Process
While an employee onboarding software can be implemented as a separate module, it is often found as a part of the Application Tracking System. The ATS creates an entirely digitally managed recruiting process that significantly reduces the time to hire, and enhances the candidate’s interviewing experience. Now, that’s called getting off to a good start.
An employee onboarding software automates repetitive tasks of the new-hire onboarding process, has employee self-service (ESS) modules and a central repository to store the company’s policies and procedures. It allows employees to familiarize themselves with their work culture even while operating remotely. Other advantages of an employee onboarding software are:
- Enhances the quality of employee-management interaction: A majority of senior company management executives have repeatedly claimed the lack of quality time they are able to spend with their staff. This is even more pronounced in the case of HR leaders. An HR software helps by reducing the strain of mundane administrative and logistical activities through automation, thereby freeing up time for more face-time with the employees.
- Minimizes errors or duplication of data: The information captured in the personnel database during employee onboarding acts as a key input in a lot of HR processes ranging from payroll to time tracking to benefits rollout and even performance appraisal. Since HR software comes with rule-based engines and internal checking mechanisms, the probability of errors is minimal while capturing employee data.
- Increased compliance with local laws and regulations: There are several local and international laws that govern every business. While non-adherence to some of them may lead to reprimands and/or penalties, in other critical cases it can lead to litigation and damage to the company’s reputation as well. An automated onboarding and HR system is a sure-shot way of ensuring compliance with regulations without the fear of human lapse or error.
- High Availability: Most modern HR software is cloud-based. This makes employee onboarding and overall management a continuous activity that is available anytime and from anywhere; thus considerably increasing the mobility of new hires.
- Reduces the learning curve: The options of self-learning and anytime availability are known to reduce the onboarding time of new hires while also making them productive quicker. This has a direct positive impact on the ROI of the cost of hiring new talent. Furthermore, HR software is highly customizable to suit the onboarding needs of different businesses and different roles within their hierarchy.
In Summation
As per Gartner, 58% of the workforce has shown a preference for working remotely or in some form of hybrid model. So, clearly, remote working is here to stay. The onus now lies on the organizations to make it as conducive, as possible, for their employees.
A study by Gallup claimed that only around 12% of employees felt their company’s onboarding process is good, while around 71% felt they did not have the adequate support and preparation to excel in their new role. Evidently, there seems to be a big enough gap that needs to be bridged.
By turning towards digitization and adopting automated HR software, organizations can successfully break down silos and form an interconnecting passage between tools, people, and processes.
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