3 Ways To Ensure Your Onboarding Process Gets New Hires Off To A Good Start

Saturday, 16 April 2022, 6:07 am
Press Release: Hugh Grant

The road to finding a high-quality employee to fill an open position can be a long one. First you decide what qualifications you need. Then you post the job opening. After three rounds of interviews with four different candidates and one whopping stress-induced migraine, you’re ready to extend an offer. There might be a couple rounds of back-and-forth negotiation, but finally your new hire signs on the dotted line.

In a perfect world, that would be the end of the ordeal. Unfortunately, there are myriad onboarding items to complete before your worker can really get going. All the documentation and software training might seem like a slog, but there are ways to make the process run smoother. Here are three tips to keep organized and efficient during employee onboarding.

1. Create Strong Processes

The list of necessary documentation for a new hire is remarkably long. Payroll setup alone involves a whole slew of items you need to have signed and copied. As if W4 forms, I-9 documentation, and direct deposit preferences aren’t enough, there are other documents to consider.

Your new hire almost certainly needs to sign and submit an official job acceptance. If they have any access to sensitive information, a confidentiality agreement is probably called for as well. Think that covers it? Nope! There is still the benefits enrollment process and all the tedious paperwork that comes with it.

Nor does onboarding stop with the paperwork. There are also email accounts to set up, extensions to download, and new software to learn. When it’s all said and done, onboarding can easily be a 10- to 20-step journey. If you aren’t keeping track of each employee’s onboarding process, necessary tasks and documents are bound to slip through the cracks. To keep things organized, you need to use a process documentation template.

A process documentation template serves as a detailed checklist. Not only do you have a list of needed tasks and items from new hires, but specific roles are assigned. Knowing who is responsible for certain software training and documentation collection keeps the process moving. If no one is assigned to certain tasks, those items tend to be ignored or delayed indefinitely.

After the onboarding checklist has been completed, saving a copy is highly recommended. Having this data available can help keep both new employees and those providing their training accountable for each step. If an employee claims they were never trained in certain aspects of the job, the checklist can prove or disprove that assertion.

Alternatively, if several employees hired in the past year have no benefits paperwork on file, see who signed off on the task. This could help identify holes in your processes or indicate human resources employees who aren’t performing their duties appropriately.

2. Complete Onboarding Promptly

Onboarding is one of those things you know is important but can sometimes feel like an inconvenience. After all, you hired an employee to perform certain job duties, not sit in a room filling out tedious paperwork. In addition, it’s sometimes tempting to go light on training and hope your new hire learns on the job.

While these mindsets are understandable, they can set up both your company and employees for trouble down the road. Throwing your new hires into work before collecting onboarding documentation is a problem for two reasons.

First, it can be stressful for your employees to try to learn new skills and processes and have documentation tasks outstanding. If that component is taken care of, they can focus better on learning the new processes required in their job.

Second, if documentation collection is delayed at the outset, there is a very real possibility the task will be delayed indefinitely. If you eventually need that information and don’t have it, you could be in a bind. A good example of this would be if you need to refute an unemployment claim or lawsuit from a former employee. If you never got around to documenting and filing hiring information, you will be at a disadvantage when combatting claims.

Another instance where omitted data can have consequences is if an employee’s start date is never recorded. This can have an impact on various items, but their retirement plan entry date is one example. If your system doesn’t recognize that an employee is eligible for plan entry, you will need to go through a correction process.

3. Keep Onboarding Consistent

It’s one thing to tick the box on the checklist saying you’ve verified an employee’s I-9 form. It’s quite another to actually have that information at a later time when you need it. If you have employee data spread out in various places, finding what you need is going to take much longer. Worse, you are more likely to neglect saving the information entirely if it isn’t kept in a central location.

By keeping records stored in a consistent manner, it’s much easier to periodically go down the list and verify onboarding completion. You should do this on an annual basis for all employees hired in the last two years. By having this final verification, necessary documentation is far less likely to be overlooked.

Consistency isn’t only helpful for paperwork. Whenever possible, it’s a good idea to have software training performed by the same individuals. Having various personnel teach the same software to different employees increases the likelihood of inconsistent usage.

If, in contrast, the same power user instructs all new hires on correct procedures, they will all receive the same information. Changing up the instructor increases the chances of employees learning bad habits that will need to be corrected later.

Set Everyone Up for Success

Being precise and methodical in your onboarding processes is essential to a high-functioning HR capability. Haphazard practices can carry consequences for both you and your employees. So create thorough procedures, apply them consistently, and give your new hires the solid foundation they need to succeed from day one.

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