How Employee Onboarding Software Streamlines your HR Onboarding Processes

The onboarding of a new employee looks exciting, but there is a lot of administrative work to get through first. As the first 90 days of a new employee are important to retaining them, from collecting tax forms to asking them to sign NDAs, the amount of paperwork can become overwhelming for both the HR and the employee. 

Transitioning to using digital employee onboarding software helps companies to create a smooth and welcoming onboarding experience that helps employees to feel prepared for the role they have accepted rather than spending the first few days buried in paperwork.

What Is the HR Document Workflow?

Before we explore how employee onboarding software is useful for a company, let's consider what an HR document workflow currently is for a business. It is a series of steps that a new employee must take in order to become fully integrated into the company's system. 

Starting from when the candidate accepts the job offer until onboarding them to the role they have accepted, this workflow requires the collaboration of different departments to set up the new employee, such as IT for equipment and Finance for salaries. In the past, a physical document workflow would require sending the new employee a printed version of the welcome pack and mailing them the signed offer letter. 

Currently, through the use of HR workflow automation, the previously tedious document workflow has been turned into a much quicker process of sending the new employee a digital onboarding pack and having documents automatically sent for approvals and securely stored.

Where Manual Onboarding Workflows Get Stuck

If your company uses paper-based or disorganized digital document management, then you are likely familiar with where the most issues occur with onboarding new employees. 

These include forms getting lost in email inboxes, human errors when entering data, and paper trails that pose a data privacy risk if they are not kept secure. Without having a system for employee document management, HR staff members waste time chasing new hires for the information they need for a new employee's payroll and benefits. 

Additionally, an unorganized onboarding experience for new employees can lead to a negative first impression of the company, which can lead to new hires leaving before they have started.

How Employee Onboarding Software Streamlines Each Step

Through the use of dedicated software, many of the common issues that occur when onboarding new employees can be avoided. Employee onboarding software makes using the different stages of a new employee's onboarding journey easier by digitizing and tracking each task.

• Pre-boarding: As soon as a new employee accepts a job offer, they can be sent a digital email with a link to a portal that they can access to read and complete information relevant to their role prior to starting their first day.
• E-Signatures: Rather than having to print, sign, scan, and send documents back to the company, new employees can sign documents digitally from anywhere they have access to the internet.
• Automated tracking: The onboarding software will have a list for HR, the manager, and the new employee to check off to ensure that every part of onboarding is completed. By using automated reminders and email notifications, each party is reminded when each task needs to be completed to avoid any delays in the new employee starting.

HR Documents That Can Be Handled Electronically

It is possible to digitize almost any kind of document that a new employee will need to complete or sign as part of the onboarding process. Having a robust HR document management means that a new employee can securely complete and store a range of documents in one place, such as:

• Offer letters and employment contracts
• Tax forms for the relevant country
• Direct deposit forms
• NDAs and non-compete agreements
• Employee handbook
• Emergency contact information and benefits enrollment

By having a digital version of the standard documents that a new employee needs to view, sign, or provide, HR managers can effortlessly access these records when needed, such as for audits.

How This Helps HR Teams and the Organization

Aside from saving the company space by not printing and storing physical documents, digitizing and automating the onboarding process has a range of benefits. First, it saves a tremendous amount of time for HR teams and managers, who can use this extra time to focus on improving other parts of the employee lifecycle, such as retention strategies and employer branding. 

Second, by using an electronic system for processing new hires, the risk of human errors and legal issues is greatly reduced. Finally, having a streamlined digital onboarding process makes a much better impression on new employees, who will feel more prepared for their new role and be more likely to stay at the company longer-term.

What to Look for in Onboarding Software for Small Business

If the company that you work for is a small business, then it is likely that the person or people who manage HR are doing it as a secondary role to another position. As such, it is vital that any onboarding software that they choose to use has a user-friendly interface that they or their employees don't have to spend weeks learning how to use. 

Additionally, onboarding software for small businesses is unlikely to have the same budget as bigger corporations, so it is important to look for cost-effective software that can scale as the business grows. Finally, the right onboarding software will fit seamlessly into the workflow that the current HR team already follows, such as the payroll software that they currently use.

Takeaway Thoughts

The onboarding of a new employee is a vital part of their journey with a company as they get to experience the company's onboarding processes firsthand. The use of document-intensive and paper-based processes belong in the past, and by using the right tools and strategies, companies can ensure that a new employee has a positive experience when starting their new role while also cutting administrative costs and boosting the retention of new employees.