A first day at work is always exciting. A new employee gets to know your company, meets their new colleagues, and has a huge amount of information to process, all at once.
The first working day of a new employee is also exciting for your organization. Naturally, you want to onboard someone properly, even if they work remotely. In addition, you want new colleagues to truly feel connected to your company. With great onboarding, you achieve both goals at once. But what exactly is onboarding, and how can your organization set up this process effectively? You’ll find out here. All aboard!
At AFAS, we use the following definition of onboarding:
“The onboarding process in which new employees get to know your organization. They meet their colleagues and gain a clear understanding of their role within the team.”
The goal of the onboarding process is to help new employees feel like part of the organization. Because only when you feel connected to a new company do you have the intrinsic motivation to help the business move forward. And that creates a win-win situation: both the new employee and your company benefit from strong onboarding
We see that onboarding processes in companies generally take place in two ways. Some organizations consider a short introduction and a stack of separate documents with work instructions to be sufficient. Other companies choose to combine the introduction with an online environment. For example, an online e-learning portal where employees learn everything about the company culture and internal processes.
You’ve probably already guessed that we’re fans of the second approach. With a software-supported onboarding process, both sides benefit. The new colleague always has access to the right information, while your company provides every new employee with a consistent and efficient process. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel for every new hire. Automating HR processes makes your work easier!
The definition of a good onboarding process differs from one organization to another. It depends on factors such as the industry, company size, and company culture. In any case, a strong onboarding process should include the four C’s
First of all, it’s important that a new employee feels connected to the organization. You want employees to feel proud when they identify with your company. You can encourage this by sharing as much information as possible during the onboarding process.
And we don’t just mean the mission and vision that are already on your website. Share insider information with new colleagues as well, such as important new developments within your company.
You can also help build trust and a sense of responsibility by allowing them to complete certain tasks themselves. For example, through Employee Self Service in the AFAS Pocket app. Prepare tasks for when a new employee starts, such as “Introduce yourself on the intranet” or “Provide your clothing sizes for company workwear.”
The second C stands for culture. A good onboarding process reflects the culture of the organization. Of course, company culture is something employees mainly experience for themselves. Still, you can already share quite a bit of information beforehand. How do colleagues interact with each other? What does the lunch break look like? What happens during company outings? This type of information gives your new colleague a clear picture of your company culture
Compliance is also important during onboarding. Literally, this means “adherence.” With this C, we mean sharing the rules, standards, values, and principles that apply within the company with new employees. This way, they immediately know what to expect. You can document this information effectively in your digital onboarding program..
The fourth C is, of course, colleagues, because people make the company! Getting to know colleagues is an incredibly important part of onboarding. By meeting coworkers, a new employee immediately knows who they can turn to. And vice versa: everyone quickly understands what they can rely on the new colleague for.
By designing your onboarding process smartly, you give new employees a warm welcome. But besides creating a smooth landing, effective onboarding offers many more advantages. Here are a few:
There is a real “War for Talent” going on. Finding new employees is difficult. And once they join, companies do everything they can to retain them. That’s why it’s important to have your talent management in order. That is the focus of this article.
We’ll explore this through the three stages of talent management: onboarding, development, and offboarding.
By setting up your onboarding process in an automated HR system, you consistently deliver the same high quality. Every new employee receives the same onboarding experience. And because your onboarding is automated just like your other business processes, new employees immediately become familiar with the system.
With an automated system, you no longer have to rethink everything that needs to be arranged for each new employee. You’ll never forget to organize company clothing, a new laptop, or a phone for your colleague again. And the time you save? You can use it to improve the process even further, or for a personal introduction, of course.
As an organization, you want to attract and retain talent. Why? Because talented employees actively contribute to your goals. A well-designed onboarding process helps with this.
It’s equally important to retain the talent you attract. Good onboarding contributes to that as well. New employees stay longer when the onboarding experience feels welcoming and supportive. Did you know that around 50% of new employees consciously or unconsciously decide within six months whether they will leave a company if they are poorly onboarded?
Looking at the bigger picture, this process goes beyond simply attracting and retaining talent. It’s crucial to continue developing that talent afterward. That’s where talent management comes in.
Good onboarding turns employees into ambassadors. They feel at home within the organization. They know what to expect, understand the company culture, and build relationships with colleagues. A strong onboarding process makes this possible.
Especially during the first few months, everyone will ask your new colleague whether they’re enjoying their new role. If someone becomes a true ambassador for your company, they’ll gladly share their enthusiasm with others. The great thing is that this positive and enthusiastic attitude also attracts new employees. That’s how onboarding creates an upward spiral!
Good onboarding saves costs in two ways. On one hand, through automation of the process. Because automation = less overhead = lower costs.
On the other hand, a smart onboarding process reduces employee turnover and training costs.
Did you know that as many as 50% of new employees consciously or unconsciously decide within six months whether they will stay with a company or leave?
If you retain employees longer, you’ll need to go through the recruitment and selection process less often. Organizations with poor onboarding processes often experience high turnover, and that turnover costs a significant amount of money. Not to mention the valuable knowledge constantly leaving the building. A real waste!
Turn it around and provide a warm welcome, and people will feel at home more quickly and perform better.
One thing is clear: effective onboarding benefits both your new employees and the organization as a whole. And by automating the onboarding process, you maximize those benefits.
What can you automate? Think about
Setting up online handbooks and work instructions
Granting access to the necessary systems
Assigning tasks automatically
Updating HR data
Enabling employees to share knowledge with each other
Providing insight into the onboarding stage an employee is currently in
Managing the hiring process with applicant self-service
With an automated onboarding process, you ensure that every new employee follows the same journey. You set up the process correctly once, and then it’s ready to use. Of course, you’ll continue improving and updating the process whenever developments arise. Still, this approach saves far more time than determining everything again for each individual employee. In the long run, that time-saving also translates into significant cost savings, especially if you regularly hire new employees.
Good onboarding helps new colleagues in many ways. They better understand what is expected of them and where they are in the onboarding journey. They immediately gain a clear understanding of the organization, the department, their responsibilities, and their colleagues. Most importantly, a smart and automated onboarding process creates a strong first impression. A new employee welcomed with a well-designed automated onboarding experience immediately sees that their new employer has things well organized. That builds trust right away.
Of course, even with a well-structured onboarding program, the first working day can still feel exciting. But the connection with your organization develops much faster. And the happy employees this creates are more than willing to contribute to the success of your organization.
The Onboarding workflow provides one streamlined and transparent process for hiring and rehiring employees.
Requesting additional information is fully integrated into this new workflow. Requests can be initiated directly from the workflow, and the onboarding process automatically continues once the applicant has submitted the required information.
Next, generate the employment contract and have it digitally signed by both the employer and the employee.
Finally, the workflow also supports creating a follow-up employment contract, allowing an employee to leave and re-enter employment within a single process.
By digitally signing the employment contract, the entire process is completed fully online. You can read everything about it on our Onboarding theme page for AFAS customers.
Whether it’s onboarding, leave management, absence management, payroll processing, or recruitment & selection, AFAS HRM software provides one complete HR solution to minimize administration as much as possible.