10 Automation Steps for Smooth Onboarding

Onboarding new employees is an integral part of business processes for many companies and therefore deserves top priority. Proper integration and training of new employees is crucial so that they can get to know the company and their colleagues –overall, this ensures a smooth start.

However, this onboarding process can also be time-consuming for HR teams – from paperwork and compliance to training and other onboarding activities. By using automated onboarding procedures and HR tools, it is possible to make the process more efficient. We'll show you how to set up an automated onboarding process in 10 steps that will save your HR team time and improve the onboarding experience for your new employees.

Step 1: Develop an Onboarding Strategy

Before you start automating your onboarding process, you should first define your goals and objectives and use them to develop a well-rounded onboarding strategy. This means that you should first clearly define what you want to achieve with your onboarding program and where you want to focus your efforts. This could be faster integration of new employees, higher employee satisfaction or a reduction in staff turnover.

Step 2: Identify Key Onboarding Processes

Once you've set your goals, it's important to determine the processes that need to be automated or that can be left as manual tasks. For example, you could leave processes where human interaction is essential, such as introducing the company culture or feedback sessions, as manual processes, but automate tasks related to collecting and managing employee data. This can also include sending welcome emails or organizing orientation events.

Step 3: Choose the Right HR Tools

There are a variety of HR tools and software on the market that can help you automate your onboarding process. Some of the most popular options include HR management software such as Personio, Pipedrive or HubSpot, contract management tools such as Contractbook or PandaDoc, and time tracking tools such as HR Works or Crewmeister. These tools can help you automate paperwork and manage training or tasks for your employees. Remember to also train your HR team on how to use these HR tools and automated processes effectively.  

You can also find blog posts with the top 5 HR automation tools and the top 5 contract management tools here.

Step 4: Implement Preboarding Automation

Preboarding refers to the phase between signing the contract and a new employee's first day at work. Here you can identify tasks that occur before new employees join that can be automated. Typical tasks include sending welcome emails and information about the first day of work, providing forms for signing, or setting up IT access.

Step 5: Automate Administrative Tasks

The automation of repetitive administrative tasks can also make a company's operations considerably more efficient and reduce the workload of employees. Processes such as data entry and maintenance, invoicing, scheduling of appointments and document management benefit the most from automation. Consider how frequently certain tasks are performed, how complex they are, how much time they take, and also how error-prone the manual execution of these tasks can be.

Step 6: Create Personalized Experiences

Personalized onboarding is not only important for a tailored onboarding experience, it can also have a significant impact on new employee engagement and loyalty. At this stage, you can send personalized welcome messages, schedule role-specific training, organize introductory meetings or set up automated, personalized reminders.

Step 7: Integrate Training Modules

Integrating automated training modules into the onboarding process can ensure that new employees receive consistent and role-relevant training and development opportunities. Once you have identified the training needs of new employees, you can use learning management systems that support automated training modules, such as Moodle. This allows you to easily create automated assignments and personalized learning paths.

Step 8: Monitor Your Automated Onboarding Process

Following this, it is also important to monitor and evaluate the performance of the automated onboarding process after its introduction to ensure that it is working optimally. This will allow you to make any necessary adjustments afterwards and make the process even more efficient and effective. Use feedback surveys and set KPIs, such as onboarding time or turnover rate, to measure the success of your onboarding process.

Step 9: Modify Processes if Necessary

If you then realize that your automated onboarding process is not working the way you wanted it to, you need to make adjustments. It helps to look back at your initial objectives and onboarding strategy. Changing the automated processes or switching HR tools, for example, could lead to success.

Step 10: Continuously Optimize Your Onboarding Process

Finally, don't forget that your automated onboarding process is not a one-off implementation, but an ongoing process. For example, as laws and regulations change, you should ensure that your onboarding process remains compliant. By constantly improving and updating your automated onboarding process, you can ensure that your new employees have a seamless onboarding experience.

Automate Your Employee Onboarding Today

Automating your onboarding process benefits both your new employees and your own HR team. By using automated processes and HR tools, paperwork and repetitive tasks can be completed faster and more efficiently, allowing your HR team to focus on more important tasks. At the same time, new employees will experience a positive and seamless onboarding experience, allowing them to contribute to the company's success faster and more effectively. Hopefully, by following the 10 steps above, you will find it easier to organize and automate your onboarding process and make it more efficient overall.

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