Our Latest Ideas & Updates

While the term “onboarding” isn’t new, the significance of this critical period in the employee lifecycle is more important than ever as organizations continue to focus heavily on the retention and development of their workforces. Below I describe three ways onboarding technology can help increase employee engagement. 

1. Increasing employee readiness and productivity on day one

An online onboarding process is the single most important thing a company can do to increase an employee’s readiness and productivity on day one. When the process of joining the organization is simple, fun, and informative, it has a significantly greater effect on employee engagement and retention. In fact, the Human Resources Corporate Leadership Council found that increasing an employee’s level of engagement could potentially improve performance by 20 percent and reduce the employee’s probability of departure by a whopping 87 percent.

2. Making the onboarding process easier to manage, saving time and money

In our ever-changing world, technology is at the forefront of our way of life. Onboarding employees online is just one more example. More organizations are moving to an online onboarding process to integrate new employees into their company’s culture quickly and efficiently.

Online onboarding makes it easier for employers to manage the new-hire process. At its most basic level, the use of technology can simply help employers distribute and manage new-hire forms. By completing new-hire paperwork online, client companies can decrease overall production costs as well as increase efficiency and accuracy. For example, online forms eliminate the process of deciphering an employee’s handwriting and interpreting information that has been manually entered into the system incorrectly. In addition, technology provides data validation capabilities within online forms. For instance, when an employee completes one part of a form, the form can identify other fields that should or should not be completed. This helps to “guide” employees with form completion, minimizes the need for assistance in completing the forms, and reduces the chance for errors.

However, the employer is not the only one who benefits from using this technology. It makes the process easier on the employees, too. With electronic onboarding, data automatically flows throughout the forms. For example, a new hire only enters her name and address once, and it automatically appears on the remaining forms. As a result, the time involved in completing new-hire paperwork electronically is significantly reduced because employees no longer need to enter the same information over and over. Technology allows employees to complete their new-hire paperwork and new employee orientation whenever and wherever they want. This is a huge benefit to employees who are going directly from one position to the next.

3. Integrating information about benefits into the onboarding process

Finally, we have seen our client companies and employees take advantage of our use of technology in the new-hire process through the integration of benefits information. By automating onboarding tasks based on benefit eligibility dates, we have greatly improved our team’s efficiency in bringing new employees onto our benefits programs.

When we can present a consistent and comprehensive picture of all the benefits available, we have found that employees are more committed to the company. There may be a cost of time and resources on the front end in purchasing and implementing the technology, but it is well worth the investment. This technology will enable your organization to convert new-hire data quickly, and then import it efficiently into whatever payroll system you may have. Depending on your process, this could even be automated, eliminating the need for manual data entry and leaving simply the validation of the data. This makes the process more consistent, efficient, and seamless. 

We have a unique opportunity to serve client companies as well as attract new clients by providing access to this type of technology. Small businesses generally may not be able to afford, implement, and maintain this kind of technology on their own. Yet by using onboarding technology, companies small and large can take advantage of all the benefits that online onboarding technology provides.

Have you looked at your onboarding process lately? 

About the Author:

Brent King, Director of Business Development Brent has two decades of experience helping companies take care of their people. He brings extensive knowledge of HR and technology solutions to IntegreatHR.