First impressions matter and set the expectations employees have for their company. Conducting a smooth onboarding process helps retain the talent your company needs to thrive. Your onboarding process quickly gets new employees up to speed, making them productive quickly and encouraging them to stay longer at your company.
Adopting HR tech is a simple way to improve the onboarding process, as it provides desktop and mobile apps that improve access to onboarding materials for candidates, creating a smoother employee experience. These apps also streamline your HR personnel's experience and save time within the company.
So, how does HR tech help with the smooth onboarding process you need?
Improves Information Accuracy
HR tech automates data entry, so data only has to be entered once and automatically fills in other forms, reducing the risk of error from retyping sensitive information. Furthermore, candidates can input their data themselves, which further reduces risk because they are less likely to input wrong information. Typos can still happen, but the risk is significantly reduced.
That allows you to set employees up easily with payroll, benefits, and other employment systems with less back and forth. It also reduces payroll errors, which can cause morale to drop and even lead to legal consequences. HR tech can integrate with payroll software to automatically transfer the information.
Better Candidate Experiences Make Better Impressions
Candidate experience starts as soon as a candidate learns about your company, but the hiring and onboarding process can make a huge impression in how they feel your company runs. Making the entire experience positive sets the tone for the employee's journey, demonstrating that you are stable and trusted. That means that the people you don't hire will still remember you favorably (for example, using HR tech lets you send quick automated thank-you notes to rejected candidates will help them feel acknowledged even if the news is unfavorable). Whereas the positive impression on hired candidates encourages them to stay longer at your company, lowering costs by reducing turnover.
HR technology streamlines the process, making it seamless and intuitive for new hires, with fewer headaches and less time wasted. Candidates will feel you value their time more and will do so moving forward.
Efficiency in Administrative Tasks
HR tech does not replace people. What it does do is automate repetitive tasks, freeing HR professionals to focus on higher-value activities. It reduces their workload and stress. On top of the onboarding process being more efficient, your HR team will get more time to work with the candidate. They have more time to answer questions, help with issues, and welcome the candidate to your company. That way, candidates will feel more supported as they start in their roles, and your HR team will be happier by feeling less overwhelmed.
Consistency in the Onboarding Process
HR technology standardizes your onboarding process, which makes it more efficient and easily scaled. It makes sure that everyone gets the same information at the same time and reduces different experiences. While the human factor will always affect things, HR tech makes the onboarding process more efficient. Your company will have fewer hoops to go through because it offsets the necessity of your HR staff to create new materials from scratch. You can feel more confident that every candidate will have a similarly positive experience.
On-Demand Access to Onboarding Materials
During traditional onboarding, new hires were shown their office and handed a thick paper employee handbook to read. Typically, they would spend at least the first day, if not more, just getting settled in.
With HR technology, you can open access to digital onboarding materials the second the candidate accepts the offer. They will have immediate access to employment documents, policies, and benefits information. They will also be able to fill out the information in advance, helping them get set up with IT, and get the process moving on benefits. A digital employee handbook is also searchable, letting employees quickly find relevant information or refer back to things as they learn their roles.
Enhances Communication Between All Parties
Finally, HR tech facilitates communication between HR, new hires, and managers, which keeps everyone informed and engaged throughout the process. For example, the software can be programmed to send certain things to HR and the employee's supervisor. It can automatically prompt supervisors or assigned mentors to engage with new hires and get to know them.
By providing secure communication, HR tech promotes engagement at all levels and helps the new hire rapidly learn who everyone is and who they should go to with questions or problems. Employees will feel better supported through onboarding and in their roles, helping them settle more effectively within your company.
Improve Onboarding with a PEO
Accessing good HR tech is often a challenge for small businesses to do on their own. Fortunately, they don't need to be on their own when partnering with a PEO. PEOs already have high-quality enterprise-level HR technology that they use on behalf of their clients. When partnering with one, your company gains access to their technology, providing better experiences to your staff and employees.
Working with a PEO will also outsource all routine administrative HR tasks away from your team, freeing them to focus on high-level, strategic tasks, such as designing the perfect onboarding process for your company. They can handle your payroll processing and benefits administration while giving you access to quality benefits at a more affordable rate.
