Online onboarding builds rapport quicker
17 November 2015
Online onboarding builds rapport quicker. Forging relationships with new recruits sends positive signals
Thu, 19 Nov 2015 | By Sue Weekes
Recruiters regularly tout the virtues of onboarding for ensuring new employees ‘hit the ground running’. However, many still don’t realise the online environment’s potential to help out.
As Catherine Jack, principal consultant at Hudson HR, points out, having an online hub is particularly useful for those working out a lengthy notice period. “The employee and line manager can begin forging relationships and building a rapport long before their first day,” she says. Clearly, an efficient onboarding process sends a positive message about you as a progressive and caring employer to the recruit.
(1) Stand-alone or integrated?
A range of software specifically designed for onboarding is available and can be bought as a stand-alone module or integrated with existing talent management software.
Typically this will help automate some routine tasks associated with onboarding and can improve the candidate journey if the entry point to onboarding is consistent with your recruitment platform, says Darren Nuttall, director of networx, which offers
onboarding as part of its end-to-end recruitment software.
“Stand-alone onboarding systems, regardless of how well they are tailored, create inconsistency and potentially a new platform for candidates to negotiate,” he says.
“Ideally companies need to create a continuous flow throughout the candidate’s entire journey from applying all the way through to their first day without the need for new systems with new log-in credentials.”
(2) What are your aims?
Consider carefully what you want to achieve during onboarding. Instead of seeing it only from a form-filling, rather administrative-only standpoint, take advantage of online tools such as company Facebook pages and web portals featuring video content, as well as the mobile environment to make the person feel part of the team and its mission before they join.
Communicate key objectives and overall organisational culture in these spaces to boost engagement and reduce any feelings of isolation. Providing links to learning and development opportunities will also create an interesting experience.
(3) Match tools to company
Ensure onboarding activities “match company culture, marketplace, sector and be accessible”, says Katie Bancroft, managing director of recruitment and HR specialist Exceptional Solutions. “For example, a manufacturing site will use differing online tools to an office-based business.”
Remember also that a complex blend of social media could alienate recruits who aren’t tech-savvy. “Delivering the right candidate experience is never achieved by adopting a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach, and onboarding is no exception,” says Nuttall. Be sure to personalise information to candidates when possible.
(4) Reduce compliance admin
Maximise the online environment for achieving consistency in your onboarding practices but also traceability when it comes to compliance requirements for new employees. This is particularly useful for organisations operating across multiple sites or countries.
“With human error, aspects may be missed or not comprehensively managed with each and every new employee,” says Bancroft, adding: “Health & safety training will be in the main similar for all employees (environment depending) and therefore is a simple activity that can be assured complete and compliant if delivered online.
“Recording completion of activities and gaining feedback can be automated online and therefore removes the tick-sheet exercise that is both costly in time and not 100% accurate or flaw-free.”
(5) Human touchpoints
Technology can never replace human contact. Directly engage with the new hire at “all possible touch points” in the period before they start, says Jack. If executed properly, online onboarding can free up time that will make face-to-face meetings with the individual richer and more meaningful.
“An online platform cannot assess behavioural aspects easily, nor take a new employee for that first day lunch,” says Bancroft. “But a mix of online and offline can help to generate that great welcome feeling needed for a new employee to know that they have made the right move.”
FROM DECEMBER 2015'S RECRUITER MAGAZINE
DEFINED: The online environment helps employers to start onboarding far earlier and provides greater scope for preparing individuals for their first day at work. A mix of technologies and tools can be used, including dedicated stand-alone software, specific modules that can be integrated with an existing recruitment/talent management systems, web portals, social media and mobile apps. However, online onboarding alone can’t prepare employees for their new roles, and must be accompanied by direct contact with recruiters or managers.Recruiters regularly tout the virtues of onboarding for ensuring new employees ‘hit the ground running’. However, many still don’t realise the online environment’s potential to help out.
As Catherine Jack, principal consultant at Hudson HR, points out, having an online hub is particularly useful for those working out a lengthy notice period. “The employee and line manager can begin forging relationships and building a rapport long before their first day,” she says. Clearly, an efficient onboarding process sends a positive message about you as a progressive and caring employer to the recruit.
(1) Stand-alone or integrated?
A range of software specifically designed for onboarding is available and can be bought as a stand-alone module or integrated with existing talent management software.
Typically this will help automate some routine tasks associated with onboarding and can improve the candidate journey if the entry point to onboarding is consistent with your recruitment platform, says Darren Nuttall, director of networx, which offers
onboarding as part of its end-to-end recruitment software.
“Stand-alone onboarding systems, regardless of how well they are tailored, create inconsistency and potentially a new platform for candidates to negotiate,” he says.
“Ideally companies need to create a continuous flow throughout the candidate’s entire journey from applying all the way through to their first day without the need for new systems with new log-in credentials.”
(2) What are your aims?
Consider carefully what you want to achieve during onboarding. Instead of seeing it only from a form-filling, rather administrative-only standpoint, take advantage of online tools such as company Facebook pages and web portals featuring video content, as well as the mobile environment to make the person feel part of the team and its mission before they join.
Communicate key objectives and overall organisational culture in these spaces to boost engagement and reduce any feelings of isolation. Providing links to learning and development opportunities will also create an interesting experience.
(3) Match tools to company
Ensure onboarding activities “match company culture, marketplace, sector and be accessible”, says Katie Bancroft, managing director of recruitment and HR specialist Exceptional Solutions. “For example, a manufacturing site will use differing online tools to an office-based business.”
Remember also that a complex blend of social media could alienate recruits who aren’t tech-savvy. “Delivering the right candidate experience is never achieved by adopting a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach, and onboarding is no exception,” says Nuttall. Be sure to personalise information to candidates when possible.
(4) Reduce compliance admin
Maximise the online environment for achieving consistency in your onboarding practices but also traceability when it comes to compliance requirements for new employees. This is particularly useful for organisations operating across multiple sites or countries.
“With human error, aspects may be missed or not comprehensively managed with each and every new employee,” says Bancroft, adding: “Health & safety training will be in the main similar for all employees (environment depending) and therefore is a simple activity that can be assured complete and compliant if delivered online.
“Recording completion of activities and gaining feedback can be automated online and therefore removes the tick-sheet exercise that is both costly in time and not 100% accurate or flaw-free.”
(5) Human touchpoints
Technology can never replace human contact. Directly engage with the new hire at “all possible touch points” in the period before they start, says Jack. If executed properly, online onboarding can free up time that will make face-to-face meetings with the individual richer and more meaningful.
“An online platform cannot assess behavioural aspects easily, nor take a new employee for that first day lunch,” says Bancroft. “But a mix of online and offline can help to generate that great welcome feeling needed for a new employee to know that they have made the right move.”
