I hate chores. They’re tedious, annoying and something I do not want to be doing when I get home from work.
I have worked at many jobs in my life from being a social media coordinator to being in a red and white candy dress, serving popcorn at Event Cinemas. Ultimately, this means I have suffered through countless onboarding processes and far out they feel like a chore. It’s such a strange feeling because you’re on such a high from getting a new job but then all the paperwork comes through and it seems so stressful. In past jobs, I’ve had to print what feels to be hundreds of pieces of paper, sign every single one of them, scan the paper with my signatures back into my computer and then send it off back to my new manager. A long, frustrating process that I never want to do again.
The Risks of Having an Unorganised Onboarding Process:
It’s a massive decision when a person quits their existing job and signs a new employment contract to permanently join a company. Therefore, the company does not want to leave a bad first impression. The onboarding process is one of the first few insights a new employee has into the new company they’re about to start with. If it’s disorganized, not modern, and time-consuming, then like I said before… it comes across as a chore.
1. It Gives the Impression that the Company Doesn’t Care
If a company doesn’t care about its onboarding process then why should the new employee? If there’s no attention to detail, there’s no personalization and the process is long and overdrawn, it can suggest the company doesn’t care about you and your time. This can indicate to the new employee that they are just another number within an organization and that they aren’t special.
2. The Company Fails to Create Enthusiasm
Imagine this, it’s late Sunday night, and tomorrow you have to get up super early to get ready for your first day of work. Your printer is about to explode from all the paper it’s printing, just for you to complete the onboarding process. It’s taking hours and by the time everything is done it’s late and you are exhausted.
Consequently, this can lead you now to NOT hit the ground running the next morning on your first day of work. What I mean by this is that the new employee will not start work the next day and proceed at a fast pace with great enthusiasm. Negative onboarding experiences can impact new job excitement and motivation.
3. New Employee’s Won’t Know What Exactly is Expected of Them
If the onboarding process is not organized and is just words upon words, who ideally is going to read all that information. If you have pages and pages of terms and conditions, ideally people will click accept without even giving it a scan, and yes I’m guilty of this too!
However, if the onboarding process has clear sections of different topics and is easily navigatable and concise, the new employee can easily find out what is exactly expected of them. Therefore, this allows them to go into work feeling confident knowing what all the terms and conditions are. Consequentially, they won’t have to bug their manager asking about what their leave entitlements are, what are their working hours are, etc… as it was all easily identifiable in the onboarding process.
Check out how My Recruitment+ achieves this:
How an Organised Onboarding Process Leaves a Positive First Impression:
1. Beautiful Candidate Experience
Take my word of advice, never in a job again do I want to have to print, sign, scan, and send back any onboarding documents! It’s 2021 people, let’s get with the times… we are living in a digital world. Digital onboarding is mobile-enabled, therefore your new hires can fill in and sign their documents on any device, at any time! This allows your company to be therefore presented as progressive and modern and showcases that you value the time of your new employees. Resulting in a beautiful candidate experience.
2. Videos for Welcoming, Induction and Training
Industry data shows that the use of video learning is the highest it’s ever been. Therefore, it’s no surprise that induction and training videos are growing in popularity! Use videos to personalize the new hire’s onboarding, and provide them with a glimpse of the culture they’ll be joining! Hearing and watching fellow colleagues welcome them onboarding creates excitement as they perceive the company to consider them a valuable new recruit. Again, creating a beautiful candidate experience and positive first impression of the company.
Users can also use video content to educate your new employee on appropriate methods and procedures prior to their start date, as well as set clear expectations. This helps ensure your new hire knows exactly how to begin adding value on their first day and hit the ground running.
3. Personalisation is Key
Personalized onboarding packs are becoming an increasingly prevalent method in allowing new employees to keep up to speed with your company’s work culture. A positive first impression on new employees can be made with the use of aesthetic branding as well as personalized videos. New employees can arm themselves with information that is necessary to become successful in their new position and hit the ground running.
The importance of workplace cultural assimilation is also on the rise. Research shows that when new employees experience strong initiation rituals, they gain a stronger sense of belonging to the team. Storytelling can be a particularly powerful tool for this, which can be done through videos and scenario-based learning (Learning Management System) which effectively enhances the productivity of a new employee. These methods are accessible and optimally effective through digital onboarding.
4. Paperless
Paperless onboarding has been a godsend. Gone are the days of sitting at the printer and catching all the papers as they fly out at you. Now you can fill out onboarding packs on the go (another factor in the beautiful candidate experience). What do I mean by this? Well, say you’re catching a train from Hornsby to Central, you’ve got nothing better to do, so why not whip out your mobile phone and complete the WHOLE onboarding pack in that trip. It’s so easily accessible and no paper is required… saving trees!
But don’t I need a pen to sign the documents to state I’ve read and understood the agreements? That’s a thing of the past! Either draw your signature using your finger on a smart device or pick one of many fonts, as pictured below.
Organizations have begun to realize paper-based processes are incredibly timely and costly, not to mention completely archaic. Furthermore, in 2020, companies globally quickly updated their operations to incorporate more modern-day technology. Because of this, in 2021, organizations have acknowledged that paper-based processes leave a poor impression of the brand, and ultimately leads to candidate-drop off.
Summary:
I still hate chores, but at least my chores don’t have to revolve around the onboarding processes anymore. Many organizations are beginning to acknowledge the importance of digital onboarding as a critical tool to increase efficiencies, custom-build their compliance process, and create beautiful candidate experiences. Ultimately, having an organized onboarding process leaves a positive first impression on the new employees.
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