Optimise processes with digital onboarding

Digitization has found its way into almost every area of the company. The organization of HR processes is also impossible without digital solutions today. This applies in particular to the onboarding of new employees. Here, digital solutions can help to better organize the often detailed tasks and necessary arrangements, thereby saving time and costs.

What does "digital onboarding" mean?

There is no binding definition of the term "Digital Onboarding." Basically, digital onboarding, sometimes also referred to as e-onboarding, is understood to mean the dispensing with offline components such as folders, brochures, and handouts. Instead, software and app solutions are used to organize and carry out the individual tasks.

Digital onboarding gained particular importance due to the Corona crisis in 2020, when many companies were forced to train new employees in home offices instead of on-site in the office and had to find suitable solutions for this. Based on an increasingly hybrid working environment, such remote onboarding in which employees are largely trained online, will become increasingly important in the future.

In which areas of onboarding can digital solutions provide support?

Onboarding new employees is a complex process. In the shortest possible time, the new colleagues should not only be trained professionally but also be socially integrated into a new organization. Accordingly, the areas of application in which digital solutions can be used are diverse. In the following, we will introduce you to various possible applications that you should consider in your onboarding concept in the future.

General organization of onboarding

Especially in the first few days, a lot of information is needed, including passwords, contract and salary documents and much more. Instead of a large amount of paper, digital solutions help to make everything important available at a central location.

Make the onboarding process transparent and automate it

Onboarding consists of a large number of sometimes small tasks, both for the new employees and those responsible. In addition, a large number of different people are involved in the individual onboarding phases. Which tasks have already been completed, which are still open? Who is currently responsible? Onboarding software and apps are helpful in keeping track of the current status of onboarding.

Make important information available at all times

How is the company structured? What departments are there and who works there? What should be done in the event of illness? Who are the contact persons in emergency situations? The amount of important general information on organization, processes and contacts quickly becomes large. A company wiki or a dedicated intranet are a helpful way to provide answers to the most common and important questions.

Imparting knowledge with e-learning

Knowledge transfer is an essential part of onboarding. Providing new employees with the necessary knowledge for their daily work early and sufficiently creates the basis for efficient work.

E-learning, i.e. training with the help of digital tools, can supplement and simplify this process in many areas, which greatly reduces the workload.

The areas in which e-learning can be used include, for example:

• Introduction of the company and colleagues
• Information on general procedures and processes
• Information on applicable compliance guidelines
• Information on personal issues, such as time recording, vacation planning or access to salary documents
• Information on occupational safety or hygiene regulations
• Presentation of the products, brands or services offered by the company
• Introductions to company-wide software programs

Many e-learning platforms offer the option of combining individual modules into training units on individual topics. In turn, individual training units can be used to create complete training plans for the onboarding period that new employees must complete.

Important here is

• to ensure that the training units are not organized in any order, but build on each other.
• that the training plans are so delineated that they only contain information that is relevant to the respective onboardee.

Promoting communication and interaction

Communication is key during the onboarding process. This is all the more true when onboarding takes place remotely. It's not just about answering questions. Close communication is particularly important at the beginning in order to create a positive feeling and trust among the new colleagues.

In addition to direct exchange, digital communication solutions such as Slack, Zoom or MS Teams with numerous features for audio and video chat provide a good opportunity to stay in personal contact with each other even when there is physical distance.

In addition, there are various other ways in which digital solutions can promote exchange between employees. Employees can introduce themselves via their own profiles, for example in the company's own wiki, and take the opportunity to find out more about their colleagues. The Slack integration "donut" selects random pairs for a virtual coffee break every week. This allows new employees to get to know the other employees in the company in a relaxed way.

Providing employees with the best possible equipment in an uncomplicated way

Laptops, monitors, desks, office chairs, and other work equipment—to ensure that new colleagues can work productively from day one, a lot of equipment needs to be organized in time for the start of work. Making the necessary arrangements with all parties involved, finding and contacting suitable suppliers, and finally organizing delivery can quickly become complex and time-consuming when there are a large number of new starters. If colleagues also need to be equipped for remote work, this task is usually too much for one person to handle. Digital solutions can also help with this task by standardizing and automating processes.

Want to save time & costs during onboarding?

With LendisOS, you can conveniently equip hundreds of employees with technology and office furniture with just a few clicks. This saves you time that you can use for the things that really matter—your colleagues.

Automate onboarding with LendisOS