How automation can improve the onboarding journey 

Did you know that businesses with a strong onboarding process improve retention of new hires by 82%?

Retention for businesses is so important; of course, once you've gone through the expensive and time-consuming hiring journey, you want to make sure employees stick with your business.

However, we recently surveyed businesses to understand how they facilitate their new starter process, uncovering that just under 40% of respondents still manage everything manually.

As you can imagine - or perhaps this is the reality you face on a day-to-day - manually managing such a lengthy, but crucial part of a new starter's journey is undoubtedly tough and non-optimal.

So, what can be done to improve onboarding and ensure employees have the best possible start? 

Examples of bad onboarding

Before getting started with ways to improve onboarding, we thought it would be useful to showcase examples of poor practice.

Perhaps you'll relate to some of these points, illustrating the need for a change, or at the very least, it will help the below advice make more sense when you have a wider context.

1. Time delays in making verbal offers to chosen candidates
2. Time delays in issuing contracts and offer letters to candidates
3. Offer/contract info sent sporadically via multiple emails, sometimes from different email addresses or as hard copies in the post
4. The process cannot be completed electronically and requires HR and/ or candidates to download, print or upload documents
5. Candidates are asked to complete information that has already been submitted previously at an earlier stage in the process
6. Lack of consistency in the offer and onboarding process
7. Lack of communication with the offered candidate throughout the notice period
8. Multiple systems are used to complete key tasks such as referencing
9. New starter information needs to be manually inputted into HR/payroll systems
10. The progress of all offers is managed manually via a spreadsheet, leading to an inability to report and track

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Mapping out a good onboarding process

Right, so you now have a clear understanding of what can hinder your onboarding process.

Now it is time to explore what a good onboarding process looks like.

We often advise customers to start with the basics and map out what the journey should look like.

Consider the following as a template: 

• Verbal offer to the candidate 
• Referencing 
• Qualification and license checks 
• Background checks
• Occupational health check 
• Offer authorisation 
• Generate contracts 
• Contracts signatures 
• Provide key information to new hire
• Start dates, corporate docs, training links, etc.  
• Request key information from new hires (new Starter forms, banking details, uniform size)
• Confirm candidate as hired and send details to HR/payroll System

Automating the onboarding process to help add the all-important human touch

Now this may sound counterintuitive, but the best way to improve your onboarding with a genuine human touch is to deploy good software.

I can hear you asking: how does software make something more human?

The aim is to free you up to focus on human elements by using software to automate repetitive tasks.

For example, with our IRIS Recruitment software, within the system, you can build out the onboarding map we highlighted above.

Doing so means the system will automatically handle a lot of these essential but repetitive tasks like generating contracts and sending documentation.

By automating these initial steps, you can focus on providing a warm welcome and personalised support to new starters.  

Having these mundane, but essential, tasks automated goes a long way in also tackling some of the pitfalls we mentioned earlier; a lack of communication or delays in the process are all eliminated as the software removes hold-ups that often occur from human involvement, meaning the candidate is always kept in the loop and is receiving the best/quickest experience possible.

This balanced approach means you can spend more time building relationships and less on paperwork, making the entire process more engaging and supportive for new staff members.

Recruitment masterclass: optimising the onboarding journey

Hopefully the above offers a good starting framework for improving your onboarding process.

Our experts, Richard Youngman, Head of Client Relations, and Hayley Robinson, Strategic Sales Development Executive, covered the above in even more detail during their recent masterclass webinar, discussing:

• Customising the offer process for different role levels
• Addressing key HR challenges, including early-stage attrition
• Tackling sector-specific onboarding issues
• Exploring practical tools like IRIS Recruitment to streamline onboarding activities
• Improving candidate experiences by reducing manual tasks and enhancing engagement

Watch the full webinar here and supercharge your onboarding!