During the outbreak, remote employment grew significantly more frequent. Many businesses are now onboarding current hires without these employees ever visiting their offices. But this procedure requires the use of appropriate technology to ensure that these recruits feel connected to the organization, and also have access to all necessary information.
A learning and training management system and company intranet are examples of technologies that have been around for a while, but they are now much more useful as the new employees are located elsewhere. Other technologies, like video conferencing software, may not have been essential in the past during the onboarding process, but it is now critical for onboarding remote staff and on the employee’s first day of work.
Additionally, certain technological elements and features that are useful for onboarding may overlap across other technological solutions.
Employee onboarding software can be a standalone application or can be a solution, part of a larger software suite like HRMS, HRIS, or other employee or workforce management software. Often, the integrations work with payroll management system, performance management tools, or other modules for seamless operation.
To make sure the onboarding proceeds as smoothly as possible and delivers a positive employee experience, human resource professionals are employing different kinds of technologies that can enhance the employee onboarding process.
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Video conferencing applications
Using video conferencing software can make distant workers feel more connected to their co-workers because it is likely the only way these remote employees will be able to see their colleagues. Furthermore, the screen-sharing capabilities of video conferencing software enable supervisors, or IT personnel to guide a new hire through any procedure efficiently.
Many businesses have a license that enables any employee to host a meeting through a video conferencing platform. However, some video conferencing solutions might allow employees to utilize a generic license to hold these meetings. There are also custom video conferencing software or in-built integrations with employee onboarding software or human resource management solutions.
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Software for onboarding
HR personnel can use onboarding software to manage their onboarding responsibilities and also can share them with others engaged in the onboarding process, such as IT and Finance teams. For instance, a new employee probably has to provide their banking information and finish tax paperwork. These actions can be completed in the onboarding application, and these inputs will be updated in the payroll management system automatically by transferring the data.
A new hire can also utilize onboarding software to learn more about the organization by viewing company videos or other materials in the knowledge base. Many HR software packages have an onboarding module available for managing employee onboarding, and it enables HR or onboarding professionals to perform all the onboarding functionalities through a single software suite. However, if the organization’s existing HR system does not support onboarding, HR leaders can use the applicant tracking system, recruitment management software, or current LMS to offer onboarding facilities, or perhaps they may think of purchasing employee onboarding software.
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Intranet portal
The intranet of a corporation typically contains helpful information for new hires, including corporate regulations, frequently used employee forms, company background information, and departmental statistics. Employee profiles may also be available on the intranet, which might aid new hires in getting to know their co-workers closely. These profiles are even more valuable for remote employees because these new employees are not meeting their co-workers casually in a cafeteria or other common area instead, they are getting to know their colleagues through these software and platforms.
Additionally, HRs can add brief videos to the intranet for new hires to pick up a new skill that is important to resume their role or introduce tools that are essential for their work. Intranet can store a knowledge base with useful learning materials for employees. Remote workers can use it for learning essential details for performing their duties in the initial days. These can heavily benefit remote onboarding as it is hard to share all the necessary information with new employees by conducting one-to-one sessions through video conferencing.
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Learning Management System
A Learning Management System or training module stores online courses and are crucial for remote onboarding, as supervisors or trainers cannot train remotely located new hires in person. For resuming roles and efficiently carrying out their duties new employees must learn essential skills, the process, tools and rules and regulations, and many more elements that are crucial for them to function well. For new recruits, many organizations have learning courses or training sessions depending on the role and experience of the user. These can be securely stored in the LMS, Training Management solutions, or Level up. Also, these tools help to conduct classes, register attendance, assess employees, and execute more learning activities online. Moreover, repositories and knowledgebases are added as a part of these software solutions. Onboarding does not end on the first day and effective onboarding practices last even a year in some companies.
So, a new hire can watch a video about the organization’s history, products, and services on their first day as a part of the onboarding process or training solution, and later gradually develop new skills and improve areas that are important for their organizational role through an LMS.
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Human Resource Management Solution
Employee data is usually stored in HR systems or employee management solutions. Necessary documents are uploaded to the employee profile. It also generally has self-service capabilities that let users update their personal data through this software. There are automatic updates in the system, which includes salary and payroll applications, LMS, attendance and scheduling tools, performance management system, etc. Users can access them to complete multiple functions. While onboarding a newly hired employee, a major task is to correctly add and update all the necessary information about that employee in the system and complete all the documentation to fulfill legal compliance. It is typically done by a human resource management solution.
New recruits can add interesting details about themselves. Organizations can add an organizational chart to let remote hires know about departments, contact persons, helpdesk, etc.
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Tools for communication
Employee communication becomes much more crucial when one or more employees are located remotely, and geographically dispersed teams need to coordinate and collaborate on different projects. Many team collaboration applications offer a real-time exchange of information, and communication through instant messaging, sharing files and folders, and video conferencing.
These technologies allow a new hire to get in touch with colleagues immediately and let them ask a quick query or share fun and off-topic ideas through these tools. To learn about prevalent issues or recent accomplishments, a new employee can also review the latest chat history for their department.
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Performance monitoring tools
A performance management tool can assist supervisors with managing their newly remote subordinate hires. The software may reveal a lot to the supervisor about the employee’s strengths and limitations. Also, it may highlight their career goals, training needs, and opportunities for further growth.
A new hire can also benefit from using performance management software as it enables them to better understand the goal of the department and the company. The new employee may learn through it how their role fits into the organization and what they can do to assist the organization to accomplish its goals.
