Good employees are the backbone of any business – keep them as you grow

How can you get the right people onboard quickly as your business scales up?
With staff onboarding traditionally a manual process, with documents going back and forth for signatures between company and candidate. This can be a large drain on your time and resources, as well as being open to errors and mistakes.

Good employees are the backbone of your business. Having the right mix of people, with exceptional skills and a great attitude is vital to your success. This is particularly relevant as your business grows and you take on new employees.
So how do you make sure that the bright, motivated candidate who you’ve just offered a job becomes a fully integrated and valuable member of your workforce?
Turning a successful candidate into an effective employee is a process called onboarding. It should start from the moment a job offer is made and can continue through to their start date and induction. Managed well, this process encourages onboardees to become loyal and effective employees.
Manage the information exchange
No one likes completing paperwork, but in making a job offer, there’s important information that needs to be exchanged between your company and your new employees.

Traditionally, onboarding is a manual process, with documents going back and forth for signatures between company and candidate. This can be a large drain on your time and resources, as well as being open to errors and mistakes.
According to research, 69 per cent of HR professionals say that issuing contracts in a timely and accurate way has caused them problems. That can mean anything from losing a candidate to another offer, to having to spend time and money negotiating contract details later down the line.
Almost half of the HR decision makers (47 per cent) said that they had lost a recruit because of delays in making offers.

Get The Details Right

Dealing with pay, working hours, conditions of employment, notice periods and holiday entitlement needs real attention to detail. When asked, 45 per cent of HR decision makers said that inaccuracies in contract clauses or offer details created future issues for their organisations.
Get things right before your employee starts work and avoid additional, unexpected costs and disputes.

Create a Great First Impression

It’s important to get off to a good start, as new employees will quickly form an impression of your company and decide if they want to stay.
Lack of communication between a business and new starters, coupled with a poor induction process contributes to 27 per cent of people who leave a new job in the first year doing so within their induction period.
Onboarding is a two-way process. Your new employee will want to know just as much about the company they are joining as you do about them. It’s an opportunity to drip feed information about your business and to address any fears or concerns they may have about working with you.
By completing many of the necessary administrative tasks before your new employee arrives on day one, you have a better chance of creating a good impression. Rather than spending a dull day filling in forms, your new employee can get off to a flying start, meeting their colleagues and getting familiar with their new role.

Stay On Track with Clear Communication

Getting new people onboard can add pressure across a growing business. It’s easy to lose track of what’s happening when communicating by email, telephone and other systems across your business. Having a clear and structured onboarding plan can help ensure nothing gets missed.
It’s also important that people in management, IT, security and financial roles understand their part in helping a new employee get up to speed. If you’re ramping up your recruitment, it’s worth looking at your onboarding process and making sure that everyone involved understands what’s needed.
And although you may be thinking of training as something that you offer new employees to help them succeed in their role, it’s a good idea to make sure existing staff are trained to help them too.

How webonboarding can help

Designed and developed as part of the webexpenses suite, webonboarding can help you manage the process of taking the best candidates from job offer to effective employee by automating the manual processes involved in onboarding.
Download a visual infographic for more information about onboarding here>>

Article Written by: Adam Reynolds