No company is fully functional without consistency, and you don’t want to build a business with constantly changing faces. Your employees are an essential part of your company’s image in the public eye.
There are stages in the life cycle of an employee. While each phase plays its role in an employee’s experience at a company, the onboarding stage can influence the overall journey of an employee within your company.
Many potential employees might be eager to work for your company, but their first few months determine how well and long they will work with you.
The onboarding process is instrumental in this phase, but what is onboarding? Is it different from orientation? And are there benefits to using Onboarding software?
We will look into all these in this article!
What Is Onboarding?
Human resources professionals use the term “onboarding” to describe the steps to integrate a new employee into the company. Onboarding is the process of familiarizing a new employee with their workplace and role within it. Thanks to this procedure, they can fit in with the rest of the firm more efficiently.
Effective onboarding often takes several months but can persist for as long as a year. Upon completing the onboarding process, employees should feel prepared to contribute effectively.
In the first six months of employment, over one-third of all recruits hunt for another position, and this number becomes even higher for millennials. Employees treated well during the onboarding process are more likely to remain with the company. However, 69% of employees are likelier to stay with the company for three years after an excellent onboarding experience.
With onboarding properly defined and its importance highlighted, it bears some close similarities with the term orientation in the professional world, or does it?
Is Orientation Different From Onboarding?
In truth, orientation and onboarding might appear similar at first glance, but this is not the case. So then, what is orientation?
Orientation refers primarily to the initial welcome sequences that bring a new employee into a company. It might often involve introducing the new employee to their workspace, the team they will be working with, their initial roles, organizational structures, and the like. The idea, in this case, is to help the new guy hit the ground running before he begins to adapt to a more longstanding company culture. This process often lasts a couple of hours or, at the most, a couple of days, and this is one primary way it differs from the onboarding process.
The onboarding process lasts a couple of weeks and could reach up to 12 months. Another marked difference is that while orientation occurs once or at most twice, onboarding often spans events, including seminars, training, and, in exemplary cases, mentorship.
The orientation process can be considered a part of the onboarding process.
What Is Onboarding Software?
Onboarding software, also known as employee onboarding systems, is a type of human resources software designed to provide new hires with an engaging experience right from the moment they are offered a job with the company.
Many routines but time-consuming human resources (HR) administrative duties associated with onboarding a new employee can be automated and streamlined with an onboarding system. This helps new hires feel more connected to their new organization and the people they will be working with.
In general, onboarding software simplifies the onboarding process and makes it easier for both the employee and those in charge, be it human resources or company management.
Some features are standard among onboarding software; they include:
Welcome Portal: As the name denotes, the welcome portal acts as the first interface between the employee and the company via the software. The portal will serve as an information hub where the employee can quickly get information on the essentials or basics needed to get into the company’s rhythm. It should offer information such as resumption date, first tasks, team, people to meet, and so much more.
Task Management: This function works best for whoever is in charge of the onboarding process. With task management, it is easier to keep track of various employees and the tasks they are carrying out, whether they are new or not. Beyond monitoring individuals, it can also be used to monitor teams to ensure they are on track with their duties.
Learning Management Systems: Training and upskilling your employees is a crucial part of the onboarding process. A good onboarding software cannot do without an LMS. Learning Management Systems help keep learning organized both for the employees and their trainers.
Gamification: Gamification in eLearning, without a doubt, makes the process easy for new employees. A standard onboarding software developer understands that gamification techniques are necessary to carry employees along more efficiently. Onboarding software now uses reward and point systems, quizzes, and other gamification features to enhance the effectiveness of its software and ease the onboarding process.
What Benefits Do You Get When You Use Onboarding Software?
The entire onboarding process has several benefits, and it becomes imperative for any company interested in creating suitable working conditions for its employees to implement good onboarding processes. With the introduction of onboarding software, the entire process becomes more accessible, and this software introduces more benefits to the existing process.
Out with overbearing paper works. One significant benefit of switching to onboarding software rather than relying on old manual systems is eliminating unnecessary paperwork and replacing them with online forms and documents. This will help you cut printing costs, save time searching for employee documents, and help you better organize your files. Electronic signatures make it easier to include formal electronic records in the onboarding process without compromising security and effectiveness.
Prevents duplication of documents. One major hassle that makes the initial experiences of new employees unpleasant and stressful is having to fill out multiple forms that require the same information. This often occurs because different departments need coordinated data collection processes. With onboarding software, this can be easily resolved.
Speedy work process acclimatization. Onboarding software allows new employees to familiarize themselves with the company process, even if they are working remotely. Because most of what an employee needs is made available on the onboarding software, it is easier for them to learn about company culture and comply with all other company processes without being physically present.
Reduces employee learning curve. Self-learning and being available at any time are known to cut down the time it takes to get new hires up to speed and get them working faster. This directly improves the return on investment (ROI) cost of employing new people. Also, HR software is straightforward to modify to fit the needs of different businesses and roles within those businesses.
Increases employee loyalty. When an employee feels catered for, especially after changing work environments, they more easily acclimatize to the working conditions of the working place. What this does for them is that it helps to build trust between the employees and the company. They become more loyal in the long run, especially with incentives of upskilling and a proper work environment through the onboarding system.
Conclusion
Onboarding software takes a huge weight off the shoulders of the human resources department in your company. It also makes the onboarding process smooth and easy for your employees, which in turn improves productivity for the workers and increases the chances the stay longer at your company.
Success with onboarding software largely depends on the software’s design and capabilities. Elearning development company can help you develop your software with features like a Learning Management System to improve remote learning for your employees, corporate portals, educational content, and more peculiar features.
