Minimize Your Workload: How to Utilize Automation to Make Your Digital Onboarding Time-Efficient and Still Personal

The paperwork is done, and the negotiation process has finally come to an end. You can now relax. Well, maybe if you are the hiring manager, but probably not if you work within HR. The time between the actual recruitment and day 1 is often a few months long. During this period, many companies assign HR managers to pre-board the new by personally communicating with them regularly and sharing important preparatory information with them. This work requires a lot of time and effort but can be made efficient. By digitizing the interaction and automating certain functions, you can minimize your workload immensely. Sounds great, right? Well, according to HRDive the pre- and onboarding programs are actually the most effective when personalized. So how could we utilize our digital platform in a time-efficient manner (using automation), without losing a personal touch?

Sort Out The Generic

The question is; how do we leverage our digital tool in a way that encompasses the practical and the personal? Firstly, let’s start by identifying what parts of our pre- and onboarding programs best function as automated outputs. Ask yourself: ”Which parts of our processes are generic, and benefit all new hires?” Maybe there is a document informing all new recruits about the company’s core values, or contact information to all the different key actors within the company. You might have created a preparatory course that you want all new employees to take? These types of information are generic and do not speak to the personal needs of the new hire, therefore it would make sense to send these out automatically via your digital tool. The same thing goes for schedules, office information and other forms of impersonal new-hire paperwork. 

Add The Personal

Address Your Colleagues By Name

A great and simple way to individualize your digital interaction with your colleague is to personalise the automated mailings by adding the recipient’s name. You can also sprinkle some user data throughout the initial user experience using UX, and create a welcoming page that personally addresses the new recruit. Combine this with a positive message, and the new user will most certainly feel welcomed and motivated to continue exploring the digital platform.

Incorporate A Progression Plan

There is likely a lot of information that the new employee will be able to take part in on your digital platform. This can be seen as either overwhelming and daunting, or exciting and a great opportunity for exploration. How do we make sure that users experience the latter, and not the former? Well, give them the power to set up their own progression plan! By adding a function that allows users to make a list of the order in which they will take part of the information provided on the digital tool, new hires will be able to create a personalized plan for their growth and also track their individual progression.

Create Space For Socialising and Co-creating

Many digital platforms, Learnifier included, allows users to interact with their colleagues digitally. Even at the pre-boarding stage, new staff members can chat with other new recruits, seniors and their individual supervisor. This allows for a healthy workplace environment irl , and sparks motivation for co-creating and collective brainstorming even before the user enters the office. We recommend that HR or the hiring manager (or both!) schedule in regular digital check-ins with the new employee (using our new chat function), as this will make sure that the new employee feels seen and supported - in a time-efficient way!

In recent years, the question has changed from “should we automate?” to “what should we automate?”. In today’s world where information is key and we are constantly learning and developing partial automatization has become a must to be able to pre- and onboard successfully. It is virtually impossible to consistently and successfully interact with new colleagues manually. By following the tips mentioned above, you can minimize your workload by incorporating automatization without compromizing the personal interaction with your new hires. Instead of draining yourself on tasks that can easily be automated, pour your energy into the parts of your workplace relationships that cannot be automated and digitized. Not only will this develop and strengthen your Employer Brand, it will also create a healthy work environment with motivated and positive employees.