Get your new starters up and running quicker with these 3 tips

Your organisation’s onboarding process isn’t something to overlook. For one, it’s your chance to make a good first impression on new starters, setting the tone for the working relationship to follow. In fact, research shows that a strong onboarding programme can increase staff retention by around 82%. 

But tightening your onboarding process is also critical to your organisation’s productivity. Doing so will help new starters find their feet faster. Ask yourself this: where are those first days best spent? In the back office signing 74 pages of health and safety paperwork? Or shadowing their mentor on the shop floor? We know which we’d rather. So here are our top tips for streamlining your process and avoiding any unnecessary onboarding delays.

Ditch the paperwork

Let’s start with the big one: paperwork. A lot of us have experienced a first day in a new job where all we did was read and sign documents. There’s got to be a better way.

By converting all new starter paperwork into digital alternatives, you streamline this entire process. Those hours of shuffling and signing individual pages become a distant memory. And in their place you have simple, easily accessible virtual files that are easier for staff to engage with and only need one signature. 

Moving all onboarding paperwork online also cuts out any processing time. Completed paperwork doesn’t need to be posted or scanned and emailed to head office before it can be added to the system and payroll. As soon as a member of staff signs, they’re good to go.

Plus, online files mean new starters can continue to access important documents after their first day. Signed paperwork doesn’t go into a filing cabinet, never to see the light of day again. It’s always a few clicks away, taking away the stress of having to memorise everything in one go.

Use one database

The simpler your system, the more streamlined onboarding new staff can be. When juggling multiple tools, it’s easy for employee information to get lost. Or you might find yourself inputting data multiple times onto each system.

Ideally, you want one system that can do it all. That way, when adding new starter information, it feeds directly into head office and payroll - with no manual input or processing time needed.

One simple system also makes it easy to update staff information over time. For example, if an employee’s emergency contact were to change. One database means changing it will automatically change it everywhere else too. And in any urgent situations, the data is at staff’s fingertips, not lost in a pile or inbox somewhere. 

Share logins ahead of time

Onboarding new staff has a lot of moving parts. But the more tasks you complete before staff actually start, the simpler those first days will be. Using the single database we spoke about above, you can issue logins and give new starters access to all their relevant role information in one go. There’s no duplication in setting up multiple accounts or wasted time hunting down relevant documents. 

And by allocating logins ahead of time, you give new starters the opportunity to be proactive in their learning. There will be a lot of information to take on board. So being able to read key documents ahead of time may help reduce some of those first day jitters. It also gives you one less worry on their first day and allows you to tick any compliance boxes before they arrive on-site. 

A lot of your organisation’s onboarding process is unavoidable. You need to dot the I’s and cross the T’s to keep your new staff informed and to stay compliant. But there are ways you can make it simpler. With the right tools and approach, you can streamline onboarding and get your new starters learning on the job as quickly as possible.  

Inform People can help. Our intuitive digital platform makes onboarding new starters simple. Connecting all aspects of your business, there’s no time wasted on duplicate data entry. And effortless information sharing means your staff stay fully compliant, with access to all the important documents from day one. To find out more, get in touch with us via email or on 0161 713 4104.