It is very hard to understate the importance of a first impression. Whether good or bad, what a new employee sees on the very first day of the job sets the tone for what they expect out of the company.
Given that, for most employees, the first day almost always centres on onboarding processes, it becomes imperative for companies to ensure that everything goes smoothly and impressively. This is where digital onboarding checklists come into play.
With the help of modern HR tech tools, these checklists make the onboarding process smoother and also showcase to new employees that the company is indeed in step with modern workplace trends, especially when it comes to its employees.
The Challenges of Traditional Onboarding
The traditional onboarding processes that have been in place for years may have a sense of comfort and familiarity, but they also pose significant hurdles for employees to overcome. Some such processes include:
- Manual paperwork and time-consuming processes
- Risk of missed tasks or inconsistent onboarding experiences
- Difficulty in engaging remote or hybrid employees
- Lack of measurable metrics to track onboarding success
With the rise of HR tech tools, traditional onboarding methods have, unfortunately, become inefficient and slow. Moreover, the process, by modern standards, is considered outdated and does not resonate with younger employees.
Moreover, the technological tools available on the market ensure that HR can check their digital onboarding list without errors. This not only decreases the margin for error but also ensures that the company remains on track with its compliance.
What is a Digital Onboarding Checklist?
During the onboarding process, HR professionals often use a checklist to keep track of what needs to be done for a new employee. This can include providing resource materials, conducting proper introductions, and ensuring proper documentation.
Though this checklist may differ from company to company, the majority of it revolves around three key aspects:
- What the employee should know: From the company’s ethics to the WiFi password, an employee should know all they need to become an invaluable part of the workforce.
- What an employee should have: Laptops, employee handbooks, accessories, and maybe even a celebratory mug – make sure that employees have all the resources they require.
- Who the employee should meet: Meeting with the manager, team members, mentors, and work buddies is an important part of the onboarding process.
Though seemingly simple, each part involves numerous smaller processes that ensure the workflow is smooth and seamless. To keep track of procedures, most HR tools offer a digital onboarding checklist.
Some key examples of what your digital onboarding checklist should definitely have include:
- Collecting identification documents
- Receiving a relieving letter from the previous employer
- Ensuring proper IT setup
- Conduction team introductions
- Providing initial training modules and an employee handbook
A digital onboarding checklist is much more than a digital version of a checklist. HR tech tools enable HR professionals to easily complete tasks on the list in an efficient manner.
Given the integration of HR tools with a company’s people operations, items in digital onboarding can often only be ticked off when completed correctly. For example, when proper documentation is received, an HR tech tool will consider the task complete only when the documents are in its system and verified for authenticity.
Why use Digital Onboarding Checklists?
HR tech tools offer numerous benefits, making them a must-have for companies worldwide. Having a digital onboarding checklist in hand not only makes the process smoother but also creates an interactive employee experience.
- Streamlined Processes: HR tech tools automate repetitive tasks and reduce errors, allowing HR professionals to focus on more critical tasks. While important, automating certain administrative tasks can significantly reduce employees’ workload.
- Consistency: With digital onboarding checklists, companies ensure every new hire receives a high-quality experience. No matter an employee’s location or position, they receive the same consideration, hence ensuring consistency.
- Employee Engagement: Interactive checklists increase participation and excitement from both employees and HR professionals. This helps keep employees engaged from the very beginning.
- Tracking & Analytics: HR tech tools are not limited to smoothing administrative tasks. They also allow HR to monitor progress and identify bottlenecks, hence enabling a continuous improvement of the onboarding process.
- Remote-Friendly: In the modern working environment, where remote work is becoming increasingly common, digital onboarding checklists and HR tech tools support employee onboarding regardless of location. This provides flexibility for all involved and removes geographical hurdles to working or hiring.
Best Practices for Digital Onboarding Checklists
While digital onboarding checklists can indeed make the onboarding process smoother, it is still up to HR professionals to create the kind of experience and the employee they want on their first day of work.
HR tech tools may offer a wide range of options for HR to use, but it is ultimately up to them and the company to decide the key elements of onboarding. However, certain critical points can help you create an onboarding experience to remember.
- Customise checklists according to role, location, and department.
- Include interactive elements such as videos, forms, and quizzes.
- Regularly update processes to reflect organisational changes.
- Gather feedback from new hires to continuously improve the process.
Challenges and Considerations
Having highlighted the benefits of digital onboarding checklists, it is also important for HR professionals and companies to be aware of potential challenges they may face when using them.
- Ensuring data privacy and security: Data privacy concerns have been on the rise in the past few years, and companies, especially, do not want their sensitive data to fall into the wrong hands. As such, using third-party applications can be a daunting prospect for many.
- Maintaining human touch: Avoiding over-reliance on automation during the onboarding process. While HR tools indeed offer an alternative for every task, HR should ask if that is indeed what they should do. There is a fine line to be walked between efficiency and impersonalization.
- Change Management: Managing adoption and change for HR teams and managers can be challenging when integrating HR tools into your people operations. It can negate certain positions as obsolete and seem like a daunting tool to learn.
In the End…
Digital onboarding checklists have helped transform the onboarding process of many companies. Not only have they helped revolutionise first-day experiences, but they have also boosted engagement and productivity across organisations.
Small and medium businesses especially use digital onboarding checklists to make sure that their companies are up to par when it comes to being thorough with what should and shouldn’t be done. However, it is imperative that HR professionals leave some margin for flexibility.
While digital onboarding checklists should be followed as strictly as possible, they should also be accommodating to unprecedented challenges that may come their way. This is why it is essential that the onboarding experience never loses the human touch and is, ultimately, always overseen by HR professionals with due diligence.
