Great onboarding is important and you probably already have some idea about the impact of the process. New employees can be difficult to keep in this day and age. Every single interaction matters and onboarding sets the tone.
This is the reason why 69 percent of new employees are more likely to stay with a company for three years or longer if they experience great onboarding.
If you haven’t reviewed your onboarding process in some time, now could be the right moment for upgrades.
Paperless employee onboarding is highly efficient, practical and scalable. Luckily, it can be introduced fairly easily. Not only will paperless onboarding ensure better work within the HR department, it can also reduce linked expenses and contribute to enhanced employee loyalty/minimized turnover rates.
What Is Paperless Employee Onboarding?
Before examining how you can make it happen, let’s examine the specifics of paperless employee onboarding.
Paperless onboarding involves the use of the right platform/software product to manage the process, streamline it and even automate some parts of it.
Through the selection of the right paperless onboarding solution, companies can offer more tailored experiences that will please new employees and build a stable relationship. The good news is that various paperless onboarding solutions already exist on the market. They can be integrated effortlessly with other tools that the company relies on like a digital document management system.
Get All Onboarding Forms and Documents Digitized
The first part of the paperless employee onboarding process is digitizing all essential information.
You will need to come up with digital onboarding forms, as well as employee files. To get started, consider getting paper-based files scanned. By scanning existing dossiers, you will put together a paperless HR archive that the team could continue building upon.
Some other onboarding documents you should consider digitizing include job application forms, W-4 forms, I-9 forms, employee handbooks, payroll documentation, health and pension benefits records, FMLA records and others.
Make Sure the System You’ve Chosen Enables Compliance
All of the digital forms you create as a part of the onboarding process should be compliant with relevant US regulations.
It’s important to collect the right kind of data and ensure compliance with form filling.
Such documents, for example, have to be inspected physically to check the identity of employees and their job eligibility. And while some leniency is now being allowed as a part of the Covid-19 pandemic and social distancing measures, such rules will continue applying in the long run.
Come Up with Relevant Workflows
Going paperless has one great benefit – you can create workflows. These are automated processes that take care of cumbersome or repetitive tasks.
Workflows can be especially beneficial when it comes to detailed, bulky documentation. Needless to say, the HR department ranks among those that have to sort through tons of data on a daily basis. The team can definitely benefit from the setting up of paperless employee onboarding workflows.
Automated notifications and the sorting of files by the document management system will definitely rank among the most beneficial workflows for the HR department. Depending on your company specifics and the capabilities of the system that you go for, additional automation processes could be enabled.
Prioritize a Positive Employee Experience
As already mentioned, great onboarding is one of the essentials for the addition of valuable new team members who will stay with the company in the long run.
To make that happen, you need onboarding procedures that are employee-centric and focused on a positive experience.
When looking at the paperless onboarding process, try to imagine what a new staff member could be seeing. Are questionnaires too long, repetitive and cumbersome? Does the digital experience seem user-friendly? Will the newcomer get prompts, suggestions and guidance to handle everything in a quick and effective manner?
It’s a good idea to try personalizing onboarding a little bit.
The filling of forms and ensuring compliance could be devoid of personality. It’s up to you to make these less cold and to offer newcomers a glimpse into brand values and corporate culture.
Luckily, paperless systems and platforms allow for effortless personalization. You can always add a few elements that speak of fun and engagement. A little bit of humor and a simplified procedure can go a long, long way.
Don’t Become Too Software-Dependent
In this day and age, especially with remote work models becoming the norm, software can easily take over.
Even if your paperless system has tons of capabilities, the “human touch” will still be essential.
It’s crucial not to become overly-dependent on technology.
As already mentioned, workflows and automation should take care of cumbersome, repetitive processes. The strategic aspects of onboarding and interaction with new staff members should still be handled by the HR team.
Going paperless opens up many opportunities if you’re doing it in a tailored, strategic way. Pinpoint the processes and solutions that make the most sense for your organization. By doing so, you can harness the full potential of innovative platforms to yield the best possible return on investment.