Virtual Onboarding: Effectively welcome new employees while working remotely

The current circumstance has driven countless companies to close their offices or implement a mandatory work-from-home policy amid the spread of the coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19. This may very well be a difficult transition for some, but with an ongoing pandemic, certain preventive measures must take place. For a moment, it’s realistic to assume that working from home will become the new norm.

Although work-from-home setups aren’t new to some industries, still, a vast majority of employees will be working from the comforts of their home for the first time, which can be quite overwhelming.

One of the most pressing challenges of organizations is how to handle employee onboarding during these transitory times.

Making the switch to virtual onboarding

The onboarding process is a long and tedious process. In fact, most companies struggle to onboard employees even when times were good and relatively predictable.

Whether your team is fully-remote or not, switching to virtual onboarding will be essential in the long run, even after the pandemic.

By automating the onboarding process using a workflow automation software, you will be able to simplify the complex approval process, reduce your workload, and drive efficiency by eliminating paperwork and multiple emails. What else can you do with a workflow platform?

• Access your processes such as Onboarding and in a single platform
• View processes in real-time
• Automated checklists to ensure process consistency and complete documentation
• View attachments in a single repository
• Integrate with HRIS and other key third-party apps
• Scale based on demand, such as increasing document storage, number of users, customer usage and workflows
• Get notified automatically when a task is assigned, approved, rejected, overdue, and finished.
• Write notes and instructions using the process messaging

Virtual Onboarding should be similar to your traditional in-person onboarding with fewer to no in-person interaction. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that it has to be impersonal. This is where the other tools such as video conferencing apps, group chats, and email come into play.

Employee onboarding done right with ready-made, easy to use, employee onboarding templates

With a well-documented employee onboarding process mapped out and automated in a workflow software, HR teams can onboard new-hires efficiently and consistently. It benefits Human Resource teams in various ways.

• Reduces administrative cost and avoid compliance issues by digitizing new-hire paperwork.
• Ensures a consistent employee onboarding experience to all new hires.
• The smoother flow of information makes collaboration across departments involved in the process a lot easier.
• Increases new-employee satisfaction and can positively impact employee retention rates.
• Transparency in the onboarding process flow allows users and approvers to track process status which prevents delays and errors in onboarding.
• Ensures complete documentation before the employee’s start date.

Digital workplace with Activity Factory

With remote work being likely to become more commonplace over the coming months, companies should quickly rethink their work methods, strategize, and look into utilizing new technologies.

With a workflow automation tool, you can minimize the impact of business disruptions and future disasters, keep operations running and maintain a high level of efficiency across your team without the need to be in the office.

To find out more about how Activity Factory can assist your organization and bring operational excellence, get in touch with us! We serve organizations of all sizes across different industries, in the private & public sectors.