First published on Friday, July 19, 2024
Last updated on Thursday, October 17, 2024
The process of introducing and inducting new employees into your business is an employee onboarding process.
A successful employee onboarding process achieves many things, including:
Helping new employees feel welcome and supported in their new work environment
Giving employees the guidance and training they need to be successful in their role
Completing the formalities and paperwork involved with onboarding a new employee in Australia
But how do you make sure that your process is successful? Not to worry, we’re going to show you how. Plus, we’ll cover how having the right onboarding tools—like an online HR library packed with onboarding documents—for new employees can notably increase your success.
The significance of an employee onboarding process
Put yourself in the shoes of a new employee. They’re not entering your business with knowledge of your processes, the tools and software you work with, their colleagues, or a sense of what’s expected from them on a practical, day-to-day level.
That’s what an employee onboarding process should set out to accomplish.
To make sure you’re on track with this goal, it’s important to offer your employee constructive feedback and resolve issues early in the process before they escalate.
You can do this by compiling onboarding questions to ask new employees to record their feedback or by making use of employee onboarding software to make sure you’re completing mandatory steps.
One important factor to keep in mind is making sure your new employees are only presented with information that’s relevant to them. Overloading employees with more information than they can reasonably absorb can make it difficult to retain important information that will help them integrate into your business.
Five things an effective employee onboarding process should include
Administrative processes
One essential part of the onboarding process is the admin that it can involve. Including:
Signing employment contracts
Sharing company policies
Making sure they have a company ID or security pass if required
Setting them up with equipment they need to do their job
And the list goes on…
It’s important to note that new employees must also be given a Fair Work Information Statement (FWIS). But that is not the only rule, if you hire fixed term employees, they must get a Fixed Term Contract Information Statement (FTCIS), and if you hire casual employees, they must receive a Casual Employment Information Statement (CEIS).
Not only are they a requirement but these documents provide your new employee with the terms of their employment.
Communication and setting expectations
It’s important to communicate with your future employee prior to their first day at your business so they know what to expect, how to locate your offices, and what to do when they arrive at your premises.
On their first day, make sure you explain their role, responsibilities, and what is expected of them. It can also help to run through company policies in person and make sure they have no questions regarding them.
Orientation and training
Introduce new employees to their team and give them a tour of your workplace to help familiarise themselves with their new environment. An important part of this tour should be the history of the company, its values, and its mission.
This will help your employee align themselves with your company vision and inspire them to contribute in positive ways.
Training them on the software and machines you use, and the processes you follow will help your new employees hit the ground running and become as productive as they can be as soon as possible.
Social integration
One significant way you can help both your new employee, and their team integrate seamlessly is by including them in team activities during their onboarding. Building relationships with colleagues from the beginning will help your new employees feel more welcome and comfortable.
You can also support your new employees with mentors they can look up to and learn from in those first few months.
Evaluation and feedback
Have regular check-ins with your new employees to assess their progress, answer any questions they may have, and address challenges they’ve encountered.
Make sure you set clear expectations and goals for your new hires at the beginning of their employment, so you can provide feedback on their performance as they continue their journey with you.
What is a good onboarding process?
A good employee onboarding process progresses smoothly with no delays.
Remember that while your new hire is trying to make a good first impression, your business and team are also making an impression on the employee.
If your onboarding process is messy, unclear, and doesn’t set clear expectations for your employee they’re likely to feel like their employment is off to a poor start and they won’t be aligned with your business’ purpose.
Setting the right tone is just as important as hiring the right people.
HR software tools to support a good onboarding process
One of the best ways to streamline regular business processes like employee onboarding is with HR software. End-to-end HR software can help you streamline your recruitment and make sure you don’t miss crucial steps.
It helps you streamline the formalities, so you can focus your attention on adding value and purpose to your employees’ first few working weeks.
Making use of HR software also makes it easier to onboard employees to your business remotely. Software like BrightHR can help you:
Collect and store employee details in one central, accessible location
Create contracts and share policies with more ease thanks to a library of document templates
Let employees update their details independently if needed
Offer new employees exclusive company benefits and perks
You can tour all the ways BrightHR software can transform your people management by booking a demo with our team of software consultants.
