How Tech Can Make New Employees Feel Welcome

An employee’s first day at your company may be one of the most exciting in his or her career — until the avalanche of onboarding paperwork begins.

Using technology to improve your onboarding process — and therefore, your employees’ first impressions of your company — can help those employees more quickly become more productive. It can also ensure they stay at your workplace longer.

“Onboarding software can make the process more consistent and let employees dive into their job faster,” writes Tatiana Lebedzeva for Ere Media’s TLNT. “IT is not a magic stick, and you can’t automate the parts that heavily rely on human relations. … Focus on the areas where onboarding software is most applicable, no matter whether it’s an out-of-the-box product or a custom solution.”

Half of companies today are using two to three different onboarding solutions. Migrating to one solution for benefits, recognition, communication or feedback can be a game changer. This provides consistency for the employee experience even before their first day. 

“Onboarding programs provide employees with the foundation for their employee experience. Organizations should think about them like the customer experience,” writes Sharlyn Lauby for Human Resources Today. “Programs needs to be well-thought-out and complete. It should be consistent and clearly understood. And it should be available on a regular basis. Technology solutions can help organizations provide all of these things, if they are purchased and implemented properly.”

When onboarding begins in earnest, a portal system for onboarding can help you and the employee track progress, advance through training sessions they don’t need and provide a lasting central location where employees can check back to find important documents like the employee handbook and benefit documents.

“You can even add information to personalize the experience and help your new employee feel comfortable,” writes Cathy Reilly for Entrepreneur.

“Have employees who will be working closely with a new hire record short introductory videos, where they talk about who they are and their interests,” she writes. “That way, (new employees) can know a little bit about everyone. Then when they actually meet in person, they can begin to make a deeper connection with their co-workers.”

Finding ways to make your company’s onboarding engaging and insightful through technology will help an employee feel productive and welcome, and emphasizes their importance to your organization.