What can onboarding software do for your organization?

Onboarding employees means having to manage tons of paperwork, send regular reminders and emails, coordinate with different teams to set up the new hire's workstations, send out company handbooks, policies, resources, etc., organize orientation sessions, and many more.  Honestly, using just spreadsheets to track and manage these activities can be overwhelming for your team.

Onboarding is one of the very first opportunities to show how much your organization is interested in growing your new hires and helping them excel in their new roles. Even a small misstep in the process can cause new hires to walk out the door or, even worse, create trust issues about your organization that prevent them from being productive. This is where onboarding software truly shines. It automates the complete onboarding process and helps your organization maintain a better relationship with its new hires even before their first day.

If you haven't implemented onboarding software and are wondering how it works, we've got you covered. In this article, we  break down how onboarding software enables candidates and new hires from the beginning:

• Candidate onboarding

Candidate onboarding is the prerequisite to new hire onboarding. Most experienced candidates will serve their notice at their previous organization after clearing the interview with your organization. During this time, it's good to keep in contact with them, answer queries they may have, send and collect documents, etc. This outreach will help reinforce that to your candidates that they have made a good decision to join your organization.

Onboarding software can help you maintain good relationships with your candidate in multiple ways. Most onboarding systems provide candidates access to a portal through which they can communicate with your HR team. Through this portal, you can collect all necessary information from your candidates, send them letters, documents, and policies, and get them signed with the help of an e-signature. You can also send them documents and videos that prepare them for their first few weeks at your organization. This way, you don't have to call your candidates to your worksite now and then, mail the documents and information back or forth, or, postpone the process completely till they join your organization. Your candidates will feel prepared and connected to your organization, starting from day one.

• New hire onboarding

Just like candidate onboarding, new hire onboarding can be initiated as soon as your new hires join your organization. Through the onboarding software, on their first day, you can add a personalized message to welcome them. Similarly, you can keep your existing employees informed about your new hires. To help your new hires acclimate well to your organization and their role, you can include policies, videos, and documents that reflect your company culture. You can include the goals and objectives of their new role so that they are informed about what they are signing up for. Your new hires will truly appreciate the effort you put in to get them excited for their journey at your organization.

Further, you can send automated emails through the software to remind your employees about pending tasks. You can also include onboarding checklists as part of the workflow to keep new hires informed about everything they need to complete during and after onboarding. As training is an innate part of onboarding, the software also can list all the training programs that new hires will have to complete. These features in onboarding software make sure that each aspect gets completed without any glitches.

Wrapping up

With onboarding software in place, you can effectively onboard new hires, no matter where they work from. This helps to create a fun, productive, and engaging working experience for employees, even before they become a part of your organization. We hope this blog gave you a clear idea of what onboarding software can do for your organization. If you have any questions, feel free to drop them in the comments and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.

Zoho People, our HR software, comes with an onboarding management system, which helps your organization develop and maintain a great relationship with your new hires even before they join your organization. All of its features work together to take the tedium out of onboarding. Learn more about Zoho People's onboarding management system here.

Also Read:5 features to look for when choosing onboarding software