HR innovation: how the digital onboarding can support HR to offer a better Employee Experience.
The onboarding phase is the final one in the recruiting process: once the candidate has been hired, it’s time to join the company. Let’s see how HR innovation has led to digital onboarding.
Digital onboarding: what are we talking about?
The recruiting process, as we know, does not simply end when signing the job offer but with the inclusion in the company of the selected person: the new colleague has to be brought "on board" to start his/her new working experience. HR onboarding can be imagined as a path, made up of the last steps to complete the contract, collect the necessary documentation and make the new employee ready for a valuable welcome on board experience.
Companies are increasingly innovating their HR processes and introducing new cutting-edge techniques: digital onboarding is one of these.
Digital onboarding: what are the available tools?
Traditional onboarding methodologies provide for a series of steps to be followed:
- Preparation of the contract, getting it printed in 2 copies and sending it to the candidate;
- Collection of the signed copy by the candidate (signature can be required in presence)
- Collection of candidate's personal data and identity verification;
- Collection of documentation proving possession of the necessary qualifications;
- Filing of documentation in paper form in physical folders for all hires.
The information flow between HR and new hires can often cause a waste of time and resources that can be cascaded into higher costs and risks of potential privacy breaches: paper communication flows and traditional data entry processes make the proper compliance with privacy and data confidentiality more complex as well as they require longer times between each step, not even considering the "physical" spaces to be dedicated to archiving and data management.Digital onboarding is replacing the traditional one by providing for a complete, or at least partial, digitalization of the process:
- Collection of all documentation and personal data of the new employee (with automatic creation of his digital personal data folder) through online forms that can be filled in by using any kind of device;
- Validation of the information and documents provided with the use of specific platforms;
- Automatic data update.
Digital onboarding: the advantages for companies
Companies that choose to implement digital onboarding processes can get several advantages:
- Economic advantages: the process ‘automation allows them to significantly reduce onboarding times, with direct advantages in terms of cost and saving of resources to be dedicated to this process; additionally, the use of digital tools allow the access to data from anywhere and remotely, with a significant impact in terms of time reduction and exploited resources;
- Greater guarantees of compliance with regulations: valid regulations about privacy and personal data protection (GDPR - General Data Protection Regulation) require extreme attention and competence in data management: the digitalization of the process reduces the risk of involuntary errors and offers greater safeguards;
- Reputational advantages: a company with digitalized and efficient processes shows a modern and more secure self-image, offering to new employees the experience of feeling at the centre of the onboarding process, with the opportunity to choose how to insert their data, using electronic identification tools (SPID for example), digital or handwritten signature and the possibility to use different devices to complete the procedure (PC, smartphone or tablet). No need to say that such a flexible and modern approach can facilitate the recruiting of the best talents on the market.
Digital onboarding: how to create a successful strategy
Transition from traditional onboarding to digital onboarding has to be realized in the framework of a broader strategy, putting the Employee Experience in the centre of its objectives. Its basic elements are these:
- Provide a perfect and efficient Employee Experience that enhances the individual and supports employees in their Journey to access the organization;
- Allow the choice of identity recognition methods: SPID and CiE are already among the most used tools for identification in public systems and can also be easily integrated into corporate onboarding processes to streamline procedures and facilitate new hirings;
- Follow the “Once Only” principle to make sure that information only has to be entered once, for the benefit of everyone's time;
- Integrate the use of the digital signature among the company valid tools for signature;
- grant to HR team a proper training to coordinate processes and to be able to provide adequate support to the new employee, as well as digital archive and data management.
Discover more about Glickon, the People Experience & Analytics platform which helps companies to build a better working experience, for both candidates and employees, thanks to a data-driven approach and simple and engaging experiences.
