HR|Onboard new employee

Getting a new employee set-up when they join the company.

Context

The Hire employee process continues (for successful candidates) when they start a new job. What happens next, however, varies more between companies than recruitment processes do, so automating it requires plenty of flexibility.

Like hiring, onboarding is an opportunity to make a good first impression by having a slick process. Not having a desk or laptop on your first day isn’t a great experience.

Process goal

Get a new employee set-up in the company.

Trigger

Form - new employee start date agreed.

Actions

The onboarding breaks down into a series of phases, each of which includes a number of parallel preparation tasks. The key milestones are signing a contract with a start date, the first day in the office, and the end of an initial trial period.

Most of the tasks are either those that must be completed before the first day, such as preparing a desk, and those that happen on or soon after the first day, such as meeting the team.

Roles

Onboarding is a classic example of a process that spans the organisation.

  • Office manager - arranges initial office environment and equipment
  • IT - provides a pre-configured computer and accounts for email and other services
  • HR assistant - handles introductions, initial bureaucracy and reviews progress
  • Line manager - introduces the new hire to colleagues and assigns work

Fields

The trigger form includes fields that describe the new hire’s appointment.

  • Full name (Text)
  • Address (Text, Multi-line)
  • Start date (Date)
  • Line manager (User)

Discussion

Onboarding processes vary in their focus, and sometimes in their goals. The process may include more or fewer tasks in order to focus on one of:

  • onboarding efficiency
  • learning about the new organisation
  • adopting the company culture
  • building a network with new colleagues.

These higher level goals are the result of developing the onboarding process from an initial first-day checklist into a series of tasks with deadlines and handovers between departments.