How to Implement Employee Onboarding Automation + Examples

What is Employee Onboarding Automation?

Employee onboarding automation streamlines tasks like paperwork, training assignments and meetings. This is usually done through Onboarding software systems or Common HR software platforms. These technical solutions are also a great way to manage remote onboarding.

For example, Rippling allows you to create custom workflows for onboarding to tailor the process to your company’s needs. You can set up specific triggers so that when a specific action is taken, such as returning a signed offer letter, a follow-up action or notification is triggered.

How to automate onboarding

1. Review your current employee onboarding process.

It’s helpful to start by listing the steps in your employee onboarding process. If you already have one. Employee Onboarding Checklistrefer to it and double-check that it is up-to-date and aligned with your current process.

2. Decide which onboarding processes you want to automate.

Look at your onboarding process and consider where you can benefit from automation. Not everyone. Step into your onboarding workflow There is a need to automate, but you may find that some areas are particularly time-consuming and burdensome for your team, and automation is a must. Therefore, it should be the first priority.

3. Review the capabilities of your onboarding software.

If you’re using an HR software system with onboarding capabilities, you may already have the technical tools necessary to build your own automation. Review the capabilities of your existing software, and if you’re not sure where to find workflow automation within the platform or if your current plan supports the feature, contact the vendor for assistance.

It’s also a good idea to check if a third-party integration, such as Zapier, will work with your existing software platform. This can be significantly cheaper and more convenient than switching to an entirely new HR platform.

4. Create your own automated workflow

Once you have your tech figured out, you can start building your automation. The exact process will vary slightly depending on the process. Onboarding Platform You’re using, but you’ll usually always need to set a trigger and action.

A trigger is an event that occurs to initiate an automated action. A common trigger might be an employee signing their offer letter or the employee reaching a start date. Next, the action takes place, which is the step you want the software program to perform when it registers the trigger. For example, a trigger might be an employee signing their offer letter, and a process sending a notification to IT to set up their computers and workstations.

5. Monitor the effectiveness of your onboarding automation.

Once you’ve created and implemented your automated onboarding workflows, you’ll want to continually monitor their effectiveness and modify them as needed. Note any setbacks you or your team encounter, and be sure to regularly review and update your onboarding automations as your processes change. It’s also a good idea to ask for employee feedback about their onboarding experience.

While employees won’t necessarily know what automations you have in place, they can identify what did or didn’t work well throughout the process, which can provide some insight into the effectiveness of your automations. can show

Benefits of Onboarding Automation

Automating your onboarding process can benefit your organization in many ways. Here are some things to remember as you consider implementing onboarding automation.

Streamlines the onboarding process.

A streamlined process helps new hires complete onboarding tasks on time. A manual process can cause delays, extend onboarding timelines, or create confusion.

Reduces the administrative burden of onboarding.

Employee onboarding can come with many tedious administrative tasks that waste your team’s time, such as manually sending emails, setting up user accounts, filling out HRIS and payroll profiles, and so on. Tracking whether paperwork has been returned. With onboarding automation, that time can be better directed to the more hands-on interpersonal aspects of onboarding to provide a better experience for your new hires.

Improves the new rental experience.

Onboarding allows you to make a strong first impression with your new hire. Providing a seamless onboarding process will not only help them be better prepared to jump into their new roles, but also lay the foundation for better employee engagement and satisfaction. When you automate your onboarding, the key resources and information they need to get started will arrive in their inbox in time for their first day, getting them started on the right foot.

Reduces the possibility of errors.

When you’re handling all of your onboarding processes manually, there’s room for errors or inconsistencies. You can easily create a type when you manually enter information from an employee’s onboarding form into another system. You could even forget a step and accidentally leave an employee without important information or a necessary login during their first week.

When you automate your process, each of your onboardings has a higher level of consistency and is less likely to make mistakes.

Examples of Employee Onboarding Automation

Here are some examples of onboarding automation you can set up. Note that automation capabilities may vary by platform.

Scheduling orientation meetings

You can automate the process of scheduling meetings for your new hire. Depending on your organization’s orientation process, you can create workflows to schedule meetings with the employee’s manager, HR representative, IT department, or their entire team for induction.

Setting up new employee accounts

Your new employee will need a lot of new accounts. They will need access to your payroll and time tracking systems, email, and possibly some project management or internal messaging tools. Depending on the software solution you choose and how it integrates with these other apps, you can set up an automation to create these accounts before your new employee’s first day. It can start when they return their signed offer letter or a few days before their scheduled start date.

Sending Onboarding Task Reminders

Instead of manually checking in upon completion of onboarding tasks such as paperwork completion or policy approval, you can set a notification email to go out whenever a task is completed. Create a templated email or in-platform notification that will trigger to go out at specific times (such as when a deadline is approaching, when something is a day late, and at ongoing intervals until it is due). not to be collected).

Arrangement of mailing of goods

If you’re hiring remote employees, you can create workflow automation to help them ship supplies before their start date. As the start date nears, you can create automation such as pinging IT to ship goods and automatically generating shipment labels for them to use with employee information.

Onboarding Training Assignments

Set up custom workflows to assign the right training courses based on employee location, role and department. For example, some states have specific training requirements for sexual harassment, food handling, workplace safety, and other areas that may vary based on the employee’s job.

Sending check-ins at 30, 60 and 90 days

You can automate your feedback process by setting up your employee onboarding software to send a feedback survey at the 30, 60 and 90 day mark after an employee is onboarded. Make sure you have an accurate start date recorded in your employee onboarding system or HRIS platform, and set up surveys to be sent automatically whenever a new hire hits one of these three milestones. reaches

Onboarding Automation FAQs

What steps in the onboarding process can be automated?

Steps like sending and tracking onboarding paperwork, assigning training, setting up accounts, and scheduling meetings can be automated. Onboarding automation is also helpful in sending out pulse surveys and check-ins during and after the onboarding process to gather feedback.

What is employee onboarding software?

Employee onboarding software refers to digital tools designed to support and streamline the employee onboarding process. Often, onboarding software is not a standalone solution, but instead part of a more sophisticated HR software system.

Can employee onboarding be fully automated?

While many steps in the employee onboarding process can be automated with the right technology, many steps will still require human contact. For example, you might automate the scheduling of a mentor or new hire’s buddy assignment or the initial team welcome meeting, but subsequent meetings or communications should not be automated because you need to make real connections. want to do Automation helps you save time on paperwork and administrative steps, so you can spend more time on the more interactive aspects of onboarding.