As remote work continues to become the norm rather than the exception, organizations are faced with the challenge of properly onboarding new employees from a distance.

Traditional methods, which heavily rely on in-person interactions, paperwork, and manual processes, are cumbersome in remote settings, making them no longer viable.

This is where onboarding automation comes into play, as the shift requires a solution that streamlines and enhances the overall experience. It enables a seamless and efficient way of integrating new hires into your company, regardless of their location.

To help you learn more about this tool, we’ll delve into its various benefits, then walk you through some onboarding processes it can optimize.

Why is employee onboarding important?

To start, we’ll discuss why employee onboarding is a critical part of your employee experience.

First impressions matter

Your onboarding process sets the tone for new remote employees, as it’s their first actual experience being a part of your organization.

Structured and seamless proceedings, meanwhile, let you deliver a strong impression, establishing a sense of belonging and reinforcing a new hire’s confidence in your company.

Promotes your organization’s culture

Remote onboarding provides the best opportunity to immerse new workers in your company’s culture. By clearly communicating the organization’s purpose, values, and expectations, you effectively align remote employees with its ethos from the start.

Increases retention

Well-executed onboarding ensures your fresh talent feels supported and valued from day one, securing employee engagement at an early stage. This makes them more likely to stay, as they’re adequately welcomed and prepared before they start carrying out their responsibilities.

Research by the Brandon Hall Group, in fact, found that companies with a well-built onboarding process can increase new hire retention by 82%!

Accelerates productivity

A structured onboarding program ensures remote hires quickly familiarize themselves with their roles, tools, remote work KPIs, as well as your company’s policies and processes. This reduces their time to productivity, allowing them to effectively contribute early.

It provides a strong boost to their overall performance as well, with the same Brandon Hall Group study stating that new employees who undergo effective onboarding are 70% more productive.

Eases management

Since proper onboarding helps new hires establish a clear understanding of their responsibilities, tools, and workflows, the likelihood of them making mistakes is significantly less.

This doesn’t only build a foundation for maintaining high work standards, but also alleviates the challenges of remote team management.

Compliance

Onboarding, whether it be remote or in-person, ensures employees receive similar information and training. Thorough proceedings, meanwhile, not only guide them through your organizational policies and processes, but industry regulations as well.

This guarantees compliance and reduces the risk of running into any legal issues, whether they be confidentiality breaches, labor law violations, or the failure to observe safety standards.

It also helps you avoid the burdens brought about by expensive legal proceedings, penalties, and a sullied brand image.

What is automated employee onboarding?

Employee onboarding has its advantages, but an automated iteration brings so much more to the table.

Basically, it utilizes technology to simplify and streamline your processes. Through the integration of software solutions, these manual, repetitive tasks are completed precisely and efficiently:

  • Filling out paperwork
  • Providing training materials
  • Orientation scheduling
  • Communications
  • And more

Onboarding automations provide real-time updates as well, making the management of these workflows even easier. Because of such tools, you can provide a consistent and smooth onboarding experience for all new remote hires.

Benefits of automated employee onboarding

To give you a better idea of what automated remote onboarding can deliver, here are its most key benefits.

Highly efficient

Onboarding automation significantly reduces the time and effort required to complete your processes. Tedious tasks that once took hours, maybe even days, can now be completed in minutes.

Such improvements eliminate redundancies, speed up document processing, and promptly disseminate vital information to new hires. As a result, onboarding steps are swiftly accomplished and HR teams can focus on more strategic activities.

Supports an enhanced employee experience

With the mundane aspects of onboarding automated, HR can prioritize providing a more personalized and engaging experience for new remote employees.

They can, for instance, work on the creation and seamless integration of welcome messages, introductory videos, and virtual tours, making the overall process more interactive and enjoyable.

Centralizes paperwork

Documentation is one of the most monotonous aspects of onboarding. Automated systems, however, centralize all the necessary paperwork in a digital format.

This not only makes it easy for new hires to complete and submit forms online, but also allows HR to worry less about collecting, processing, and storing these records securely. It also saves time and reduces the risk of losing critical documents.

Ensures accuracy and consistency

Since they standardize onboarding procedures, automations minimize the risk of human errors. They ensure that each new hire receives the same information, follows identical steps, and completes similar requirements, maintaining a consistent experience across the board.

High engagement

It’s crucial that you engage new employees from day one. Automated onboarding systems help in that regard, as they can include gamified elements, interactive learning modules, and instant feedback mechanisms.

These components make remote learning more captivating, keeping your fresh workers motivated throughout the process.

Reduced cost

Onboarding can cost your organization an average of $1,830 per hire, but it may vary based on your scale. For example, small and medium-sized organizations spend anywhere from $600 to $1,800. On the other hand, large ones allocate up to $3,000.

Automating the onboarding process, however, can help you cut down on administrative costs. It reduces the need for physical materials, lessens the time HR staff spends on manual tasks, and minimizes any possible mistakes.

Not to mention, improved retention rates brought about by proper onboarding let you avoid any costs associated with turnover, as well as recruiting and training new employees.

What employee onboarding processes can be automated?

Now that you know the upsides of onboarding automation, we’ll dive into specific processes they can streamline.

Account creation

Manual user account creation can be tedious, especially if you’re onboarding multiple new hires. An automated system, however, can streamline this, setting up credentials for the tools remote workers will need.

This can include the setting up email accounts, granting access to internal systems, and configuring software permissions. All in all, onboarding automations ensure fresh employees can work immediately.

Document management

We mentioned how paperwork can be one of onboarding’s most tedious aspects. Automations, however, can manage the distribution, completion, and storage of all necessary documents, ranging from:

  • Tax forms
  • Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs)
  • Employee handbooks
  • Any other required paperwork

This ensures seamless and efficient document management, minimizing the time HR staff would typically spend processing and securely storing them. It ensures a smooth experience for new hires as well.

Training delivery

Automated systems can improve your online training programs, as they deliver modules and allow fresh hires to complete the required training at their own pace.

Even progress tracking and assessments can be automated, ensuring that all the necessary steps are completed before the new employee begins carrying out their role.

Scheduling of meetings or orientations

Well-structured onboarding proceedings are key to your new hire’s experience. Automations, meanwhile, can manage and schedule orientation sessions, meetings with team members, and check-in calls with managers, ensuring an organized process from day one.

Communication workflows

Consistent and seamless communications can determine how well new hires acclimate to their roles. Automated onboarding systems can ensure this, as they can streamline workflows and ease project management.

For example, they can distribute assignments in a timely manner, all while outlining task responsibilities, setting deadlines, and giving access to the right tools. Overall, these instruments help new hires clearly understand their roles in ongoing projects from the get-go.

Wrapping up—Ensure seamless remote onboarding with automations

Remote onboarding automations certainly provide many advantages, especially with the streamlined processes, reduced costs, and swift integration of new hires.

By embracing it, you can enhance the overall experience, maintaining consistency and setting employees up for success from the start.

People Dynamics, meanwhile, can help you enable this. Through our Academics Solutions, we automate learning and testing tools at a highly reasonable turnaround time and at a price you can afford, ensuring E-learning seamlessly integrates into your onboarding process.

If you want to automate your remote onboarding process and position your personnel to meaningfully contribute early, simply reach out!