For reasons unbeknownst, automating processes ranging from offering a position to employee induction still use traditional methods with paper.
For businesses large and small, hiring and getting employees onboarded and up to speed is a severely underestimated time-waster.
So what if we told you that you could reduce the time wasted with traditional employee onboarding by several hours?
What if this could save you hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars per year if you regularly hire?
You would do it, wouldn't you?
That's precisely what automating and digitising your employee onboarding process does.
In this post, we'll show you what the current, traditional process looks like and what can be done to automate this process every single step of the way.
They've verbally accepted, and the next step is to create the offer.
You open your word document which has the contract template where you fill in fields that need to be changed, such as employee details, start date, remuneration.
Then you need to locate all the relevant forms (tax file number declaration, superannuation choice) and company documents (privacy policy, code of conduct, etc.).
The documents need to be then given to someone up the chain to approve and sign off.
Once approved, the employer needs to leave the office to post this off, which can often be put off for several days.
There are also postage costs associated with sending this in the mail. Delays can also be an issue as well as the post office not delivering on weekends.
Digital Offer Creation
Log into your integrated HR system and select from a number of contract templates depending on the staff member.
Fill in the employee details with the corresponding field. All fields are pre-populated and ready for review and automatically sent up the chain.
Once approved, the offer is instantly sent to the candidate via email. Candidates will also receive a text to notify them of the offer available for review.
Offers can also be created on Friday and ready for candidates to review across the weekend. Thus reducing the timeline between submission and acceptance of an offer.
Often, it's possible to receive no communication from the time the offer is sent to the time the offer is returned.
The alternative is for the new hire to come into the office to sign the documents if they live in the same city. This involves scheduling in dedicated time with the new hire to guide them through the paperwork when they arrive.
Often, new hires may forget details such as their tax file number or need to return as they are missing details to complete the process.
Digital Offer Acceptance
New hires simply click the link provided in the email where they are guided online through the entire application process.
As the majority of them will complete the application at home, they will have access to their details which will avoid any delays.
New hires will also have the ability to return to where they left off if they were interrupted.
Any additional details and preparation such as uniform sizing or employee onboarding details after the offer acceptance can be automated to be sent.
At the same time, employers can track the progress of the offer acceptance in real-time.
Once the offer is completed, the employer is notified immediately to begin further preparations for the new employee's first day.
New hires are also only given a hard copy of all materials.
There also exists no evidence that employees have read the documents unless they've been signed.
This remains an issue for new hires who come into the office to sign their documentation and have had no prior opportunity to review documents such as employee handbooks or internal documents.
In the event of a dispute, having old paperwork without an appropriate paper trail can prove to be a messy affair that can be avoided with digital offers on cloud payroll systems.
Digital Paper Trail
Digital offers and acceptance provide a comprehensive solution to paper trails, including all actions being made by both parties throughout the entire process.
This will include:
- When documents were sent
- When they were viewed or downloaded
- When offers were accepted or returned
- Declarations that employees have read and understood internal documents
- Changes or adjustments to offer details
- Relevant internal personnel involved.
New hire portals also remain open after an offer has been accepted, which will allow employees to continue to review their offers.
Most importantly, in the event of disputes, a record is kept on the cloud payroll system to access evidence of the entire onboarding process.
Manually entering details is always fraught with danger with clerical errors due to poor attention to detail or lousy handwriting.
In cases where bank details are incorrectly entered, this could potentially mean employees following up weeks later about not getting paid and the additional time wasted with organising backpay.
Digital Payroll Onboarding
Using a cloud payroll system integrated with a HR system that can digitally onboard a new hire and subsequently transferring all the candidate's personal information onto the payroll system is a significant time-saver.
Upon acceptance by the employee, the system will automatically import all payroll information to be configured for the first payroll run for the new hire.
For businesses that don't integrate their onboarding process with their payroll system, having digital acceptances will remove many of the clerical errors as copy-pasting information will prove to be much more accurate than entering details from paper examples.
Removing the manual process of entering employee details also means more time can be focused on inducting a new employee into the organisation.
Pay Cat are leading experts in Australian payroll and employee onboarding. We help businesses find the right cloud payroll system that includes employee onboarding as well as other aspects of workforce management
Many professional payroll firms, as well as end customers, utilise Pay Cat for this unique service.
If you're interested in seeing how we can help your business make the transition, get in touch with us today.
