How To Set Up A Paperless Onboarding System In 5 Easy Steps

If you are not a fan of paperwork, then it’s time to embrace paperless employee onboarding! 

One of the key benefits of paperless onboarding is you won’t have to spend an entire workday manually searching hundreds of papers. You can just type in the right keywords into your software and there you have it! 

To top it off, your data is going to be stored in the cloud so you will quickly locate the documents and finish your HR tasks on time.

What Is Paperless Onboarding?

Paperless onboarding, as its name implies, means managing your tasks without paper during the onboarding process.

Automation is capable of significantly reducing the amount of tedious tasks related to filling out papers. 

With HR automation, onboarding is done in a new way that is flexible, automated, and customized. The result is a boost in employee engagement, a shorter period for employees to acclimate to their new workplace, and compliance with regulations.

Having a plan is necessary when implementing a paperless onboarding strategy. You can follow the fundamental steps listed below and implement your brand new paperless onboarding process with ease!

What Are the Best Practices of Paperless Onboarding?

1. Determine Problematic Aspects of Your Onboarding

You can ask your team to gather opinions on your current onboarding practices. This will help you determine any weaknesses and possible bottlenecks in the paper trail. 

This starts the process of improving the onboarding before digitizing it. You will be able to map out the onboarding process once you’ve identified the problems. You may use this as an outline to help you transition to going paperless. 

2. Choose The Right Software For Your Company 

You need to follow the same onboarding procedure for all new hires particularly if your company is global or has several branches.

Moreover, using paperless onboarding software can improve productivity far better than putting various tools together.

The Best Onboarding Software: Teamflect

Employee onboarding software Teamflect has got everything sorted out for you whether you want to send employee onboarding tasks or carry out employee onboarding surveys within Microsoft Teams. 

You cannot simply use any software when you’re onboarding a new hire. You need Teamflect, the most effective paperless onboarding solution for Microsoft Teams.

3. Teach Your Employees How To Use The Software

Once the paperless onboarding software of your choice is set up, you can give your HR personnel time for training, and standard operating procedures (SOP). 

If you are using software via mobile apps, guide your staff through them. Your employees will appreciate the ease of having access to onboarding forms and documents through their smartphones.

All employees should review the login details and learn how to navigate digital tools, and you might want to provide live webinar training or create how-to videos using an online video editor to demonstrate how to use the software effectively.

This will help your employees confidently use the paperless hr software and streamline their workflow efficiently.

4. Update Policies To Enable Paperless Onboarding

Once you go paperless, it may no longer be appropriate to use the same procedures to process your business documents.

For instance, you might have a rule stating that all employment forms can only be accessible at the office. You need to modify this rule to allow the use of documents if they are saved, accessed, and edited through a secure online system. 

Make sure to thoroughly review your regulations to prevent mistakes and errors or these old policies might impede your new paperless onboarding strategy.

5. Test Your Paperless Onboarding Process

Your newly implemented employee onboarding software needs to initially go through a test phase. Imagine you are a new employee with no experience using the software. 

This implies that you can only complete the forms as how they have been made by HR and sent to you through email.

If you are unable to proceed without using your prior knowledge you’ve discovered a roadblock.

Before launching the paperless onboarding platform, you should let employees experience the new paperless onboarding software and collect feedback from them.

Benefits of Implementing Paperless Onboarding

1. Consistent and Accurate Procedures

A paperless onboarding process can guarantee that all the data is filled in accurately. Your paperless onboarding software will notify a new employee immediately after the moment something is forgotten or submitted incorrectly.

2. Saving Time

It can take a long time for new employees to read the guidelines, complete the forms, and attend employee orientation. It can also be time-consuming to set up a meeting with the new employee to confirm everything was done correctly. 

New hires can complete the procedures in their own time with paperless employee onboarding. Companies might also begin conducting employee orientation online to better accommodate new hires.

3. Increased Employee Satisfaction and Retention

Employee satisfaction is an important variable of productivity and may contribute to the bottom line. Employees are more likely to stay with an organization for years if they feel satisfied at work. 

A great employee onboarding experience will positively affect employee satisfaction and employee retention. Paperless employee onboarding will create a good first impression that will build the foundation for a positive employee-employer relationship.

4. Reducing Paper Use

One of the most costly office supplies is paper and you can cut your costs by opting for paperless onboarding.

In addition to eliminating the need for face-to-face meetings, paperless onboarding makes it easier for team members to interact with each other, particularly if they work remotely. 

Since paperless onboarding reduces paper waste, it allows companies to support environmental initiatives.

5. Creating Customizable Onboarding Workflows

Organizations should be able to create customizable paperless onboarding workflows to provide new employees with an enjoyable onboarding experience.

Customizable workflows are effective because the paperless onboarding process should be different for each new employee. 

6. Securing Operations

Conventional new employee paperwork can be time-consuming, and disorganized. With paperless employee onboarding, you can store your documents safely in the cloud and effortlessly access them from any location.

7. Combining Onboarding With Other HR Procedures

Onboarding new employees is a collaborative process. It includes various HR procedures, including performance reviews and training.

Organizations can schedule training based on roles, establish short-term performance objectives, and let employees manage their profiles after they are officially onboarded. All of these initiatives will raise employee engagement and encourage employees to stay.

8. Using The Same Onboarding Platform For All Tasks

The accessibility that paperless employee onboarding provides is among its greatest benefits. HR leaders, can monitor operations in real-time, assign tasks, evaluate processing speed, determine pain points, and more.

They can even determine when a process has stopped and who is accountable for it. This promotes a sense of responsibility within a team and creates transparency.

The capabilities of paperless onboarding software help transform your human resources department from an overwhelmed team to an efficient group of employees.

The Four C’s of Paperless Onboarding

To solidify your onboarding practices, you can consider using the four C’s of paperless onboarding: compliance, clarification, culture, and connection.

This helps new hires integrate themselves into the company culture. To guarantee the new hires have a positive paperless onboarding experience, these four activities should be carried out together.

Compliance: You will go over the fundamental policies and procedures of the company with the new hires and make sure they have understood them.

Clarification: The new hires will be questioned about their responsibilities and what is demanded from them.

Culture: Adaptability to company culture is essential and many businesses neglect it because they believe new hires will quickly grasp the workplace culture.

Connection: Connection includes networking activities and exchanging information to improve professional skills.

Paperless Onboarding Tips

In this section, we are providing essential paperless onboarding tips that you can implement easily.

Send an orientation package: You may send new employees an orientation package to make them feel appreciated.

Introduce them to the company: Show them how your systems and software work after making sure they understood company policies and practices. You can also introduce them to their new teammates.

Include other departments in paperless onboarding: Allow your new hires to interact with the stakeholders in addition to their team members. Moreover, allowing them to communicate with managers will make them feel valued.

Offer support: Offering the best support possible during the paperless onboarding process is a crucial procedure that many businesses disregard. Coaching and establishing connections should be taken seriously by managers during the paperless onboarding process.

Closing Remarks

According to research, a good onboarding program increases employee retention and 69% of employees who had a positive onboarding experience are going to stay with the company for a minimum of three years.

As the best employee onboarding software for Microsoft Teams, Teamflect is made to simplify the entire onboarding process while guaranteeing a well-organized experience for each new employee.

Teamflect enables users to create the ideal new hire onboarding experience for their company thanks to its user-friendly dashboards, automation features, and customizable performance review templates.

If you want to reap the benefits of paperless onboarding, you should give Teamflect a try.

With Teamflect, you can say goodbye to paper-based and outdated onboarding practices that are no different than cassette players in the era of music streaming!

Frequently Asked Questions