How do I onboard new users to my business?

How do I onboard new users to my business?

How do I onboard new users to my business?  What a great question that is!  And to answer the question, we’ll try to consider the bit that we’re interested in (the IT side of things) and the bits that affect the rest of your business.  Hopefully, that will help you to make a good job of bringing new people into your organisation.

Why is it important that we do a good job of onboarding new employees?

In our opinion the number one reason that you should do a GREAT (not just good) job of onboarding new employees is retention.  If you make them feel wanted from day one, then it sets an excellent foundation to build on.  After all, you need to build a relationship with your new employees – you need to earn their trust and they need to earn yours. 

What are the IT related things I need to consider? (since we’re an IT Company!)

OK, so there are a ton of IT related things that need to be considered when onboarding new employees.  Some of them are IT Specific, others are just related to the tech.  To make life easy here, we’ve created a list, rather that writing it out long-form!

1. Prepare their work area.  If they are working at your office, then you’ll obviously need a desk or somewhere to base themselves.  It might sound obvious, but you’d be surprised how many businesses leave this until after the employee starts!  Don’t forget their chair either!
2. Order main computer equipment.  Considerations might include a laptop versus a PC – which is most suitable?  Will they be desk based or moving around?  Will they need a monitor or laptop stand to go with it?
3. Order secondary computer equipment.  Might they need a tablet device, mobile phone or other portable device if they are going to be out in the field?
4. Think about extra items.  Will they need extra chargers, a webcam, headphones?
5. Ask your IT Team to setup a new user account for the new starter. 
   1. Think about what you might set their password to be.
   1. What email address they will need? 
   1. Will they need access to any shared email accounts or calendars?
   1. Will they need access to Microsoft Teams?
   1. Will they need access to any common drives or folders?
   1. What extra systems might they need access to (for example finance systems, CRM, holiday booking tools and so on)
6. Do they need digital keys (access control cards or access control fobs)? If so, request that they are setup and TEST THEM!
7. Log their equipment in the company asset register.  This is an important step from an accounting perspective.
8. Provide the employee with their login information in a secure fashion (think about sending the username with one method and the password with another (WhatsApp or something) for a more secure handover.  There are fully secure methods for doing this, but this will at least be reasonable.

What are the non-IT related things I need to consider?

OK, so if you thought the IT related list was long, you’d better brace yourself, because there are a million and one things that need to be done that aren’t related to your IT Systems when onboarding a new employee.  We’ve covered as many as possible in the lists below.

BEFORE they start

1. Arrange parking if possible – there’s nothing more stressful than starting your first day and being late because you couldn’t find a parking space!
2. Order business cards if required.
3. Communicate to existing employees.  Let them know that someone new is starting, tell them what the new person is going to be doing.  This includes people within their team, but also to the wider business.
4. Send a welcome email to the new employee, so that they have it in their inbox when they start.
5. Think about “stuff” that the employee might need to feel at ease;
   1. Uniform if your organisation requires it
   1. Pens
   1. Notepads
   1. A Mug!
6. Set up their first day & week diary (preferably add these things to their digital diary);
   1. HR Induction – your HR team will want to be sure that the new employee knows the important things, such as where the fire exits and meeting points are.  They’ll also want to ensure that the employee knows all about the company culture – vision, values, mission, that kind of thing.
   1. A meeting with their manager.  The manager will want to explain what it’s like to work in their team, what they expect in terms of attire, attitude and types of work.
   1. A technical session, where someone brings them up to speed with the systems they are expected to use.  Are they already familiar with your type of system or do they need more training?
   1. A session with the people or person who knows most about the product or service that you are offering.  The new person needs to know what you do, why you do it and how you do it.

WHEN they start

1. Give them a tour, starting with the obvious – the toilets and kitchen! Introduce them to people as you go around.
2. Give them their “stuff” from point 5 above
3. Either make them a brew OR take them out for one!
4. Check that their paperwork is in order (contracts, right to work, health and safety documentation and so on)
5. Make sure they’ve got something to do for their first day (or few days) you don’t want them to be bored and run away at the first opportunity!

AFTER they’ve started

Think about following up with them in around a week and then a month;

1. How are they getting on with their team members?
2. How are they getting on with the systems
3. Do they need any more “stuff” (for example a footrest or desk tidy)
4. How did they feel the onboarding went?  Was there anything that could have been better.
5. Ask what they are planning to do over the coming month or 3 – have they got a good idea what’s expected of them now?

How can I manage all of this?

Well, you could of course turn this document into a simple checklist or spreadsheet.  Alternatively though, you could implement some software that looks after all of this and reminds you about the things that you haven’t yet completed.  CORE Software is an ideal platform to do this from.  It offers the ability to implement onboarding processes for staff, as well as many other HR related processes such as Annual Leave (Holiday) requests, managing sickness and so on.

Summary

Bringing in new people to your organisation, on the face of it, seems simple.  However, there are so many things to think about that you mustn’t forget if you’re going to achieve what you set out to achieve at the beginning – which is a low staff churn rate.  Think about how you can turn the items in this post, into a proper process within your business, either using CORE Software or simply implementing some checklists that must be signed off by the relevant people.

With regards to the IT element of this, if you don’t already have an internal (or external) IT Team that handle these things for you, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us via the Contact Us page or give us a call on 03302020101.