Every organization must establish a proper employee onboarding process.  It can be a struggle to do this efficiently, especially lacking the appropriate procedures and systems in place to perform a successful onboarding precisely for each new employee.  Most companies create onboarding checklists, detailed documentation, and of course, plenty of forms to onboard a new employee.  But paper-based checklists, documents, and forms get lost, become outdated, and often end in rouge processes executed by different departments.

Stop the madness! Streamline and organize your employee onboarding on your intranet. It ensures each new employee is given the same onboarding experience, no required documents are overlooked, and proper training/testing has taken place.  It is as simple as it sounds, and I’ll show you five ways you could be using your intranet to streamline your employee onboarding process.

Employee onboarding process: 5 best intranet practices

1.  Creating an employee onboarding checklist form

An effective onboarding program is often dictated by the detailed and all-encompassing  Human Resources (HR) checklist. Create this checklist on your intranet to keep your checklist items and checklist resources in a single, centralized location. Link to corresponding resources directly from your employee onboarding Checklist Form (e.g., Read/Agree to Privacy Policy – link to Privacy Policy). It helps align all required resources into a single document for your new employees’ first day.

Your checklist can link to a variety of online resources, such as:

• New Employee Orientation Registration
• New Employee Orientation Online Training Classes
• employee onboarding Forms & Tests
• Employee Intranet Tutorials
• New Employee Intranet Profile Completion

The resources you want to link from your employee onboarding Checklist could be a resource on your intranet or located as external resources for your employees to use. Adding an employee onboarding Checklist to your intranet is simple using an Online Form with checkboxes and corresponding links.

2. Instating automated employee onboarding workflows

Most employee onboarding processes require reviews and approvals of HR employees, direct managers, and others. An easy way to track and automate the workflow for employee onboarding process tasks is to use Automated Approval Workflow on your intranet. It designates approval/review managers for items on your onboarding checklist, such as completed Online Forms or Assigning an Onboarding Peer.

For example, when a new employee completes their tax forms, HR will likely want to be notified of the form completion and review it before passing it to the Payroll and Accounting Department. Upon the completion of the tax forms, HR can be set as an Approval Manager in your Automated Workflow, which can then escalate the completed forms to Payroll/Accounting. Also, both parties can be notified simultaneously. 

The Automated Approval Workflows any be set-up to suit your needs, and the configuration options are ample. The reason you want to use automated workflows for employee onboarding is that no step is missed and all parties are kept informed.

3. Online registration for new employee orientation

Move your registration for New Employee Orientation online with the Online Training Calendar. Allow new employees to review all upcoming New Employee Orientation sessions to select the sessions, times, and dates that are right for them. All registration is tracked online through your intranet. It helps Human Resources review which employees have registered for training, and your orientation instructors can quickly check their session attendees before each session.

Believe it or not, your New Employee Orientation could also be conducted online through your intranet with embedded training videos, online training documentations, and even online testing & scoring. Many IC Thrive customers use e-learning on their intranet not just for New Employee Orientation but also for Credentialing and Product Training. Gold Coast Hospital, a training hospital in Australia, has now moved all their credentialing online with their IC Thrive Hospital Intranet.

4. Deliver employee onboarding forms & tests online

As mentioned above, you can also train your new employees online through your intranet, which includes Online Tests & Automated Scoring. Quickly test comprehension and proficiency using our Online Tests with randomized question banks, so employees are presented with the test questions in different orders. This is especially important if you allow employees to retest after receiving a “fail mark”.

Online Tests can easily be automatically scored to leave the tedious grading to your intranet, instead of a busy training instructor. The Automated Scoring presents the tester with the correct answer for any incorrectly answered question. Delivering employee onboarding Testing and Scoring online can be an enormous time-saver for your Training and Human Resources Departments.

5.  Feature new employees on the intranet home page

Make your new employees feel appreciated and welcomed by adding a New/Featured Employee Feed on the home page of your intranet or within your intranet Mega Menu. The New Employee Feed quickly provides high-level information from the Employee Profile on your intranet, including their picture. It allows other team members to introduce themselves via your intranet or recognize the new employee in the hallway or common area.

The New/Featured Employee Feed provides a quick “About Me” section for other employees to relate with. It may also simply give the details of which department the employee joined and the start date. Showcasing a new employee is a new addition to your employee onboarding process as a warm welcome to your intranet and your team.

Simplify employee onboarding

These were just a few examples of how you can use your intranet to facilitate the employee onboarding process on a regular basis. Still, there are many more resources available than those named above, including creating a dedicated employee onboarding site on your intranet for new employees. 

What tools do you use on your intranet for employee onboarding? What employee onboarding techniques have you used that are most effective for employee engagement? Please comment below.
You may also take our free Drive Internal Communications Assessment for a detailed report on your intranet efforts and resources that help you become a stronger internal communicator. Want some expert suggestions as well? Feel free to book a FREE DEMO call with us today. We’ll be more than happy!