Best Practices: New Hire Onboarding

[Sam196]

Hello ServiceNow Community -

I am looking for some ideas, specifically on what you have been doing with the New Hire Onboarding. We have a great New Hire request form for hiring managers to collect information and our IT fulfillers to complete the process. I do believe there are areas of improvement, so I am looking to hear from professionals like yourself on what you have been doing/done at your companies or projects relating to new hire onboarding. 

Love to hear what you've done both in the Service Portal forms for the hiring managers, and in ServiceNow request management side for the agents.

We collect basic information like, ID, name, dept, title, location, start date, laptop type, mobile, printer, Peripherals like keyboard and mouse, Software, RC Information...you get the idea. I am hoping to use this as a back and forth conversation. Thank you in advance!

[Community Alums · Accepted solution]

Hi Sam,

I have implemented various Onboarding Projects for different customers from different regions.

Here are a few things i can suggest:

- Define a catalog item (Order Guide) for new requests. There should be a sample New Hire order guide you can start with. The order guide will result in a Request (sc_request) with one or more Request items (sc_req_items). Your workflows will be attached to Request items ( network account, laptop, phone, app access, etc.) because they will require different Tasks (sc_task) to fulfill. What you need is already there, you need not reinvent the wheel.

- Integrate your Onboarding process with HR's processes. Discuss the process flows and opportunities to automate/integrate ahead.

- Start with simple workflows and tasks before adding complex requirements.

This is go to guide for me : 

Start with Pre-Boarding

Companies lose valuable time and resources by delaying their onboarding—sometimes 2-4 days at time. It’s best to grant your new employees access permissions even before their first day, and you can start by automatically disseminating relevant documentation. This process can begin before onboarding, in a period referred to as pre-boarding. In this phase, administrators can auto-send new hire paperwork (e.g., an NDA or W-4) for review and signature, allowing you to build the new employee’s digital profile with approved accesses and payroll well before their start date. Doing so not only supports a seamless transition for both company and new hire alike, but also sets your organization up to generate accurate employment reporting at any later date.

Structure and Define Program

An effective onboarding process is not the average paperwork-laden first day. It should include the tools and procedures for supporting new employees. Creating a schedule with communication cadence from relevant team members will ensure your new hires aren’t left isolated, while also helping managers and team members stay committed to their roles in the program. And with SaaS applications, cloud resources, and the new normalcy of remote work—consistency is key.

Reinforce Your Program with Training

Your teams will need to build training programs to set expectations and ensure operational consistency for all employees. Though training will look different for every organization, all programs will need to maintain a high engagement level early on to increase long-lasting retention. An effective training program could include department introductions, responsibilities review, video walkthroughs, and technology demonstrations that are each relevant to and customized for a given position. Many companies organize this information with an employee portal, organizing content while improving the user experience.

Utilize Automated Onboarding Workflows 

It’s best practice to establish an automated onboarding process for your IAM solution, easing the burden on your IT team and supporting efficient, cross-organization workflows. This automation might start with assigning proper permissions for every user in each department. Using implementations like role-based access, administrators can grant access to duty-relevant resources and applications on day one.

Use New Hires as Resources

Whatever the approach, be sure to follow-up with employees on an incremental schedule throughout the first three months of employment to review progress, identify barriers, and discuss future needs. Automating the process doesn’t close the opportunity for incremental improvements to your program. Sending retention surveys to new hires early can help cultivate quality feedback from them while their perspective on your company is still fresh—as opposed to after a poor onboarding experience.

Align Company Departments with Onboarding Procedures

Though Human Resources and IT teams are often head of new employee efforts, total organizational alignment is essential for program success. A high level of alignment not only makes it easier for new hires to assimilate, but it also ensures that each department is in organizational compliance with your procedures. 

Hold regular training sessions to prepare team members with organization-wide and department-specific content to share with new employees and elaborate on offboarding processes should an employee elect to leave or be terminated. This company-wide communication also avoids redundancy and ensures every process stage is purposeful and efficient. You should also be clear about accountability, so teams know who to report to should they have questions or need to address process-related issues. Doing so ensures your existing team provides accurate information while assuring them with a set structure to support them in either onboarding or offboarding situations.

Common Onboarding Challenges

Information Overload

Some companies do too good of a job pre-planning onboarding for their employees. Organizations want to move too fast, and are tempted to get their new hires up to speed as quickly as possible, providing all information on day one. All of the new hire documents, personnel to remember, and applications to master can result in an overwhelming and unproductive start. Digital onboarding puts less of a strain on this, as documents are easily organized and disseminated by the cloud.

Broad Onboarding for Specific Roles

When it comes to welcoming new hires into different departments of your company, not every onboarding experience should be the same. In fact, onboarding flows should be customized depending on role. For example, a new salesperson should not need to be trained on the intricacies of your HR software. And HR hires don’t need to learn extensively about your company’s CRM tool. Keeping your training specific to the role your new hire is stepping into gives them a chance to retain the information that’s important for doing their job.

Training Beyond Paperwork

Providing login credentials to relevant applications ensures new employees have access to the tools they need. This is only the beginning of your onboarding responsibility, as effective training on those applications is more important than the access itself. Companies waste valuable time dropping complicated tools and tasks on new employees’ desks without spending time walking them through how it all works. Whether it’s SOP documentation or education videos loaded to your cloud-powered solution, you can take the pressure off manual training while maintaining a thoughtful onboarding experience.

Mark my answer correct & Helpful, if Applicable.

Thanks,

Sandeep

[Sam196]

Thank you so much for the detailed information Sandeep. This is very helpful!

[Community Alums]

Hi Sam,

Kindly mark the answer as Correct & Helpful both such that others can get help.

Thanks,
Sandeep

[Community Alums]

@Sam196 , am glad that i could help.