Why Paperless Onboarding Rules

That's not a valid work email account. Please enter your work email (e.g. you@yourcompany.com)
Please enter your work email
(e.g. you@yourcompany.com)

PaperAccording to research from the Aberdeen Group, only 21 percent of companies said improving the candidate experience was a top priority for 2014. And yet, turnover and employe engagement are huge problems. Could great candidate experiences and proper onboarding help solve these problems?

Every handshake, smile, paper signed, and mission statement read is part of the first impression a company makes on its candidates and new hires. Why not make it easy? After all, recruiting already costs between six and nine months of an employee’s salary  (when training is factored in) — so make it last!

Paperless onboarding is booming in the recruiting business — and for good reason. It’s environmentally friendly and it improves the candidate experience. Follow me on this on one …

The Candidate Knows the Web

According to a poll from Climber.com, job seekers spend 29.94 percent of their time searching for jobs online and an additional 27.28 percent of their time applying for those jobs.

The Internet is a place candidates know and trust — use it to your benefit and reach the audiences you need. A lot of job seekers use the Internet in their job searches, so cater to their preferences by instituting an online onboarding program.

Save Dollars, Minutes, and Space

Stacks of onboarding packets are a nuisance for both the organization that has to process the paperwork and the recruit who fills it out. Paperless is the answer for cleaner desks and a more organized onboarding process.

Information packets given to new hires  can cost more than $10 each for materials alone — never mind the administrative costs of creating, distributing, and filing these packets. Paper onboarding costs more space, more time, and more money than the paperless alternative.

BookPaperless onboarding allows the new hire to enter their information into your database once, and into the cloud it goes — ready to be searched and accessed whenever necessary. This reduces the possibility of data being entered twice or lost due to misplacement of paper packets.

Entering data online is a quicker process that allows managers to focus on the part of onboarding that matters most: engaging new hires. Instead of wasting their time filling out packets, new hires can participate in self-guided paperless onboarding and spend more time getting to know the workplace, the company culture, and their responsibilities.

Employees who are happy and engaged in their work are 12 percent more productive than those who are unhappy and disengaged. Starting off a new hire’s time at your company with an engaging paperless onboarding process sets the new employee off on the right path.

Compliance Need Not Be a Challenge

Compliance: a word that makes HR professionals the world over moan and groan. The good news is that going paperless in your onboarding process can make compliance less of a hassle: compliance mandates are entered automatically when the new hire fills in their information.

Mother Earth Will Thank You

NatureA little over half (55 percent) of global online consumers say they are willing to pay more for products and services from companies committed to positive social and environmental impacts. Going paperless is a great step in that direction — and one that will make your company more attractive to customers and candidates alike. After all: businesses that support social causes are in.

Don’t waste your and your new hire’s time with paperwork and extensive data entry. Create a simple, paperless inboarding process to foster employee engagement while saving time and money!

By Noelle Murphy