Leading automation experts, Nintex, reported that of the interviewees who claimed they were actively looking for new jobs, 86% named their company's broken processes as a factor. Furthermore, Nintex found that younger workers and millennials were more likely to blame poor processes for their desire to leave their job. This illustrates the level of importance efficient and clearly communicated processes play in a business. And with replacing an employee reportedly costing six to nine months' worth of salary, these ineffective processes aren't just losing you talent, they're losing you money too.
So, where to start? Well in the words of Maria von Trapp “Let’s start at the very beginning”. Onboarding is the first processes any employee will experience in your organisation, and it is imperative that this experience sets a positive tone, with Forbes suggesting that as much as 20% of staff turnover occurs within the first 45 days of employment. An effective onboarding process needs to set employees up on key systems and clearly communicate scheduling, role expectations, company culture, and key contacts as a minimum. But so often HR teams are so focused on keeping the day-to-day running that it can be difficult to find time to optimise these processes. This is where process automation comes into play.
Process automation tools, such as Nintex, allow businesses to automate tasks such as welcome emails, requests for IT teams to set up passwords and equipment, assigning tasks, and creating a first-day schedule, to name but a few. By automating these repetitive, manual tasks, HR teams can streamline the onboarding process, offer a consistent experience to new employees, and reduce their workload, allowing them to focus on high-value tasks.
This evaluation, mapping, and automation of the onboarding process is becoming increasingly important as we see more businesses undertake the onboarding of remote employees. With automated task notifications, lost paper trails and unanswered email chains no longer threatening to break down the onboarding process, meaning both new employees and those responsible for onboarding receive clear communication surrounding what is expected of them and when, no matter where they are working from. Whilst improving processes such as onboarding can drastically improve employee retention, some loss is always inevitable. Just as Nintex can alleviate administrative pain points across the onboarding processes, it can do the same for offboarding. Offboarding processes must promote a send-off in which talent feels welcome to return, data security and access must be amended, and any role-appropriate knowledge must be documented. Similarly to onboarding, offboarding requires the completion of a tick list for HR; automating these processes or ‘ticks’ can ensure consistency and alleviate pressure on HR teams.
Investing in automating on and offboarding not only streamlines these processes but saves you money by supporting your employee retention – talk about return on investment!
