Nicholas Roberts
Starting a new job can be a daunting experience for new employees, especially if that job involves remote working. By getting these new starters set up with everything they need, you can save them a lot of stress and welcome them to the company. Recruiting Roundtable also released data that shows effective onboarding processes can improve new employee performance by 11.5%.
When it comes to IT onboarding, any training, accounts, devices, software and keycards your new employees will use will need to be set up before or during their first week. To ensure this process is as good as it can be, we’ve compiled 5 tips for streamlined IT onboarding you can use in your company.
1. Start Early
Depending on the size of the business you work for, getting devices and logins for new employees can take a long time, especially if you have to order them from an external company. As soon as you know of any new employees, you should begin making preparations for their arrival so they’ll have everything they need on their first day. This way, any issues can be sorted out within the first week, and they can get to work as soon as possible.
2. Streamlining and Automation
Many of the processes involved in IT onboarding can be automated to save time and money. In particular, the creation of new accounts can be handled with software, providing new employees with their corporate email addresses and a temporary password to their accounts that they can change to suit them. The same goes for any required reading or training that all employees must do. Using automation software, you can email these manuals or videos out to new starters in the weeks leading up to their first day.
3. Assigned Mentors
Issues that are bound to spring up in the first few weeks can be quickly dealt with by assigning new starters to an IT mentor. This person doesn’t necessarily need to be one of the IT support staff, but will be someone who has worked with the company for a while and who knows their way around the software and communication systems you use. By providing new employees with someone they know they can go to with questions, any problems can be dealt with quickly and used as teaching opportunities. Alternatively, you could outsource your IT support in Yorkshire to a company like Stephensons IT Support.
4. Make Information Available and Obvious
If resources make the possibility of assigning mentors a little less viable, and even if this is something you employ as standard, any information your new starters need should be easy to find and access. Even if you can only store this information in secure places, effective signposting can lead your new starters to the correct places or people to answer any questions they might have. This is an especially useful tip if your new employees must get to grips with any software they’ve never used before.
5. Check In Regularly
Finally, to make sure the IT onboarding for new employees is going as it should be, you should make an effort to check in with starters and find out about anything they need. This doesn’t need to go on indefinitely, but at least for the first month, it can be incredibly useful to create a checklist of what you still need to get done. If you have a mentor program, regular meetings after the first day are your best bet. These port of calls don’t need to be conducted in person, but they provide the perfect opportunity for new starters to raise any issues.
