Make Onboarding a Positive Experience with Sage People
Which Pre-boarding Key stages can Sage People manage for you?
When a new recruit joins your business, you want to make their onboarding experience a positive one. Getting that right will help the recruit get up to speed with their new role quicker, they’ll tend to stay with you for longer and be more productive. It also reflects well on you as an employer, as well as helping to ensure compliance with organisational processes, procedures, and goals.
By using the intuitive system features and functionalities within Sage People, this process can be simplified and streamlined.
Setting up a new starter
When setting up a new starter in the HR system there is a host of information that needs to be captured and entered, such as setting up the user record to allow access to the WX. To ensure that the onboarding process is smooth, it is useful to make certain that you have identified and agreed upon the information required from the company recruitment process, to avoid having to request this information from your new recruit a second time around!
Providing the new recruit with pre-boarding access via the self-service portal helps them engage and understand the company ethos and key insights into the business (such as the company’s vision and mission). It also enables the new recruit to experience the benefits of your self-service system and to orientate themselves ahead of their start date.
Use onboarding forms to populate any missing information, (such as personal details, emergency contacts, passport, dependants, and work details). These can be sent through an automated process following the hiring stage of the new team member, or through the self-service portal, directly into your HR System.
By automating the ‘Recruit to HCM to User’ process using the ‘Recruit to HCM’ copy process, will automatically provide your new recruit with relevant access to the WX, allowing them to start their onboarding journey.
Set up and use email alerts to inform the relevant departments in your company, in real-time, of the new employee, so that everything is ready and in place for your new recruit on their first day. These can be created using merge fields to ensure that all the pertinent information is included and avoids duplication of effort. Additionally, these can be split by policy/location/department, giving you the confidence that the right data is sent to the right people at the right time, whilst complying with business data policies.
New starter-Timings and dates (Interface/ATS considerations)
To avoid duplication of effort and the potential pitfalls of ‘human error’ in rekeying information into different systems, Sage People can be easily integrated into other key systems such as your Payroll, Learning Management System (LMS) as well as external recruitment tools. As well as reducing admin time for HR administrators, this ensures consistency of data across the various company operations.
Sage People can produce a ‘changes’ file that runs daily, weekly, or monthly which details the employees in a format that the receiving system recognises. This can then automatically or manually fed into the receiving system.
WX Services settings
By using the key HR communication tool, you can provide your new recruit with access to their own unique visual layout of the WX system, giving them the company branded experience as they embark on their journey and engagement with the business.
The visual settings for the ‘Pre-Boarder’ access within the WX, can be customised to ensure they only see the information that is relevant to them and the onboarding processes of your business.
Setting individual policy permissions to show restricted or specific screen presentation, to those new employees waiting to join, can be controlled by the policy assigned to them in the system. Automation within the system can be used to update to full access once they start in the company.
This can be a valuable tool in requesting any additional information required during the onboarding process. The WX can display what information the system has already captured from the recruiting process. Additional information can be requested, through actions and embedded forms that, on completion, repopulate the system, thus taking away many hours of duplicated effort.
A report can also be generated to reflect if the relevant company policies and documents have or have not been accepted.
Manager notes/ document settings
Enabling the manager notes section on the WX for your ‘Pre-boarder’ provides access for the new employee to save documents required for verification, such as proof of identity or certification. The system allows several types of files to be loaded, all of which are then available on the system for the HR team to review and verify as per the company process and internal policies.
Notice boards and internal communication visibility
One of the best things about providing the ‘Pre-boarder’ access to your branded WX portal from the point of being hired, is the engagement this triggers with your new employee. Seamlessly moving from the recruiting process through the continuous and positive onboarding experience they have with your business, demonstrates the professional company values.
With the home page of your WX capable of enabled animations, live feed updates, company information and social media link, give your business the ability to immediately connect with your new employee and providing valuable engagement, commitment, and trust-building unique to your business.
Surveys- pre and post access
The Sage People HR system’s ability to schedule surveys at important points along the employees’ career path can ensure that the full employee experience stages are assessed at the relevant time. Analysis of onboarding experiences continue to be at the forefront of the HR agenda, and the trend for online engagement has entered a sophistication level not seen before. WX customisation allows you to fully adapt the experience you deliver to your people, creating an adoptive and inclusive environment, whilst providing your HR team and the business with the information they need to be agile and evolve to the ever-changing corporate, environmental and social requirements.
Mobile accessibility
With remote working and the new hybrid approach to employment, having an HR system app where you can access your information on-demand via multiple devices is a real game-changer. As an employee, you can access payslips, view communications, update details and request time off – all from your smartphone.
From saving time to saving the environment, a mobile HR app helps your company eliminate paper processes.
As the old phrase goes “you never get a second chance to make a first impression”. If you make your recruits’ first days and weeks with you as positive as possible, it’s a win-win in so many ways. Your Sage People system is ideal for this type of improvement, Tugela People can help you make it happen.
Help is at hand
The Tugela People Managed Services team has the expertise and experience to ensure you create a memorable onboarding experience for your new recruits while helping you to make the most of your Sage People HR System.
For more information or assistance with any of the Sage People features or functionality mentioned in this article, please contact our managed services team on tel +44(0)1908 030368 or email: info@tugelapeople.com. Alternatively, complete the ‘Get in touch’ form and a member of our Managed Services team will contact you directly.
This article has been jointly authored by Susan Martin and Jamie Wilkins
Susan Martin, HRIS Technical Support Consultant for the Tugela People Managed Services team. With over 15 years of experience in HR and previous experience in implementing and using Sage People, Susan is responsible for supporting the growth of our Managed Services division, as we take on new clients and offer additional services.
Jamie Wilkins, Head of Managed Services for Tugela People. Jamie has a degree in Business and Human Resource Management and is CIPD qualified with over 10 years of experience in the HR industry. Jamie is responsible for leading a team of consultants that offer technical solutions and comprehensive Sage People HR System support through our flexible managed services function that spans the full spectrum of HR disciplines.