Emerald Software Group is a leader in new employee onboarding systems. Customers often seek to maximize their opportunities to automate this critical business process; this blog identifies and describes the most common tasks within the onboarding processes—both transactional onboarding and acculturation—that customers have most frequently and commonly asked Emerald Software to automate.
Transactional Onboarding
The objectives of transactional onboarding are to achieve value by optimizing, perfecting, and controlling specific work tasks in the process of onboarding an employee. Tasks meeting these objectives fall into three categories: automating paperwork and forms, automating the flow of data, and ensuring compliance.
Automating Paperwork and Forms – These tasks replace paper forms with electronic data collection, sometimes completely eliminating the forms in lieu of strictly electronic data collection (sometimes referred to as “virtual forms”). The ability to electronically sign forms is important for many documents. An onboarding system may be tasked with automating the Form I-9, State W-4’s, Federal W-4, Company Policy and Acknowledgement Forms, and the Form 8850.
Automating the Flow of Data – These tasks represent the near‐instant processing of data collected by the onboarding system into other systems or partner systems. Onboarding systems have the obvious benefit that data is collected in electronic form; significant value is achieved by eliminating costs associated with moving new employee forms, including cost of the forms themselves, shipping and postage fees, document latency costs, long term document storage costs, and especially the elimination of re‐keying data through integrating with other systems. Onboarding systems are often integrated with HRMS Payroll, Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), and Tax Credit Outsourcing vendors.
Ensuring Compliance – These tasks are often implemented as process improvement features when automating paperwork and forms, as most compliance issues concern completeness and accuracy of employee records, though certain industries may have compliance opportunities for automation with an onboarding system. The failure to comply with state and federal requirements could cost a company thousands in fines. Also, paper forms often have to be returned to the employee which takes additional time and resources away from completing a corporation’s core objectives. The Federal W-4, I-9, and all state W-4 forms are prime examples of forms that all employers are faced with collecting and staying in compliance with. With a hosted onboarding solution from Emerald Software, all of your Federal and State Forms are always up to date and follow strict business rules that eliminate the possibility of receiving invalid forms.
Acculturation Onboarding
The objectives of acculturation onboarding are to achieve value by accelerating an employee’s integration into the organization, referred to as assimilation, socialization, and indoctrination. Acculturating an employee is by nature a far less objective and more loosely defined process when compared to transactional onboarding, practically impossible to build completely as an “off‐the‐shelf” system, but Emerald Software has established a framework for building an acculturation onboarding system (usually implemented as a portal, or as a section of the organization’s intranet) that achieves the organization’s unique goals. Best practices tasks within an acculturation system can be categorized as: orientation, adaptation, and connection.
Orientation – in this category of tasks, the acculturation platform offers information to the new employee that provides a basis of orienting them to their new job and working environment. Orientation is ideally achieved dynamically, with the system adapting to the new employee as they work through the acculturation process. Welcome Messaging, information on the new employee’s job, and information regarding the new employee’s coworkers, are all examples of orientation.
Adaptation – these tasks of acculturation onboarding are intended to guide an employee into their new role. Even with a job that is generally universal and with an experienced candidate, there may be unique approaches, perspectives, and strategies that the employee must adapt to; often adaptation is associated with training and gathering feedback from the new employee. Access to job training materials and employment surveys are often associated with adaptation.
Connection – these tasks of acculturation onboarding serve to help the new employee develop interpersonal communications and relationships within the company. Much is being written today about the use and value of social networking for the enterprise, as this is an ideal way of accelerating the establishment of interpersonal relationships. With Web 2.0 technology, employees are able to get connected with both the organization and fellow associates by using these vital onboarding features.
In summary, implementing an acculturation and/or transactional onboarding system depends heavily on the organizational requirements. Each organization should establish priorities regarding their objectives and plan their onboarding implementation accordingly. Emerald Software Group has a long history of helping companies meet and exceed their objectives through the art and science of onboarding; acculturation and transactional.
