If you're running HR (and probably half a dozen other jobs besides) as a team of one, or onboarding keeps getting squeezed between fifty other priorities, a fully immersive, interactive onboarding experience can feel like something only a large organisation with a dedicated team and large hiring volumes can pull off.
No time. No spare budget. And a genuine want to look after the people you're bringing in properly, because in a small team, every single hire matters more, not less.
But as Autism Unlimited have shown, creating a deluxe onboarding experience which delivers engagement, inclusion and sweets to new starters, all whilst remaining cost-effective and saving HR professionals precious time, is far from a pipe dream. Not least because, for many organisations, the benefits in terms of increases in retention and performance can bear fruit remarkably quickly.
Creating a relationship before a candidate even joins
The pre-boarding period, between offer and day one, is the ideal time window in which to begin building engagement, inclusion and a sense of belonging.
“As a charity that supports vulnerable people, we have lots of safety recruitment checks such as DBS that we need to complete before people join us,” says Claire. “That's why we chose the onboarding platform, Eli. It means people have access to our platform and can begin learning about us from the moment they're offered, to the day they first walk through the door.”
A user-friendly process that drives inclusivity, and supports neurodiversity
Delivering an inclusive experience is always key, but never more so than when you're an autism charity. A vital part of this is having a clear-cut onboarding process that makes sure the candidate always knows exactly what's going on, to avoid anxiety or exclusion. “The checklist function on Eli is very user friendly, in particular to someone with autism,” says Charley Jones, Senior Talent Partner at the charity. “It's very engaging and interactive.”
A traffic light system, red for those who've just been offered a role, amber for those waiting to start and green for those about to begin, makes sure managers, HR and new recruits all know exactly what's happening when, and which tasks they need to check off in each stage. “In the amber stage, Eli prompts the recruitment team, the line manager and the new starter's buddy to get in touch through the online messaging system, and also allows the new recruit to interact with their Autism Unlimited contacts and ask any questions they may have,” Charley explains.
Building an interactive online community for “newbies” reaps dividends
A key feature of Eli is a social wall where new starters can interact. “During the platform's implementation period, we were reluctant to use the wall, as we weren't sure whether our new recruits would engage with it,” remembers Claire. “But we've been blown away by the response from them, it's probably one of the most used parts of our onboarding experience now.”
Of course, the social wall is a two-way communication channel. “It means it's easy to involve our new starters with charity life, too, posting about events and things, so that they really feel a part of it all,” says Charley.
“We've also been using the events platform on Eli to host events where everyone starting on the same day can meet up to chat before they join,” Claire adds. “Obviously, it's very daunting starting a new role, so this helps to settle and comfort people.”
Having everything in one place makes it easier for new starters and HR alike
Having all the forms, all the checklists, all the messaging and all the introductory content in the same place, makes onboarding simpler for everybody. “The platform is personalised and individual to us,” says Claire. “We've created engaging content, with videos, training about autism and more, all captured in one place, which makes it really easy to edit, and really easy for the person on the other side, too.”
