Webinar: Supercharge your onboarding

[00:00:03] Thanks everyone for joining our masterclass today to hear about how you can harness data and tech to transform your onboarding. We are looking forward to a really interactive session. First quick introductions. I'm Sarah Wardle, relationships director here at Eli. I'm passionate about helping organizations to create engaging, onboarding experience for all of their new hires. For those of you who don't know Eli, it's experience led personalized onboarding technology that specializes in helping organizations engage with new hires as well as their managers and colleagues. It's designed to set new hires up for success, creating excitement, starting conversations, [00:00:44] Building connections between people embedding your corporate values and employer brand, whilst empowering managers to be confident in managing the onboarding process. And I'll be hosting the session today and I'm pleased to be joined by global HR leaders, Sonia Mooney and Noel Thomas, Eli's creative director. So I'll let you guys introduce yourselves. [00:01:05] Thanks, Sarah. Hi, everyone. As Sarah said, I'm Sonia. I'm a global HR leader and consultant. I work with HR functions in organizations across the globe to help them transform and deliver exceptional sustainable business outcomes. Onboarding transformation is one of my favorite thing to do. So we're excited that you are joining us today, and we're gonna share all of our tips and tricks. [00:01:31] Good morning everyone. My name's Noel Thomas, and I'm the creative director as well as one of the founders of Eli Onboarding. My background, 23 years of it, sadly, is an employer branding and candidate experience, which is one of the reasons why I think Eli is pretty unique when it comes to HR technology. I'm excited to share some of my learnings from many different clients I've worked with over the past few years with you today. [00:01:57] Brilliant. Thanks guys. So to put into context what we'll be covering today is a masterclass not just a webinar. So we'll be sharing actionable, real takeaway tips at the end, which you can take back to your organizations and start implementing today. And please throughout the chat, just add any questions you have in the in the chat functionality. We have a Q&A section at the end but we may also have time to jump to your questions throughout the session. [00:02:24] So before we start what we wanted to do right at the very beginning is just ask everyone here, what does successful onboarding look and feel like to you? And we just thought if everyone could just type that in the chat whatever comes to mind. And we'll come to those very shortly. So while you're doing that to cover off a little bit more about the introduction great onboarding is a business differentiator that does give real competitive advantage. And in our post pandemic world, our people are more critical than ever. The role of tech is also changing all of the time. [00:03:00] So how can we navigate this environment, maximize the impact of our technology, and enable our new people to be at their very best from the very start? [00:03:08] So today we'll be answering these questions, covering why it's important to have an engaging onboarding experience, where you can begin your transformation journey and how you can use data and tech as enablers. [00:03:22] So back to the chat have we, have we had any comments? We've, we've had actually Laura's kindly told us that chats doesn't seem to be working. Sarah, I dunno if we've clicked on the wrong button there. [00:03:37] Let's have a look. Oh, can you read this? Oh, there we go. We can certainly read that. Do we have permission for attendees to comment though, Sarah? Oh, sorry. Everyone. [00:03:58] Here we go. Sorry, everyone. Technology problems. There we go. Technology is really important in everything. So you'll learn today. Hopefully that will work now. Yay. Thanks Laura, for pointing that out. Right. I'll go back to my question then. What does, what does successful onboarding look and feel like to you? So if anyone's got any feelings or anything that comes to mind, please pop that in the chat. And we can cover those off. And maybe while you are doing that we can have a, have a lead in and see some of these answers coming through. [00:04:35] No, what do you think? A smooth and simple process. That's a good one, Zoe. Oh, Yes. Yeah. That's one of my favorites. In fact, it was top of my list that I've got a little list here. Obviously. I think having that smooth, simple process, a consistently good process, that's really key for me. So no matter where you are in the business you know, there's a process that everyone goes through and everyone has that great experience. Obviously, part of that means ensuring that whoever's helping deliver it needs to know what's expected of them and when. [00:05:06] But yeah, I love a nice smooth process. Definitely. What else have we got in the chat here? A warm welcome and an efficient. Efficient, absolutely. I think that's certainly a place that technology can help. A warm welcome. Yeah. One of our stages of great onboarding is certainly a big warm welcome. You know, certainly on that first day, you know, if you can make that welcome really huge, it's something that's very memorable for a long time afterwards. Consistency is key. Lots going in here. Something that helps with staff retention. Absolutely. I think we've got in there clear [00:05:41] And structured journey. Yeah. You know, ensuring, you know, all the points that are happening as we go down there. And I'm glad that Tanya Yeah, thank you. A great candidate experience. That's certainly close, I know to my heart and Sonia's heart. Absolutely. Sonia, if you've got any points you'd like to go while I just look down the list a bit more. Sure. Well, I'm just having a quick look at the chat. There's some amazing stuff in there, and I think what we see here is it's, there's no simple answer. Onboarding is such a complex process experience, it touches [00:06:12] So many different parts of the organization. But for me, the ultimate onboarding experience starts at that point where your candidate accepts the offer. It's human centered. Those are such key pillars above that. It should be inspiring, engaging, informing, inclusive, ideally data and tech enabled, giving your new joiners the tools and support to set 'em off success, ultimately rolling up into those all important better business outcomes, which sounds so simple when you say it like that, but we know because we've been where you all are. It's not that easy, but we're here to help. [00:06:51] Yeah, absolutely. And I, for me as well, I mean, we're, we're big believers in the pre-boarding phase as well, you know, so straight after or for acceptance. So for me, utilizing that time to build knowledge and excitement, but at the same time, reduce anxiety, you know, make sure that people are all they're thinking about is this fantastic first day that's coming along. I also talk a lot about, you know, what are your smile moments? You know, there's points along that onboarding timeline, which really just make people smile. There's memorable things that really [00:07:22] Create something unique. And I think they're really nice as well. Definitely. Brilliant. Well, thanks everyone for being so interactive already. It's great. So onto our first section of the masterclass. And Sonia, I wanted to ask you this question, what business benefits can we expect when we get onboarding? Right? Do you think It's a really great question. And I think all too often in organizations, people can think that onboarding is, it's a nice to have, it's a little bit fluffy. We know we should be doing it, but actually it can of often be argued [00:07:56] That there's more important things to do. But actually I turn that on its head because there's such powerful business benefits when we get this right. And there's some really key categories that those benefits sit under. Efficiencies, engagement, productivity, your employer brand. But ultimately you are looking at when you get this right, you can create competitive advantage for your organization. So a question I like to ask with the organizations I'm working with is, what's the cost of not doing this? And can we afford that? [00:08:30] Absolutely. And I think if we, if we look at some of some of those points, Sonia sort, higher engagement, I think obviously you want to engage with your new hires when they're coming in, but a ground boarding experience can actually affect engagement across the entire business. You know, so bringing about a positive effect to, so, you know, not just your short that term tenure employees, but also your medium and long-term tenure. You know, if you've got an engaged, productive, you know embedded person joining your organization, then the whole team surrounding them is going [00:09:04] To have a positive effect. And the same will be true of positive positivity, productivity. I think as well, Sonia. Yeah, absolutely. And I think, you know, picking up on engagement, it's so key because the research out there shows that organizations with high levels of engagement actually have better productivity. Which obviously creates better business outcomes because when your people are highly engaged, they feel connected to the organization, they give more, they use discretionary effort, they move your organization on. So that's absolutely what you want. And I know between the work that we've done over the years, [00:09:41] Know separately and together we've seen amazing business benefits. So, you know, one organization I worked with in the engagement space or a manager, NPS score go from minus 33 to plus 33 in about nine months. And really helped the HR team turn their kind of perception around in terms of delivering what the organization needs. One other key area that I like to look at is efficiencies. And this is something that I know you've experienced, as well, because we know there's so much legacy complexity in all of our organizations. Everybody has it. But actually, if you can take the time to streamline, [00:10:21] Automate, digitize most importantly walk in the shoes of your people then actually you can create some really powerful efficiencies. So I saw one HR team through streamlining and digitizing, create a saving time saving in their own teams of three months, and they could actually reinvest that precious time back into value adding activities and for the candidate as well. You know, if you can get rid of those mounts and forms that we all have, that people have to fill in when they join an organization. One team I worked with recently, you know, the time for the candidate to complete everything they needed [00:10:59] To do went from 30 minutes to just 10. That's a massive time saving. That's a huge boost to the candidate experience. Experience rolls up into your employer brand, positively impacts your attraction strategy, what's not to love. Yeah, absolutely. And I think, you know, alongside that, you've, you've got, I think Jane in the chat mentioned it, we're very aware of it, is that improved retention, certainly of those new hires within the first three, six or 12 months. Because if you think about the cost avoidance there that you are, you are really bringing to bear. [00:11:33] So you know that if you look into the cost of attracting, assessing, onboarding, and then bringing people up to speed so that they can be productive in their role, the cost, the actual cost, and the people time, the resources, it all adds up to a massive, a massive amount. And you absolutely right, Sonia, where you said at the start, these aren't fluffy things we're talking about. We're talking about immense amounts of money. I mean, we work with a global healthcare business. They had you know, challenges with their attrition. And within 16 months we'd helped reduce that by about 24%. [00:12:06] They conservatively estimated that about an $8.3 million cost avoidance. You know, so these aren't, you know, hundreds of pounds. We're, we're, we're looking at saving, it's massive of money, you know, a smaller business. It's not just big ones. We work with a charity in the uk. And in 12 months they reduce nutrition by 5% and then a further 4% the following year. And for them, that was about over well over 20 people. They didn't have to re, you know, recruit, retrain, and bring back up to speed. And for a small organization that was massive for them as well. [00:12:43] So really important, you know, stats and figures that your CFOs should take notice of. I think ultimately there definitely I'd also like to, and I'll, I'll definitely shut up after that, is the other benefits for me are things like, you know, wellbeing, mental health reduction, you know, stress and anxiety inclusivity, you know, improving inclusivity, improving social mobility and then other things like, you know, really just empowering a line managers, you know, the people that are gonna help you deliver it. So the benefits that less, slightly less tangible, but certainly just as important [00:13:20] To any great onboarding experience are certainly are things we can drive through a great experience. Sarah, is that a nod to shut up. We're going over time. [00:13:35] Oh, you're on mute, Sarah. It's going well. Technologist, just do me a favor here. So you know, I thought I'd bring it up here so I could summarize what you guys just chatted through. 'cause I think we could talk a long time about, you know, what benefits could we expect, because there are a lot. But I think in summary, it's good to kind of see it there on the slide. So we've learned that successful onboarding delivers real competitive advantage creating efficiencies in your organization regarding admin and time boosting engagement levels of your people [00:14:10] Increasing productivity for everyone not just your new hires as you guys have just mentioned, and achieving better business outcomes, you know, including these significant cost savings for your organization. So I thought it's just worth summarizing that there so you can see what's going on. I don't think we've actually had any specific questions around that topic. So it's probably worth moving on now to the next section of our masterclass. So, you know, we know now [00:14:40] Why we want to get onboarding, right? But where do we start, Sonia? Where would you start with transforming onboarding? Sure. What I would say before we dive into the where is for everyone joining us today, if you're currently struggling with your onboarding, you need to start a transformation. You might be in the middle of it might feel horrible and painful. We've been there we are here for you today, so we're gonna share our tips, but type in the chat, as Sarah said, share questions, your insights and we'll get to as much as we can. [00:15:12] But for me, I always like to start at the beginning again, sounds some simple. And that's understanding your reality. And that's true reality, not your perception or the perception of your wider HR team or your leadership team. And then use your data insight and the voice of your people to drive your path to success. So understanding your reality really means gather all of those data insights, feedback from every possible source that you've got. Ask your people, they will tell you to really understand what it's like to walk in their shoes. And we talked a little bit about it earlier. [00:15:48] Onboarding cuts across so many different parts of the organization. It's really important to get clear ownership, clearly defined roles and responsibilities, because if you don't if we think about all the teams involved across hr, it, you might have security teams, admin teams, everybody's doing their own thing. Often in silos. Everyone thinks somebody else is doing something, and often it doesn't happen at all. But how does that feel for the candidate? So to do an onboarding transformation successfully, you can't do it on your own. And you need really clearly defined, agreed and communicated roles and responsibilities. [00:16:26] So getting a lens on what that actually looks like at the moment is a really key place to start. What about you now? What would you add? [00:16:35] Well, I, you've hit the nail on the head there. I think, you know, the larger company, the more complex that obviously gets, you know, I we've worked with organizations where suddenly you've discovered we've got six different systems all trying to do the same thing in different parts of the world. Or, you know, culturally onboarding doesn't start until day one in certain countries, but, and others, it's straight after day one. So understanding, as you've said, you know, how people do what, where and why is certainly super key. [00:17:05] But then I think then after that, the next stage for me is about shaping a compelling vision. You know, so ultimately, if you know where you are where do you want to get to with your onboarding? What is that vision? And that doesn't need to be something long, you know, it can be a couple of sentences, but for me, that's really key because not only does that allow you to quickly sell what your goal is, your end goal to anyone that's supporting you or anyone that you are having to convince to do this new onboarding change project. [00:17:36] But also at each stage of that process, as you're developing and developing and defining what great looks like, you can refer back to your vision. And if something is not helping you achieve it then you can say, right, no, it's, it's out. Or we need to change it, or we need to review it. And that's certainly an important thing, I think when you're trying to focus on you know, the new hire who should ultimately be at the center of your on onboarding experience. [00:18:05] So we've, we know where we are, we've got this vision. Sonia, where would you go next to create that compelling business case, I guess? Sure. Well, I love what you said about the vision, and I would add, don't be afraid to think big. This has got to be exciting. Think big, think bold. People might have tried to do it in the past and not succeeded, but that doesn't mean that you can't succeed. So really think about what's the best that this could be and get your teams involved. But that business case to drive this kind [00:18:34] Of change, it's not an HR process, it's an employee experience. So if you haven't made that shift already from focusing on HR process, make that now to start thinking about everything shaped around the employee. But it's, it's an organizational commitment. You need to get your leadership team involved. You need to get them excited and on board. And that means you need to speak their language. So thinking about those business benefits that we spoke about at the start, this is where you need to go. This is the cost of not doing it. This is how much our new hire attrition [00:19:07] Is costing us at the moment. This is the impact on our brand. Look at the inefficiencies we've got in our business and what we could actually deliver and save if we were to turn this around. So get them engaged, involved, excited so that they're supporting your business case because you can't do this on your own. And I guess the wider piece around that is around collaboration. So building on what we've spoken about so far, onboarding is a team sport. Even if you wanted to, you couldn't do it alone. It cuts across all these functions. You need to mobilize the right team to do that. [00:19:43] So that's hr, it, all of the other functions. And as well as being able to get buy-in and shape and fix the right solutions, it gives you really rich insight and experience. So you bring together that diversity of functional expertise, experience, and thought it helps you create solutions that you'd never be able to create in isolation. So always remember, we are all part of the same organization with the same business strategy and goals. We need to play on the same team to maximize our business outcomes. What's your experience in that and what would you add? [00:20:20] No, So, well, I mean, going back to your first point around, the compelling business case, I think don't be put off if you get knocked back. I think that's one of the things that I'd say there. I think if I had a pound for every time that we've got pushback on projects because oh, it looks too complicated, or how's that gonna work? How's this gonna work? These kind of things are helping strengthen your project. Ultimately, I'd say, you know, so often organizations are, well, why this, why that? You know, it's an avoidance of wanting to spend that money. [00:20:54] But by working with those people, by understanding why they're pushing back, what are their reasons, it can actually help you define and create a stronger business case and certainly a better onboarding experience. And that certainly is true of the collaboration. But I think Sonia, as you've said, understand how the different areas of the business are gonna plug in to help create the perfect experience for you. And understanding what their strengths are, weaknesses, but also what their challenges are. You know, why are they saying, well, this is how we have [00:21:26] To do it, you know, and working with them to define something better. With, again, as we keep on saying, with that employee at the heart, it's fantastically key. I know one of your favorite sayings this, Sonia, is your HR and IT the power partnership. [00:21:42] So why is that? Why is that so critical, do you think on this? Oh, so well, if you've not made friends with your IT department, get going right now because that's gonna be a you know, critical route to success because it is part onboarding, you know, as we said, it touches so many parts. If you want to harness the tech that you've got, if you want to bring in New Tech, and we'll talk a little bit more about that in a moment, you need to be working with your IT team. So rather than kind [00:22:13] Of bringing them in when you're further down the process, start from the beginning, you know, approach them, shape a partnership let them know, you know, here's all the benefits we're looking to deliver for our collective organization. Mm-hmm. Let's join together. Let's create the future together. Even if you think you know what you want, go on that journey with them because I promise you it will make it 10 times easier than trying them to bring them in at the last minute. And then having a bit of a fight to grind, try and get things over the line. [00:22:41] And actually when you can get teams playing together as part of the same team, that's amazing. And it makes re really happy to see it time after time, because the benefits that you get for all of us on our organizations they're really second to none. Hmm. Yeah, absolutely. And I think it tends to be very process driven, you know, and a lot of what we're talking about today is experience, you know, so by bringing them along on that journey, getting their buy-in, yeah. To that vision you know, just opens up so many doors and also gives you a lot of support. [00:23:14] So, you know, they're obviously going to be talking about, you know, current technology that you have already in place. And this is great. 'cause you might find you have technology in place that can support and enhance your onboarding experience without the need for an amazingly innovative, you know, onboarding, bespoke onboarding technology. You know but I'll caveat that with, 'cause I'm slightly biased, obviously, with make sure you actually experience and look into the technology that they're advising you can support, because their reality and what the new hire goes through might be slightly different. So going back to what you said earlier on, suddenly, [00:23:54] You know, perception versus reality. You know, if you are looking to involve a hugely create a hugely you know, a new hire focused experience led onboarding thing, make sure when it says, oh yeah, we can do that they truly understand what you mean. So test stuff out and make sure that the capabilities that you are looking for to deliver something really special are actually there. And then I guess we're onto that, the design element then Sonia, and how would you approach that? Well, I would always every time create [00:24:30] With your people, not for them. So let's remember employee experience is key. Our people are our greatest asset. They are our business. So creating an environment where they want to show up for work, deliver their best, we talked about it before, powerful business outcomes. So understanding their reality. The problems that we need to fix from their perspective. They're the ones that have to run with these processes day in, day out. They're feeling the pain if they're painful and you are creating these solutions for them. If they don't work, if they don't like them, if they don't embed, [00:25:04] That's gonna be an expensive experiment, regardless of whether you've paid a lot of money to bring in new solutions, it's expensive in time regardless. So bring in your people on the journey to be part of your team to understand their problems, help shape solutions. But what I love about that is it as well as helping you create the right solutions, you're starting to test, learn, and iterate, get buy in, start to create ambassadors, which really hurt, helps that whole organizational change journey and makes things a lot easier. [00:25:36] Yeah. And I, and I think there's some other really big benefits of designing with your people are things like, you know, improving diversity inclusion. So thinking about the different groups and demographics of people you have you know, joining your organization. How do you create an experience which is inclusive for them, you know? And by creating a diverse project group to support you, or certainly speaking to people across the business, you know, in every area is a way that you can improve diversity inclusion. I mean, we worked on a very inclusive experience with Autism Unlimited recently. [00:26:12] And for them it was all about supporting people with neuro disabilities and certainly those with autism and the learnings that we made, you know, hugely throughout the process were really huge. And defining and delivering an experience, which worked for everyone. And it's something certainly I'd encourage you to think about when you are developing your new experience. And certainly another positive benefit of that would be that nearly every single company we work with is a driving a de and I initiative internally. Now they're trying to change their culture for the better. [00:26:48] Onboarding is a perfect place to embed those behaviors in the new people that are joining you know, so ultimately you can build your new culture almost from like one person up each time. You know, a new person joins and you're helping drive and change that culture in the right direction straight away, which thinks really good. Sarah, can I have say one more thing? Yes, go for it. You've got, you've got to involve your line managers in this as well. I think, you know, line managers are absolutely key to delivering a great experience ultimately [00:27:22] Because they are gonna be speaking to and working with the new hires that you're bringing in. So by designing your experience and the process and the support you're expecting your line managers to give during pre-boarding and onboarding, get them involved. Get their buy-in, make sure that it's smooth and simple and easy for them. It's one of my best tips you can ever do because if you've got their buy-in, you'll instantly have a much better onboarding experience. Certainly. Thanks, Sarah. Yeah, no, that's a very good point. No, I'm glad you got that one in there. [00:27:54] I just want to summarize what we, what we've just covered in that second section. So I think it's really key to show you need to make this shift from HR process to employee experience and use your data, use your insights and your people to drive this transformation. So Sonia said right at the beginning, make sure you know what your reality is you know what's really going on, get to the bottom of that and then create this compelling business case showing the cost of not changing your onboarding experience. And you can't do this on your [00:28:27] Own, as we've just discussed. You know, collaborate with your people across all of the different functions and get everyone involved, truly listening to them. And most importantly, as we've just mentioned, co-create with your people from the very beginning. They are your most important asset. We all know that. And diversity really is key. So that's just a little summary there, of that section. We have had a question. Do you have any tips on what you should pay particular attention to when we want to standardize onboarding globally for different locations? [00:29:01] Sonia, do you wanna go there? Yes. I've been there. Yes. And I know that every country will tell you it needs to be different for this reason, that reason you know, legal compliance, et cetera, et cetera. And they'll gather all of this all of this stuff. But I would go for shaping your, you know, the best you can have. You wanna go streamline digital if you can automated this experience. But you also want as much simplicity and consistency, as you rightly said, as soon as you start to differentiate, the margin for error creeps in all of this risk. [00:29:35] So ideally, going for a one organization experience, I like to do 80 20 in global org. So 80% standard and just tailor where you really need to because there will be some legislation, compliance, even cultural stuff. But be very careful because everyone will tell you that it needs to be different. But I have found through unpicking this, it's often perception versus reality. So if they are letting you know, we can't do that because of legal compliance. I worked with one of my amazing little teams and we shaped a little bit of a document to say, [00:30:09] Okay, tell us why you can't adhere to that give us that actual legislation. And I said to my team, I want to see the legislation. And we had 40, I can't comply with that. And they went off and had some conversations with their little documents and the, they went into their local, legal and compliance teams, and that 40 became seven because actually they weren't real. And what I found is people have their best intentions in at heart. They're trying to protect the organization, their time to protect their regional country, but often it's perception versus reality over time. [00:30:43] So maybe something was overcooked five years ago when they baked it in, maybe there's been a change through compliance or audit. Maybe you've got automation and you can actually realize this requirement another way, but don't just accept it because otherwise you'll end up with this crazy solution that becomes impossible to manage and you don't get the results that you are looking for. So, yeah, don't be afraid to challenge everything in the right way. And hopefully that will get you to the right answers, but let us know how you go. [00:31:14] Yes. I, the only thing I'd add to that is I'm Nick and another one of your sayings, Sonia, but a lot of plagiarism going on think big, but start small. Yeah. I think with a, with a global rollout, you are gonna have, so lots of different people all around the world trying to tell you how to do it. You know, with good and bad reason for, as we've just discussed. Mm-hmm. If start with something small and simple, that's going to be e easy to deliver so that you can roll out the consistency from a global [00:31:45] Perspective, and then you can start to add in some more tailored elements that can be for the different regions or the different business areas or for different cultures or different groups of people. But get that consistency there first so you can really see the effect of that globally. People are aligned with it and they've bought into it, and then start adding some of the more shiny whistles and bells to it when buy-in's there. And people are really excited about it. And I think that's certainly the way to go from my perspective. [00:32:16] I think we've got another time for another question here that's just popped up. How would you solve for a population of offline colleagues? Did you, drivers in production, we get this a lot, Eli, Sonia, do you want to take That? Sure. And this, yeah, it's something that we need to think about in a lot of organizations, whether you might have factory floor staff, whether you might have staff in a clinical settings. So there's, there's two lenses to this. One, the actual designing solution, and two, you know, how you communicate and engage. [00:32:44] And they're linked, and we're gonna come onto the comms in a little bit, but I would say, you know, it comes back to understanding their reality. What channels are they using, walking their shoes, understand what a day in their life looks like. Your comms team can help. How do they reach these populations? Because what you are designing for perhaps your, you know, your white collar staff across maybe most of your regions might not work for your factory floor or, you know, your nurses or doctors. So you just really need to understand what their day looks like how they access [00:33:16] What they need, how can they access these the solutions in real time. So it really comes down to understanding your people and the organization, but also don't be afraid to think outside of the box, you know? And that's where when you get people as part of your team co-creating with you. So perhaps you've got some hiring managers or some new joiners who can be champions and work with you and give you some ideas that can really give you a whole new way and direction to go in. Hmm, I'd I'd also add to this [00:33:48] Often a preconception that because someone is an offline colleague, I think that's a great way of describing actually that they aren't online what they absolutely are. They're online as much as we are just not during work time. And I think if we're, we're talking about onboarding, certainly pre-boarding, that still gives them lots of opportunity to, you know, access and experience, which might be digitally focused. Now obviously, as Sonia said, let's work with 'em to understand how that might work best for them, but don't just assume that, you know, they actually are wanting a digital first solution [00:34:24] That's going to, you know, embed them into the company and help them get up to speed faster and all that kind of stuff. But certainly for the, you know, you are, look, you've mentioned drivers or production there, it's gotta be mobile first. So, you know you know that's what they're gonna be accessing it on there. [00:34:41] Thanks guys. So moving on to our final section. We now know where to start, which is brilliant. But Sonia, what do you think are the ultimate enablers to success with onboarding? Sure. Well, I would always put the two top enablers as data and tech. You can do so much without them, but if you really wanna supercharge your onboarding data and tech are ultimate enablers, you need to harness their power. So it's really taking that holistic view and thinking about, you know, what can we do now? What can we maybe do in the future? [00:35:17] Also, I would put relationships in there. So we talked about HR and IT comms is a key one. But let's start with data, because I am a bit of a data nerd, and I always wanna get my hands on all of the data that's that's out there. So, you know, make friends with your IT teams, people, analytics teams, if you've got them, plug in all of the data sources that are already there, understand what you've got, but be ready to put your own data foundations in place. And what I always like to do is you want that data in place, [00:35:48] Really, even before you need it. So if you are even starting about thinking, doing some kind of transformation or any kind of change, think about what you might need now, but also in the future because you can't go back in time. So, whilst, yes, there's lots of great tech out there that can give you some retrospective data, there's certain data points you can't get. So if you think about an NPS score how would you rate the experience? You can't ask someone suddenly, oh, how was this two years ago? You've gotta get that in place. So build strong foundations with your data architecture, [00:36:21] Both qualitative and quantitative, gets that really rich foundation to track back against. So, as no talked about earlier, you have a vision, you have your foundation as you go on your journey, you're tracking back against that. So it can be surveys, any data that you've got in your systems, star staff surveys, create your own onboarding surveys, whatever it is, get that in place because that is gonna guide your path to success and ultimately enable you to start showing the return on investment as you, as you drive forward. How about you, Nolan? What would you add? [00:36:56] Well, you know, weirdly, for a creative person, I absolutely love data as well, because there's nothing better though. You know, you've spent time and effort implementing your new onboarding experience and to stand back and six months later it start to see the benefits of it. I mean, it's a joyful occasion when you go to a meeting and say, wow, look what we've done. So, absolutely, it's one of the first things we talk about, you know, in our kickoff meeting right at the start of any implementation is what are you tracking now and what should you be tracking now, you know, in order to [00:37:26] To show the benefit there. I guess my tips would certainly come from if you understand what you're trying to achieve, and then obviously make sure you're gathering data in order to demonstrate that. So whether it's retention, whether it's productivity, NPS scores, like you mentioned Sonia you know, engagement, however it is, make sure you've got the data there that you need. Engagement is an interesting one, you know, because if you're looking about engagement scores company wide, make sure you add a length of tenure in into the, your employee surveys. [00:38:02] So you can actually segregate by, you know short, medium, and long-term tenure. That's often really helpful. And then when it comes to those onboarding surveys keep them quick and simple. I think, you know, everyone's busy, everyone's a little bit lazy. You know, pulse surveys are a really good way during onboarding and at different stages to test different things that you might not be able to track. So often it's hard to track productivity, you know, often it's a thing which, you know, you're either productive or not if you're not in a role where you have specific KPIs to meet. [00:38:36] So pulse surveys where you might ask questions like you know, a couple of examples from our clients. So, you know, in week one, did your pre-boarding experience help prepare you for your job? So making sure that pre-boarding thing is getting people ready is really important. Then at month one, you know, do you feel supportive and productive in your role? So, gathering information that you might not be able to get through data specifically, but adding that as a, as a benchmark, you know, which you can work upon from. A lot of our clients also track things like wellbeing, [00:39:08] As well throughout onboarding you know, and that's certainly something that Eli can support with, you know, a great way to understand how people are feeling throughout the onboarding experience and then proactively manage that if you need to either from a, from a group level or from an individual level, is a really good way to do that. But then we on to technology, Sonia, which has gotta be the next big thing after data. So how does that, is that an enabler for you? It really is because I think you can, you can only go [00:39:41] So far without it. And, you know, the bigger the company, the harder it becomes to do things manually. We talked about it earlier, you've got a lot of complexity, the margin for error and risk creeps in. It's really hard to deliver a consistent experience. So ultimately you wanna understand the tech that you've got, as you've said and get it working hard for you. Is it gonna meet your requirements? Do you need something else? But if you really want to deliver that supercharged world class onboarding experience, it really is about designing around the person, getting that personalization, giving them everything they need [00:40:20] And taking the weight out of it so that your, you know, HR team, your IT teams don't need to be thinking about doing something. It is gonna happen automatically in the background with you just monitoring and measuring. So ultimately tech is the, it's the ultimate enabler. [00:40:38] Hmm, yes. Absolutely. And that comes back to that, you know, creating that strong partnership between, you know, HR and it, you know, understanding what you've, you've got in place now, you know, we're not here you know, to sell Eli to you today. It's about how technology's gonna support your process. You know, a lot of the things that we've talked about today don't require a specific bespoke piece of onboarding tech there, but there's a limit, I guess, ultimately to what you can do from a manual perspective. And when we're talking about consistency, certainly, you know, something that's, that's going out nationally or, [00:41:12] Or even larger globally, technology is gonna be your friend. It's gonna enable you to deliver a consistently great process every time. And you said Sonia, streamline and automate, add personalization, you know, and track engagement and success, you know, in ways which existing HR tech probably can't. But yeah, you, if you, your starting point is to review your existing technology, which I think it always should be, absolutely always should be at the start, understand what the capabilities are and then you know, work with it to decide whether you need to reach out to a, [00:41:53] Another organization to support you. But I think there's a, there's a big thing there, really, which is about, look externally, I think it always helps to, like, hopefully you are today, is learning what amazing looks like to other people. So don't just rely on looking internally, look externally and see what experiences have been driven you know, with your peer companies and even just payers and colleagues that you have working for different companies here, what they're doing and see what great looks like is a really good place to start there. [00:42:28] So we've got, we've, we've got the data, we've got the tech, but I feel like there's one area left, Sonia, in terms of, you know, how do we get this launched in a great way. Yeah. So your change and comm strategy would also sit in the enabler bucket for me, because it is so important. It can make it all break your organizational change. So I always believe in making the shift from trying to enforce change to inspiring change because, you know, exist in change, fatigued organizations, people get really tired of being told what to do. [00:43:01] I know I get tired of being told what to do. So actually how you've gone through this whole process of understanding what your people need, taking them on the journey, create, creating solutions with them and around them. But your changing comm strategy needs to flow through. So get your comms teams involved. If you've got comms teams work in partnership, because your changing comm strategy should be all about the organizational change, linking this to the business strategy, the what's in it for me. So they don't feel like it's, oh, it's another thing. HR telling us what we need to do. [00:43:37] You can go down the route of you said we did, which I really love to do. So really turning round that whole feedback loop you told us, you know, the joining process was really broken. You asked for this, you asked for that. Here's what we're rolling out, but here's the role you have to play because this is an organizational change. We all have a role to play. If you can get, you know, your CEO on board, your chief people officer on board talking about it involved in the comms so that people realize this isn't just something else we need [00:44:06] To do, that HR say this is an organizational change and it's gonna make things better for me, for my team. They're going to be productive. My new joiner will be productive sooner if I put a buddy in place. Oh yeah, it's gonna free up my time. Brilliant. All of these things. So I like to flow subliminal messaging through absolutely everything so that people will get on board visual, powerful, impactful change in comm strategy. And then when you get a little bit further down the line, success stories, have your people talk about success to further embed and drive your change. [00:44:40] And that's my, that's my huge stop talking. I think just reminds me, Sonja, of that I think when we worked with Rolls Royce many years ago now, the video we create for line managers, which was part of the big year launch, just to, you know, help get that last step stage of buy-in, even though they've been involved in the process. We can probably check that in the chat, if anyone's interested. But it just highlighted the benefits to the line manager in a really creative way. It was a very fun video to work on. I have to say. [00:45:14] But yeah, and award Winning in its own right, should we not And award-winning its own, right? Yeah. Forgot about that. Yeah. Yeah. At the RMAs, so, you know, yeah, absolutely. I think, you know, there's more than just a great onboarding experience, a great video as well. Yeah. Sarah. Yeah. Brilliant. I just thought I'd summarize that 'cause you covered a lot of information there. I think, you know, we learned that you need to build strong foundations with your data architecture from the very beginning and decide what you want to track. And I think you guys have given some great ideas about, [00:45:45] About what that could be. You know, if you're not using data and insight, you're just guessing. And this can actually be really dangerous. There are many things you can do manually to get started, which is brilliant. But tech will allow you to deliver the ultimate experience, which is automated, personalized, engaging and also, you know, allow you to track success and drive continuous improvement, which is so important. I think while you were talking, we did have another couple of questions come through on the Q&A. If I just stop sharing, I can have a look at this. [00:46:19] First one I think you've covered a lot of it, but there might be some more. What are the types of data we should be capturing for onboarding and that came from Tanya? Hmm. Well, I'd say qualitative and quantitative. So I like to ask people to rate the experience and you can, you can kind of bucket it up to have different parts of the experience. So, you know, how's it going through your, you know, recruitment then through your actual joining and post day one. So I always like to, you know, ask 'em to say, for instance, [00:46:48] Score between one out of 10, and then please tell us more. And you get that really rich starting ratings on all these different areas. Plus people give you amazing comments that you can then use. And one tip that I'll give you all is when we're putting out feedback surveys, we, I always like to put a question at the end to say, we'd love to invite you to be part of our focus groups as we drive this change. If you wanna be part of it, you know, share your details. And that's a really nice way to gather a group [00:47:17] Of hiring managers and new employees to be part of your change. As we've said employee hours saved is another one I love. So time, how long it takes to do things before you do this transformation, before you do anything, document that and guard it fiercely because you'll be glad you did. So, you know, time it takes to do things in, from an HR perspective, from a line manager, from a candidate. 'cause you'll then be able to look at where you are through your journey and coming out the other end, aggregate that over a year and actually look at some really powerful [00:47:50] Figures around we've saved X amount of time. We can reinvest that into value adding activities. So those would be my kind of top tips. What about you, Noel? Would you add anything? [00:48:01] I think the big thing for me is, I think we've talked about it at the start, is get your benchmarks in earlier re regarding the data, whatever it is. You know, you will have particular pain points, I'm sure, which is why you're, you're looking at improving your onboarding, whether it's retention, whether it's dropout before day one. You know, we work with a lot of merging talent clients, you know, dropout and creating a sense of community. And that hugely long pre-boarding phase from offer through acceptance is often their goals. So what data do you need to understand [00:48:34] Or have in place in order to understand where you are, you know, for that and where you need to go. And I guess that's, that's the big thing for me is get, as you've said, get it all in there early. And if you are asking for feedback and surveys and stuff, like I said, I think keep it simple. I find, as I say, it's better to ask at key points, little questions at key points in that onboarding journey, rather than a big survey at the end strike while the iron's hot. [00:48:59] So if you want to find out how their pre-boarding was, let's find out about that in the first week. If you wanna know how the first month's gone and whether you know that their line manager has done everything you've asked them to do, let's ask that a month one, you know, so key points, quick and easy. So you can add qu, qualitative, can never say that word. Qualitative. Thank you Q Yeah. So you can add that kind of information to your data led information and you're on a winner there, I think, in regards to that. [00:49:30] Absolutely. Brilliant. And there was another question as well on a Q&A. Our R-R-H-R-I-S tech already has an onboarding module we can use. Is this enough to create a great experience for our people? Hmm. Well, I would say only you would know whether that's enough. So thinking about what Noel shared earlier get a full demo get your IT teams, your tech teams to give you access so that you can play, get some of your new joiners to play and tell you what you think. But also go out there in the world and, you know, understand what other products do [00:50:07] Understand what transformations other organizations have done, as Noel said. And think about your, you know, your reality, the feedback you are getting about what's working, what's not, and that vision. And I think when you pull all of those things together, you should be able to know, you know, is what we've got going to deliver what we need. And I'd say make that decision independent of what your, it te teams tell you, because they may well look at it from a, you know, a list of business processes and say, okay, yep, it does that, but actually does it do it functionally [00:50:38] Or does it do it in an engaging experience led way, but only you could be the judge of that, but yeah, gather all the information to help you make that decision. [00:50:49] Yeah, and I a hundred percent concur with that. You know, the number of times we're, we're chatting to clients and have been talking for a while, it is involved late in the day and suddenly it's like, nope, you have to use this system. You know, so get 'em involved early. As Sonia said, review what your onboarding widget or onboarding module does. You know, they're often very compliance and business process focus because that's the focus of a HR system or an a TS, you know really where onboarding tech steps in for me, [00:51:23] And obviously not just Eli, there are the other fantastic systems out there, is, it's all about the experience. It's all about placing the new hire at the center of a fantastic process that sets 'em up for success. It pulls it all together, you know, that's why we exist ultimately. So if you are okay with, okay, and, you know, your ATS or your HR systems module might be all right, but, you know, we like to aim for well, the stars, you know, not to quite a film. You know, so that's where I think onboarding technology [00:51:56] Can take you that next step. But reviewing what you have it's a brilliant place to start. Absolutely, Definitely. Brilliant. Well, I've actually got, I don't think we've got any more questions coming yet. So I've got one final question to ask you all. So following this masterclass, what's the one change you're gonna go back to your business with and why? And if you'd like to answer this question, just type it in the chat. Be great to share what everyone's planning on doing. However small it's, it's always good to share what everyone's doing so we can share our learnings. [00:52:30] And while you're doing that I'll just summarize. So we've talked a lot about technology and data today how we can use these to deliver exceptional business outcomes through onboarding. You know, there has been a huge amount to take in but to help you in your, in your journey we'll leave you with our actionable takeaway tips, which I'll share you with you now, and I'll see we'll share at the end of the session as well. [00:52:56] So number one it's critical to ensure, you know, there's clear ownership roles and responsibilities. Successful onboarding is an organizational commitment. Number two walk in the shoes of your people to understand their reality over your perception as Sonia mentioned, and place the employee at the heart of your new experience when you create it. And number three, cross-functional collaboration is key. Create a one organization mindset and play on the same team to del to deliver your vision. Number four data. Data makes the invisible visible and helps us to really connect the dots. So to start tracking everything you can right now [00:53:38] Number five, technology is the ultimate enabler. So ensure you have the right technology to maximize your business impact. And finally, number six, make that shift from enforcing change to inspiring change. And determine what's important for your people and shape compelling comms that show them what's in it for them. That's really important. [00:54:00] So I dunno if there are any more questions that have come in yet, guys, There's certainly some, you know, what we're gonna do next, and I think there's a couple there really on the onboarding surveys and metrics and data. It's the best place to start. It's quick and simple to implement. Find out where you are now, and then if you're not in the place you want to be, that's, you've got the data, you've got the information to shape that compelling vision, I think it's a brilliant place to start and end. It's, it's pretty easy in order to do that. [00:54:32] You know certainly we're gonna be sharing as you'd expect, the deck that we've been going through today, but we can happily also share maybe some suggested questions for those surveys and stuff like that as well, if that would be useful to people, you know, those kind of things just to, so you can understand what other clients are using. Definitely. Hmm. And I guess I've got one tip. When you are designing your survey questions be smart about it. So if you shape questions that you are not only gonna ask them now as part [00:55:03] Of your discovery, but you can ask them, you know, all the way through in the future, even when you've got your new solution in place. So you are then tracking back against that baseline with exactly the same questions. So just make sure that you are always thinking ahead, about that question. And it's gonna work three months, six months, you know, two years down the line. [00:55:23] Yeah, absolutely. Fabulous. Brilliant. Well I think that's probably all, we all, we've got time for now, but thanks so much for everyone for being part, you know, an active part of our masterclass. It's been great to have so much interactive nature and all your questions. And thanks to Noel and Sonia. We'll follow up with the recording as we mentioned and key takeaways after the session. But yeah thanks very much everyone, and yeah, see you soon.