The employee onboarding experience is one of the first impressions new employees have of your organization. The process can be smooth or rocky depending on the systems you have in place.
Your IT team can be the backbone for many processes and systems that make your organization run effectively, and as such, your IT team should be involved in the onboarding process.
Your IT team can also function as the liaison between hiring managers and employees by helping to explain your technology processes to employees. Onboarding is not just about laptops, desktops, and smartphones. It’s also about company culture, online policies, social media guidelines, and more – all of which are enmeshed in technology.
Getting IT involved in onboarding will improve this experience in a variety of ways, leading to greater early job satisfaction.
IT Best Practices that enhance the Employee Onboarding Experience
IT has many responsibilities when it comes to employee onboarding, such as helping new hires get up to speed on new tech, tools, software, and processes.
Here are a few ways your IT team can improve the employee onboarding experience:
- Install and configure third-party software or hardware (such as VPNs) before they arrive on day one.
- Provide an onboarding checklist about what technologies they’ll be using, passwords to reset, and how to get access to IT support.
- Make sure new hires have access to all necessary business applications, including email, calendars, and intranet sites.
- Review security protocols with new employees and walk them through what they can and cannot do with company data.
- Train new hires on any specialized software or hardware used by the business — particularly if they’re using it in a unique way or with different processes than they’ve used before.
IT Documentation for New Employees
Documentation can include help desk tickets, policies, and procedures for specific applications or presentations on how things work at your company.
Having documentation available will be helpful when questions arise during an employee’s first week on the job and beyond. It’s important to have complete and up-to-date documentation so that new employees can get up to speed quickly. If IT documentation isn’t kept up to date, it can actually be harmful.
Here are some best practices to follow when creating IT documentation:
- Keep it simple and easy to understand
- Write in plain language, not tech jargon
- Use bullet points or numbered lists whenever possible
- Create a checklist that new hires can refer back to as they go through the process of setting up their workstation, installing software, and configuring computer settings.
Onboarding is a crucial part of the employee lifecycle, and it’s critical that it’s done right. The onboarding process needs to provide employees with a smooth transition from an outsider to a valued team member. It must be effective, well-planned, and supported by various departments within the company, including your in-house or outsourced IT team.
If you’re looking to find out how outsourced IT support can help your organization during onboarding and beyond, contact us at Network Right.
