NGA.NET and Affirm Software partner to provide integrated onboarding solution to market

NGA.NET has formed a strategic alliance with Affirm Software (Affirm) to provide innovative onboarding solutions to complement their existing recruitment and performance management software.

Donna Costello, NGA.NET’s Product Director commented “Affirm’s sophisticated onboarding system complements our eRecruit solution. As Affirm specialises in eforms, they are a strong partner to deliver a truly unique onboarding system, tailored to customer’s specific onboarding needs, particularly in the letter of offer phase.”

Both systems use a Software as a Service (SaaS) hosted internet model, and seamlessly integrated to ensure an effortless user experience. As customers don’t need to install any software or hardware, implementation times are reduced.

Both businesses also understand HR challenges with paper based and highly administrative processes, and the integrated solution provides huge efficiency gains, time and cost savings to recruit, retain and develop candidates.

Bryan Ericson, Affirm CEO added “Client’s are increasingly looking for an integrated offering, so our solutions and synergistic partnership brings us one step closer to providing a truly integrated end to end solution into a complementary customer base.”

Top 10 best/worst onboarding war stories as submitted via Twitter

Thank you for sharing your best and worst onboarding stories via Twitter. Below are the Top 5 onboarding stories, as submitted by you.

#5 – When I arrived, there a welcome banner on my pc for my first day, and then the whole team went out to lunch. I got a great feeling about the company and felt very valued and welcomed.

#4 - Three days into my new job, my company was acquired by another company. 5 days in, I was told I had to reapply for my job.

#3 - Went to work on my first day and as I opened the door, fell on my face and spilt coffee all over my boss. Very embarrassed!

#2 - Arrived Day 1 in suit and tie and everyone else in casual dress. What a dork. Thx 4 letting me know the dress code.

The winning entry by James Caldwell @cluemark: #1 - I joined a new start up project and before my contract start date I was given a welcome basket of goodies (nuts, chocolates,booze, etc.)..the value of which was deducted from my first pay(: Congratulations to James who wins a double-pass to Village Gold Class cinemas.

The process of onboarding a candidate can be frustrating for new employees, prone to error and involve lengthy delays to complete. It shouldn’t be like that. Getting the simple things right is often the best onboarding experience. Some simple tips:

1. Ensure selected candidates receive paperwork, policy manuals and all forms efficiently online before starting, and as fast as possible to avoid them accepting another offer.
2. On Day one, ensure the computer is set up with access to relevant system directories, payroll have the new candidate logged into their system, business cards ordered, phones set up and the induction program very polished. A team lunch is also a great way to welcome the new team member.
3. Create actionable goals and expectations early
4. Debrief at the end of the onboarding period confirming that the new candidate is happy and settled in

Innovative HR Managers can onboard staff so easily using cutting edge HR technology to help them improve efficiencies and make things easier for their staff and candidates.

HROnboard by Affirm Software allows HR teams to customise letter of offers being sent to candidates, with dynamic data driven letter of offer clause inclusion and assembly enabling them to include any specific clauses or terms within individual letters of offer. It can then accommodate internal approvals, to ensure everything is approved online quickly.

The HR Manager can customise employment packs to include policy and procedures manuals, pre-populated eForms, orientation schedules, videos, benefits documents, FAQ’s – any customised material you want new staff to see. This removes all paper forms and approvals.

The employees review and approve their offer online via a personalised and secure employee portal. They receive notification of their offer via their mobile phone (requiring PIN ID verification for security purposes). The candidate enters details only once, which pre populates all eForms. This saves the new staff member considerable time rewriting the same information across multiple forms.

Once accepted, the system sends forms and documents to relevant departments, e.g. IT and payroll, for processing. This ensures that an employee’s workspace and material are all ready for their first day. If they have all the material prior to starting, and all (IT and payroll) systems ready for Day 1, they can become productive much faster and start to quickly contribute to an organisation.

Brave the Metrics Madness

Kyle Lagunas, HR Analyst at Software Advice where this article was originally published discusses metrics for on boarding ROI.

Business leaders are aggressively looking for strategies to increase their organization’s output while keeping staffing costs in check. HR metrics are a hot topic, as they have become the key to making the most of an organization’s people. Of all the potential strategies for maximizing ROI, an improved on boarding process is one area worth investing in. Why? Because ensuring the new talent you hire is prepared to succeed from day one is critical to engagement and productivity.

Some organizations spend valuable time and money acquiring new talent, only to have the on boarding experience be little more than a checklist of tasks to be completed in the first week. Orientation is limited to a tour of the employee’s immediate surroundings, training is reduced to “Holler if you need something,” and their workstation is semi-complete (the phone’s been ordered).

On the other hand, an employee that experiences a smoother onboarding process will be better trained, more connected to the organization and quicker to produce.

When determining ROI of the onboarding process, you need metrics that will help you determine how efficiently new hires can come in and make an impact on their team and your organization. While some things are easy to measure (i.e. costs per employee, terminations at 90 days, total cost of new hires), other things are more difficult to assess – such as average time to proficiency or cultural fit of those who quit.

Establish a Baseline for Measuring Onboarding ROI

The biggest obstacle many HR departments must overcome is working with company leadership to establish a baseline for how your organization will assess ROI. Not only can this be incredibly subjective, but it’s also time consuming. Unlike other company metrics, evaluating the true value of bringing on new employees and measuring their contribution to your organization is not always a straightforward process. Thus, the time spent with leadership establishing a baseline for measuring ROI is invaluable.

I recently spoke with Dave Wilkins, VP of Research at Taleo, about some best practices for enhancing the onboarding process and measuring ROI. Based on our conversation, there are a few key concepts to keep in mind when establishing your baseline to measure ROI:

• Onboarding should be consistent. All of your fancy data gathering will be for naught unless you can roll out a universal process for onboarding new hires. According to Wilkins, “Rather than have something that's being done ad-hoc between different groups or divisions, you need a way to standardize the onboarding process.” At the small and medium-sized business level, the core ROI lies in having a solid onboarding process. Without it, HR professionals spend a lot of their time fighting fires.

• The onboarding process is just that: a process. Though checklists are great for staying organized, your new hires’ success depends on your ability to get them connected to your organization and keep them connected beyond their first day. A little food for thought: According to Leadership IQ, 46 percent of new hires don’t last more than 18 months. “The assumption that we can bombard people with everything they need to know in 90 days and not continually reinforce those things is a mistake,” explained Wilkins.

• The onboarding process is a lot like dating. Though the normal probationary period for new hires is 90 days, The Wynhurst Group reports 22 percent of staff turnover occurs in the first 45 days of employment. As you are getting a feel for your new hire’s potential within your organization, she’s sizing you up as well. So be sure she knows that your office door is always open, buy her lunch on her first day and let her know you’re committed to her success.

At the end of the day, your metrics will inform your ROI, but it’s up to you and your leadership to determine the true value of an improved onboarding process.

Brave the Metrics Madness

Once you have a grasp of what information will be most valuable to your organization, it’s time to strategically determine how to track it. While some of the data you measure won’t be cold, hard facts that fit nicely into a spreadsheet, there are still three key areas you can focus on that will provide you rich information: performance, experience and effectiveness.

Furthermore, I think it’s important to broaden your scope beyond your new hires to measure the impact they have on their teams, as well as the impact your organization sees as a whole. Here are a few ideas of what you can measure (as well as how frequently):

	Employee (30, 60, 90, 180, 360 days)	Team (Quarterly)	Organization (Semi-annually)
Performance	Progress Milestones	Change in overall productivity	Headcount vs output
Experience	Employee Satisfaction	Impact on team morale	Cultural fit vs retention
Effectiveness	New hire temp proficiency	New hire time to proficiency vs. team average	Impact on retention (both quits and terminations)

For Maximum ROI, Take Engagement Beyond Onboarding

The best metrics are not just FYI-this-is-going-to-be-archived-immediately reports. They should be forward-thinking analytics tools. According to Dr. John Sullivan at TLNT.com, “They tell you who’s going to win the Superbowl next year, not who won last year.” But let’s go one step further: Your metrics should provide the information you need to develop strategies to ensure you’re winning the Superbowl every year.

Your ROI is answering one question above all: What is the value of onboarding new employees more effectively?

Here’s a hint: the sooner they can begin making key contributions, the better. Take a look at your metrics and note improvements in employee performance, time to proficiency and increased retention. These are all major factors that will inform your organization’s answer to this question. And once you have this answer, move on to the next question: How can we maximize the value of a better-onboarded employee?

One way you can maximize this value is to keep the momentum going. “The hiring and onboarding process is really the start of the talent management conversation,” says Wilkins. “Engagement starts in the recruiting process, manifests itself in the onboarding process, and then continues on in how you motivate employees day to day.”

Many organizations leverage the tools and technology found in talent management systems to better manage the process of engaging and motivating their employees. Beyond core talent management functionality, these systems also offer reporting analytics and dashboard elements that provide the information you need to support your ROI analysis.

Regardless of the tools and metrics you have at your disposal, though, there isn’t one best practice for everyone to live by when measuring ROI. Rather, it comes down to having a clear conversation between HR and company leadership to determine the end result you’re going for.

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Effective on boarding of new staff well is intrinsically linked to staff satisfaction, retention and loyalty. Quick to implement and inexpensive, you can get your ROI back very quickly using Affirm Software's on boarding solution, HROnboard.

What do you think? What metrics do you evaluate in determining onboarding ROI? Leave your comments below.

Onboarding Strategies for Getting Seasonal Workers Up to Speed

Republished from Kyle Lagunas, HR Analyst at Software Advice

During peak periods - around the holidays, tax season or over the summer - it’s critical that businesses can easily manage the addition of temporary employees and quickly get them up to speed. And from recruiting and training to offboarding, seasonal employees can put your human resources software and processes to the test. Not only do you have to find and hire the right people, you have a very short time to train them and get them connected to your organization.

An effective, streamlined process for hiring and onboarding employees is essential to any organization’s success - especially those that rely on seasonal help. Here, I’ve outlined a few ways to go above and beyond your normal onboarding process to get seasonal employees geared up and ready to go.

Employee Integration: The Heart of Onboarding

According to Forbes Woman columnist and onboarding expert Emily Bennington, every employee in an organization should be integrated into the company on several levels - regardless of the length of employment. But because of the time constraints associated with onboarding seasonal workers, you’re going to need a concentrated game plan. How familiar with your products do they need to be to handle the register? Take a look at your existing onboarding process, and then adjust and condense it so you can achieve your optimal level of integration.

5 Key Factors of a Strong Seasonal Workforce

Some people may assume I’m focused on training when I say “onboarding,” but the fact is that the employee experience starts in the recruiting stage. With this in mind, here are a few key strategies to help you throughout every phase of the process:

Tailor your recruiting strategies. Your recruiting efforts should be tailored to meet the specific needs of a seasonal workforce. It’s important to make the details of the opportunity clear from the get-go. I would also be wary of how you communicate potential for further employment, as you don’t want folks making assumptions.

Perform due diligence. Don’t skimp on due diligence in collecting legal papers and monitoring employees’ schedules. “A lot of people short-circuit processes like verifying work eligibility or tracking hours correctly. It should go without saying, but you really need to be sure you’re following the law,” says John Rossheim, a senior contributing writer at Monster.com.

Provide proper training. According to Bennington, onboarding should focus on integrating new employees in three areas:

● Technical Skills: To what depth of expertise do seasonal employees need to be trained to perform their jobs?

● Company Culture: How thoroughly do seasonal hires need to understand company policies and values?

● Social Integration: In what ways can you connect seasonal employees to your organization so they feel like they are part of the team?

Furthermore, Rossheim suggests designing your seasonal workforce “to accomplish the task at hand, rather than haphazardly training everyone to do everything they may possibly have to do. Specialize rather than throwing everyone into the same bucket.”

Know your capacity upfront. Whether you have a general human resources management system or a hodgepodge of spreadsheets and checklists - it’s important to know your capacity. Can your back-office system efficiently handle an increased volume in applicants and new hires?

Make them part of the team. Seasonal employees can easily feel isolated if an onboarding program doesn’t successfully connect them to the organization. According to Eddie Baeb of Target Corportate Communications, Target is focused on engaging seasonal employees and making them feel just as valued as anyone else from day one. With nearly 40 percent (about 35,800) of seasonal team members joining as permanent employees last year after the holidays, they’ve got this down.

Offboarding Offers an Opportunity for Improvement

You may have discovered a few star performers you’d like to bring onto your team permanently. For the rest, though, Bennington says “there’s definitely an opportunity to establish brand ambassadors.” Offboarding provides a chance to make a lasting positive impression, while gaining insight into the worker’s experience.

Standard offboarding practices include surveying workers on their experience. Bennington suggests going beyond surveying, and having one-on-one exit interviews with select employees to get more candid responses.

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Kyle Lagunas is the HR Analyst at Software Advice. On the surface, it's his job to contribute to the ongoing conversation on all things HR. Beyond that, he makes sure his audience is keeping up with important trends and hot topics in the industry. Focused on offering a fresh take on points of interest in his market, he's not your typical HR guy.