Tuesday, December 20, 2011

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.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

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.

Monday, December 5, 2011

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.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Tweet your new employee war stories

Share your best/worst onboarding experience and WIN a double-pass to Village Gold class

Ever joined a company and been welcomed in such a way that was either so incredibly good or terribly bad? We want to hear it. Affirm Software are giving away a double-pass to Village Gold Class cinemas in return for sharing with us your best or worst experience as a brand new employee at a company.

Comment below with your story or interact with us via Twitter.

The stories we like will be re-tweeted and a winner chosen. To be eligible for the prize, you must use the hashtag #affirmcomp.

The competition will run until 5:00pm AEDST on Friday 16th December 2011. The winner will be announced via Twitter, so follow us to see if its you. Follow us via @affirmsoftware

Disclaimers: When tweeting your stories, it is highly recommended you change the names of people and companies to protect the innocent (and the guilty).

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Streamlined onboarding proves winning approach

Republished by Key Media 1/11/11
The Australian HR Awards held in Sydney last Friday saw recognition of excellence within the industry – and at the cutting edge of implementing streamlined HR processes, Brookfield Multiplex took out the award for Best use of Technology.

Monday, October 31, 2011

Brookfield Multiplex and Affirm's onboarding software win "best use of technology" award at the Australian HR awards


Brookfield Multiplex, the leader in construction and development projects, has an innovative HR team who have embraced a fully paperless onboarding solution developed by Affirm Software. Brookfield’s use of this technology was recognised by winning the “best use of technology” award at the Annual HR awards on Friday night, October 28th, 2011.
There were 22 nominees within this category, and four finalists who included Atlassian, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, Logan City Council and Santos.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Revolve super - eforms software solutions for the superannuation

Affirm will be exhibiting at the Innovation and Technology:superannuation event in Sydney later this year. With such high volumes of paperwork and forms within this sector, Affirm's innovative eforms and contract management software allows forms to be pre populated, completely accurately and quickly, and stored compliantly online.

The event will discuss changes in the superannuation sector and promote technology solutions for the sector.

The event is to be held on 6 December 2011 at the Hilton in Sydney http://www.fst.net.au/Index.aspx

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Affirm Software announced as finalist for Business3000 awards

ANNOUNCING THE 2011 FINALISTS FOR THE BUSINESS3000 AWARDS.

Business3000 would like to thank all the businesses who submitted a business entry kit for the awards for 2011.

The following businesses successfully met the awards criteria and are the finalists to win the 2011 awards, which will be announced at the Gala Luncheon on Thursday 13th October.
  • Affirm Software
  • Corporate Creative Directions
  • Doxa Youth Foundation
  • Enspire
  • Gewurzhaus
  • Hub Melbourne
  • Huddle
  • Illumination
  • Life Elements
  • m.a.d.woman
  • MBD Energy
  • Pozible
  • Victorian Youth Mentoring Service

Monday, August 22, 2011

Visit Affirm at the HR Technology Conference October 12


Affirm showcased it's web based onboarding software, HROnboard at AHRI's Technology conference in Melbourne on October 12th.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Affirm scored a "Highly recommended" in Australian achievers award for customer satisfaction


The Australian achievers awards are an independent, unbiased award system based on assessment ratings from a business's own customers. Affirm Software achieved a highly recommended 84.11% in the Computer Systems and Software services category for 2011.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

It is not the end of IT - but it is a change


David from 37Signals wrote a great piece on ‘The end of the IT department’.
"When people talk about their IT departments, they always talk about the things they’re not allowed to do, the applications they can’t run, and the long time it takes to get anything done….None of this is a good foundation for a sustainable relationship."

Monday, April 4, 2011

Successful team rock climbing event


Affirm staff attended another successful and fun team event - this time the fit group all enjoyed indoor rock climbing. The post event beers and pizza made the hard work not so worthwhile though!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Personalising your Onboarding processes

Last year, we met with a potential client to discuss our hr onboarding software, HROnboard. He liked the system but was a little hesitant, saying “our whole new employee onboarding is so personal. Your software might take away from our personalised approach.”

I heard the same argument against automation almost 15 years ago. I was a consultant at the time, and everyone was building their own Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. This was before Salesforce, Highrise or any other online CRMs. Besides building your own, your next best option was ACT!

As we rolled out new CRMs, some salespeople who were going to be forced to use them hesitated, saying “This is a waste of time – sales are more personal than this.” However, they found that the CRM tool actually created more time for them to make sales MORE personal. More people in the organisation could appreciate the breadth of relationship the salesperson and the company had with their clients. People got things done the right things done faster, with less explanation. There was also less ‘key-person’ risk and excellent metrics on how well the sales process worked. By automating the administrative tasks, there was more time to spend on the important things such as building trust and delivering on promises.

The CRM users also appreciated the ‘institutional memory’ that the systems created. People stopped asking them for information multiple times. Old paperwork could be retrieved within seconds and orders were taken correctly the first time.

Creating a ‘personal’ relationship is about creating trust. Using a smart system that remembers who did what and when helps that relationship – it doesn’t take away from it.

15 years on, we’ve seen so many more systems enter our working lives. Our HROnboard system helps automate alot of the administrative tasks associated with onboarding new staff members, but infact can strengthen the personalised approach to onboarding new staff members.

HROnboard allows you to send tailored letters of offer and welcome packs, which might include personalised welcome letters, videos and tailored marketing materials. Throughout the process, the HR Administrator can track the status of staff being onboarded and can make friendly reminders to request forms and documentation be returned. It ensures new employees feel welcomed, valued and prepared, with a favourable first impression of their new company. Equally, internal staff are well organised and prepared for the new recruit, to ensure they are onboarded efficiently with things such as phones, computers and equipment all ready before the employee arrives.

Through automating the onboarding process, you are also creating the impression of being a forward-thinking, and environmentally friendly company by going paperless and streamlining the onboarding process by eliminating data entry.

Automation in our eyes is a tool that can strengthen a personalised approach to onboarding staff.