How RPA will Improve the Onboarding Process for New Employees

Harel Tayeb, CEO at Kryon discusses how by incorporating Robotics Process Automation, HR departments will be able to make the onboarding experience more personal and efficient, fostering a long-term relationship between the company and the employee. 

Was the expression “you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression” invented for onboarding? It might as well have been, since the process is a powerful and permanent initial imprint, defining a company’s values and approach to employee relationships.

In today’s world – where employees make snap judgments, where Millennials are seeking emotional connections with their employers, where peak employment makes even new employees vulnerable to poaching –  a beautifully orchestrated onboarding processOpens a new window is more essential than ever.

Now flash cut to the reality.

Onboarding has essentially remained the same for decades. Bunches of over-hyped tech software solutions have crashed and burned. We don’t have to enumerate them; you lived through them.  So we get that skepticism is in order. 

Nonetheless, an entirely new technology platform – which, is proving itself in other areas of global enterprises – is poised to transform the creaky, impersonal and overly templated onboarding process.

That technology is Robotic Process Automation (RPA). Don’t think of physical robots – these are software robots that are created to automate processes that are repetitive and rule-based.  While you might be concerned that a “robot” which can perform repetitive activities – replacing a human being – will begin dehumanization the HR processes, they can actually create a warmer, more engaging and more emotionally connected onboarding process.

So fear not! Using Artificial intelligence and machine learning can change your onboarding process, and reinvent heavy manual workflows, in two essential ways:

• Firstly, by making the onboarding process more warm and intimate for the employee – which is the primary goal.  The new employee is the customer, and technology should always put the customer first.
• Secondly, by streamlining it for the HR department, so HR professionals can spend more time on the mind and less time on the grind.

Let’s spend a moment examining the role of RPA in creating and inspiring the first impression, then we will move on the operational HR benefits.

To begin, let’s have a level-set moment.  We all hate bureaucracy and filling out forms and nothing is more frustrating than when we have to continually input the same information over and over, because there is the right-hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing.  We hate it when we’re dealing with a bank or credit card company or insurance company.   So imagine how that toxic that feeling can be – the sense that no one is listening or knows you – when it’s your first week on the new job.

RPA can solve that problem because it consolidates and organizes all the information you have about the new employee into one place.

When she or he gets their forms, RPA can fill out large blocks on them in advance.  We know the new employee’s name, address, and other key data from their resume and job application form.

Beyond that, **RPA can deliver a beautiful, personal integration experience for the new employee**.  All the essential processes – initial meetings with supervisors, safety, and training, or tasks like logging time and submitting expenses – can be organized in one place, in a bespoke, custom-built experience.

So instead of someone feeling like a number – they feel valued and respected from day one.  The interactions with HR professionals can be liberated from mechanical necessities; so instead of sitting for hours filling out paperwork, the time together can be spent building relationships and inculcating the culture and values of the organization.

Now let’s move onto the value of RPA for the HR department itself.  A data-driven approach to onboarding provides ongoing value beyond the first contact.  It can collect valuable employee insights in one place, which creates the conditions for optimum success. 

Of course, RPA can assure a flawless compliance program.  In a world of frantic regulatory change, many HR professionals struggle to keep up-to-date – which can trigger hefty fines and reputational damage.  With RPA, all updated forms and approved protocols are automatically implemented into the onboarding process.

What’s more, **the right RPA technology can give HR a single pane of glass when it comes to skill gaps and ongoing behaviors which can be turned into projective data about the duration of employment**.

RPA can be an essential part of an “engagement management program”, a learning tool that can identify problems early and even suggest shifts in manger and supervisory personnel.

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**In a world where the annual turnover rate is predicted to rise to nearly 20%, RPA isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity**.

We’re talking about a reinvention of onboarding from a transactional experience to a learning context – a profound pivot in the way companies hire and train new employees.   It’s made possible by the transformative impact of RPA – making processes work for people, instead of against them.

The advent of RPA could not have come a moment too soon for HR departments.   Like every other corporate function,

they are increasingly being asked to do more with less.  And legacy HR tech – truth be told, and no matter what you may read – is broken and not fit to serve a modern company that requires digital innovation.

Although HR has no problem outsourcing services like payroll function, to provide more time to focus on talent management, they still haven’t reached the full potential of a personalized onboarding process, which is vital in creating a long-term relationship. It’s the “handshake” that establishes the fundamental nature of the relationship between the company and the employee.

The fast-growing RPA market is already transforming the workplace by freeing employees from soul-crushing processes.   HR must not be left behind.

In fact, by using RPA to create a new onboarding experienceOpens a new window , HR will have a profound impact on the culture of the organization, today and tomorrow.

It will turn what has traditionally begun a painful few steps into the beginning of a beautiful friendship.