What An Employee Onboarding Portal Is - And Why It's Not Enough

There is no second chance for a first impression.

And in the workplace, onboarding is that first impression.

No wonder that a solid onboarding process is vital when it comes to employee satisfaction, retention, and time-to-productivity.

And an onboarding portal or software is a great step to ensure that smooth process. Read on to understand what an onboarding portal is, its benefits, tips for onboarding new hires, and how to create an outstanding onboarding experience. 

🚪 What's an (employee) onboarding portal? 

An employee onboarding portal is a site where new hires get started when joining a company. Through the portal, recruits can access an array of information about your company, employee policy, workflow, organization mechanism, and much more. 

We like to think of an onboarding portal as a 'door' to new employees' first experiences at your company. It provides a single point of accessing relevant information for all new hires. 

Onboarding portal vs. Onboarding software 

An employee onboarding portal is similar to onboarding software. However, the primary difference is the latter is more holistic, dynamic, and modern.

Fully-fleshed onboarding software is less of a static portal - and adds an automated delivery layer that takes people on a guided journey through time.

Onboarding portal vs. Onboarding system or platform 

An onboarding platform is the same as an onboarding software.

Hence, the modern evolution of a static portal. 

All three serve the primary purpose of providing a welcoming experience for new hires to connect with colleagues and the company. 

🏆 The benefits of an employee onboarding portal 

An employee onboarding portal helps an organization give their new hire a one-stop-shop for everything they need to know.

Other benefits of systematic onboarding include: 

Satisfactory welcoming experience

Paperless onboarding boosts your brand and organization name while helping new employees settle faster. An onboarding portal helps deliver an engaging and competitive experience in the war for talents. 

A seamless onboarding process leads to higher employee satisfaction and retention rates. 

According to Brandon Hall Group's research, 60% of organizations with a streamlined onboarding process have an optimized recruitment strategy. 

Creates a one-stop-shop 

When hiring people frequently, all the scheduling, tracking, and sending reminders will cost you hours! Onboarding portals act as a one-stop shop for all the information and automate parts of the busywork. 

They provide detailed information spanning visual content and access to documents. This puts new hires and the HR team at ease even before day one. 

Easy task management 

Not all onboarding processes happen in the HR offices. For in-person workers, IT needs to set up their computers, get their parking validated, create new passes, assign line managers to prepare for inductions…the list is endless. 

Without an onboarding portal, it is difficult for HR to know which processes are complete and who needs to close monitoring and follow-up. 

📊 Tips for onboarding new hires remotely or in-person

Here are some great tips to help you take your onboarding to the next level.

Have a pre-onboarding process 

First impressions matter! A preboarding process helps new hires understand what to expect - and it's a great chance to excite them.

The pre-onboarding process can include a 'welcome company package' with things like:  

• An insider look at the company through a handbook, short video, ebook, etc
• Company branded stationery or T-shirts 
• Log in details and other employee credentials 
• Exclusive company benefits such as employee discounts, if any 
• Snacks, i.e., chocolates or even a basket of mini-muffins
• Flowers

Break the ice with cohort events

At one point, we've all experienced the new employee jitters. The best way to put your recruits at ease is to bring them together in a loose atmosphere.

This will help clarify any questions, build a relationship, and set the mood for the workplace environment. Ensure the tone of the meeting is friendly, warm, and light. A little laughter goes a long way! 

Implement a buddy system for at least 90 days 

Onboarding statistics indicate 87% of companies report that onboarding buddy systems speed up new hires' competency and capabilities. 

The buddy system helps new employees...

• Feel welcome and more comfortable in the workplace.
• Be free to ask questions they may hesitate to ask their superiors. 
• Improve informal learning through social interactions.
• Boost confidence through workplace recognition. 

‍

Have a standardized onboarding procedure 

A standard onboarding process gives recruits a sense of direction. It also reduces the time spent onboarding employees and increases productivity. 

You can do this by adding a checklist, arranging the required documents in order, and even setting up training if possible. All these things are more manageable if you have an onboarding portal.

Get feedback 

The best way to know how your new hires are settling in is through constant feedback, which makes it easier to; 

• Know what is working and how you can improve on areas that aren't. 
• Get an honest opinion from your recruits on how the onboarding system was in general.  
• Address any questions, concerns, and confusion recruits may still have. 
• Get a perspective on their advancement plans in the company. 

It also gives you an outsider's perspective on what needs to be improved in the onboarding process. 

❌ Why thinking of an onboarding 'portal' is not enough 

Employee onboarding is not something that ends after a day. Until a new hire gets fully accustomed to daily life in a company, essential processes, the culture, etc., it takes time.

Moreso, when done virtually, things tend to take a bit longer. Sure: You have less informal conversations, hence taking more time to get familiar with things. 

Sending new hires access to a static onboarding portal is making sure that the info is destined to get lost.

An onboarding process involves 4 phases: 

• Orientation
• Role training
• Role transition
• Ongoing development

Whatever onboarding solution you go for should consider these phases - and guide all stakeholders throughout the process.

Here's an exemplary workflow on Zavvy for the first 3 days alone.

This is way more effective than a static portal because

• It actively delivers information to everyone involved over a period of time. There is no limit to the duration here, and many customers plan out the first 6 months here.
• It connects people. Do you see these messages being sent to people managers and onboarding buddies? These are also things you can fully automate. So that those people can focus on the meaningful discussions, they will have.
• It delivers the info using modern channels like Slack or Microsoft Teams. People today spend most of their working hours within collaboration tools like Slack. And that's why our solution reaches people directly in here instead of forcing them to go somewhere else on their own.
• It turns onboarding into an experience that people will happily remember. The first impression counts. And merely sending people to a boring link collection won't cut it.

➡️ Learn how onboarding works with Zavvy

👀 What to look out for in an onboarding portal or software? 

An efficient onboarding portal automates dry tasks and emails/messages and creates an overall long-lasting experience. 

Here are some of the things to look for in an onboarding portal: 

Integration with existing tools 

Can the onboarding portal integrate with existing systems and tools in the company? 

When purchasing a pre-made onboarding software, you must ensure it's compatible with your core HRMS tools, such as Bamboo HR, Workday, or Personio. 

Embedding of existing content

Not every portal or onboarding software is compatible with video and audio. With visual and audio being essential learning processes for learners, ensure your solution is compatible with all the multimedia systems you're using every day - be it Loom, Vimeo, or YouTube, your Google Drive, or Sharepoint. 

Modern delivery channels

Does the onboarding tool support collaboration tools like Slack, Teams, etc.? Unfortunately, not all new hires are confident enough to ask questions when one-on-one with their superiors. 

Sending messages through these channels increases communication effectiveness 3x vs. email. 

Stakeholders task integration 

Can you integrate tasks for all stakeholders using the onboarding portal? For example, how easy is it to notify IT, the manager, or even set up a buddy program using the portal? 

For example, a Microsoft mini-case study revealed that 56% of new hires who met their onboarding buddies at least once contributed highly to overall team success. Why not leverage that?

Preboarding capability

Can the onboarding portal also do preboarding? Preboarding serves as a bridge between the time an employee accepts an offer to when they begin the onboarding process. 

Since it builds up excitement towards the whole recruitment process, it is essential to integrate it into your onboarding system. 

Preboarding also helps existing employees: 

• Get a head start on their buddy or employee roles.
• Know how to prepare to welcome new hires. 
  

🖥️ Do you need an LMS for onboarding? 

A Learning Management System (LMS) can be used as the central place for all training courses within a company. In some cases, "onboarding" is one of these courses.

Core features of an LMS include course management, course building features, user management, and tracking. 

So, do you need an LMS? Yes and no. 

Compared to a Wiki or onboarding portal, an LMS can create a better experience. Wikis help an organization quickly share ideas by linking simple pages. 

However, most LMS systems are not specially built with onboarding in mind. Many Learning Management Systems are way too complex, lack powerful integrations, or are incapable of delivering that guided experience as mentioned above.

➡️ How to create outstanding onboarding experience while automating the busywork with Zavvy 

Zavvy's employee onboarding software helps you easily set up a unique, structured onboarding experience that wows new hires from (or before) day one - and automates the busywork needed to do so.

With Zavvy, you can set up your first onboarding process in minutes. 

Our platform allows you to:

• Easily build powerful preboarding or new hire onboarding journeys by using our templates and drag-and-drop workflow builder 
• Automatically assign journeys to new hires based on your criteria and our HRMS integrations
• Track and stay on top of powerful onboarding insights during the entire process 
• Integrate MS Teams and Slack to connect all stakeholders and create outstanding new hire experiences beyond dry emails 
• Embed content from your favorite tools like Google Drive for all your company documents, Loom for videos and Typeform for surveys and quizzes 

And so much more!

Learn more about our onboarding software here or directly book a free live demo with our team.

⏱ When is the right time to buy an onboarding portal or software? 

It makes sense to get started with an onboarding portal or software as soon as you see the potential of hiring in significant numbers. 

But you shouldn't wait till then. 

The thing is: Once you're busy recruiting new hires in significant numbers, taking the time to sort out your process will become harder.

But doing so will save you hours every week. You will then free up hours for refocusing on recruiting, improving the people experience, or learning and development. 

Curious how others do it?

Learn how Alasco cut time-to-productivity in half while getting great employee feedback from day 1.