As businesses move further into the digital age, technology plays an ever-increasingly important role in the workplace. It follows that new employees must be fully onboarded onto company tech to ensure a smooth transition from just a candidate to a valuable contributor.
Luckily, there are plenty of ways for managers and HR personnel alike to make sure their IT onboarding process is top-notch. In this blog post, we’ll explore some strategies and tactics successful companies utilize using the new hire IT checklist during their onboarding process.
- Communicate Expectations Clearly
It may sound simple, but one of the most significant factors in ensuring a smooth onboarding experience is simply taking the time to communicate expectations clearly with new hires. Ensure they know what equipment they need to bring and any prerequisites for system access, like forwarding an email or setting up two-factor authentication. This extends well beyond technical details – you can educate them about your policies and corporate culture. That way, they get more comfortable with how things work within your team environment.
- Personalize Training Sessions
While personalizing training sessions might not seem like a top priority when it comes to IT onboarding processes, it’s actually incredibly impactful for everyone involved. When your trainers take extra care knowing who they’re working with — learning whether that person has needs related to accessibility or certain systems knowledge gaps — you can engage those people much more effectively.
Take infosec training as an example: If HR knows an employee has worked with similar software before but hasn’t used anything comparable lately and doesn’t have lots of exposure related … then starting them off learning about these basics doesn’t really help anyone. On the flip side, though, if that same hire had prior consulting experience interfacing clients directly via codewords, diving right into security protocols would engage them much better while helping build defenses early where potential weaknesses exist.
- Build Relationships Early On
New hires joining your team bring great energy and curiosity; however, retaining that zest for their job tasks can be challenging. After all, they have other things to do besides learn software programs and spend hours doing configurations. This is where building relationships two-fold comes in handy. Firstly, ensure they meet their supervisors and team leaders so they know whom they will communicate with for different rollouts or follow-ups. Secondly, make sure you introduce a remote support services team so these guys aren’t entirely lost waiting on the help of others when they cannot find their way around in office hardware/software.
- Use Technology to Streamline Processes
There’s nothing more frustrating than having a process that could easily be streamlined by technology left unchanged due to reluctance by colleagues or even management who don’t see its value. It doesn’t have to go this way during your new hire IT checklist, though – embrace what technology offers with open arms! You may be surprised at how powerful tech is in reducing labor requirements and increasing accuracy. Intranet and chat platforms can put everyone directly in touch with company knowledge sources.
- Utilize an IT Onboarding Checklist
The most successful companies have one thing in common – robust training checklists to use as reference points throughout the process. While there are nearly endless steps involved when it comes to getting new hires acclimated onto your tech frame, using a well-designed list ensures crucial factors get checked off every time without creating too many gaps. With free templates available online now, there’s no excuse for not maintaining a clear delineation.
Conclusion
By following these guidelines, companies can ensure a smooth and effective technology onboarding process while incorporating personalized touches. With the right combination of communication, building relationships early on, embracing new tech solutions where applicable, and having a well-structured checklist, there’s no reason your company can’t get up to speed with new hires joining for whom you hope will become trusted assets moving forward.