Onboarding Employees

Onboarding employees can be time-consuming and frustrating, from losing essential documents to forgetting to gather necessary criteria. There are many boxes to check off, even for a small business. Having to keep all these boxes organized in our minds or on paper is just plain and simple, too much. We live in an age of technology. Why do we forget to use it when we are onboarding employees? In my history, I have worked with paper-checked boxes more than I want to admit. We need to start using the resources our world has given us.

For some businesses, the very thought of transitioning into a paperless society is frightening. For others, the process has already started, but they still have a hard time maintaining it. Wouldn’t it be nice to have someone who can manage all of this for you? In a perfect world, you would have an HR department that would do just that. Still, between recruitment, meetings, professional development, and all the other “small” tasks that HR handles, employee maintenance falls through the invisible cracks – leaving your company at serious risk.

In 2017/2018, Alberta Employment Standards created a way for employees and anyone else who has concerns about an organization to fill out an anonymous complaint online. In the following year, AES hired additional staff that can follow up on these claims – and yes, they can inspect your HR files. The real question is – how vulnerable are you leaving your organization?

Large or small, HR department or not, wouldn’t it be nice to know your onboarding needs are being handled? Wait, did we find another area of lack in the world of HR? Well, I guess it’s time to fix that. Imagine a company that provides an easy onboarding process and maintains the documents for you. Imagine not overloading your current managers and HR departments by hiring someone externally. Someone who has the resources to make sure your employees aren’t working without the proper training and certifications.

You didn’t think I would leave you with a problem and not hand you a solution – Because this is where we come in. Not only can we make sure that every new hire knows what is going to be required of them during the onboarding process. We can also make sure that when those driver’s licenses’, WHIMIS certifications, first aid certifications, and many more documents you have to track are up to date one or three years from now. Let’s face it, how many times have you let these documents accidentally expire, only to need an entire overhaul of each employee’s records – wasting valuable time when it could’ve been handled correctly from the beginning.

Was this a sales pitch, or just a keyboard warrior’s rant? Maybe it’s a little of both, but when there is a lack in Human Resources, it doesn’t just affect one department; it affects the entire business. And all of this starts with onboarding, and so we should aim to get it right from the start. Right now is a good time to mention, in case you are one of those employers who haven’t been keeping track of these documents. You don’t have to do it alone. Audits happen to be another forte of ours – but maybe I’ll save that rant for another blog.