Sponsored Article
Countless organizations have been disrupted thanks to the events of 2020, although the work continues for many others. Recent research suggests that shifting to remote work has made hiring easier. In a survey, more than two-thirds of respondents said they believed having a remote work option would make it easier to recruit top talent.(1)
Even amidst all the disruption, the goals of hiring haven’t changed much; companies still want their employees to be ready and able to contribute on the first day of work. While a best practice is to begin onboarding before the employee’s first day, with IT no longer right down the hallway, the onboarding experience must evolve. Since many departments have pivoted to remote work and are often hiring new employees without meeting them in person, IT and HR need new strategies to tackle the challenges of onboarding remorse workers.
In this new environment, what else does day-one employee readiness look like?
Internal Collaboration Is Essential To a Successful Onboarding Process
IT and HR professionals should work together to create a more seamless onboarding experience. New policies and workflows are needed that defines the equipment a new employee requires and outlines how that equipment will be delivered to an employee’s home. Checklists can help communicate exact needs between departments. When IT knows what each employee needs before they start work, they can make sure these tools are acquired, prepared and deployed before the new hire starts.(2)
Collaboration between departments is key to onboarding remote workers. According to research, more frequent and consistent collaboration between the IT and HR requires working together to integrate new hires more efficiently. By collaborating, IT and HR would be better able to determine the content, processes, systems and tools each new employee needs for day-one success. Through their partnership, IT and HR could track sentiment and engagement during onboarding and use metrics to make improvements to the process.(3), (4) By communicating between them and iterating along the way, IT and HR can streamline the onboarding process and adapt it to suit these times.
Employees Shouldn’t Have To Wait for Their Setup
The most successful onboarding doesn’t start on an employee’s first day. Ideally, the IT department should be spinning up the process in the days (and possibly weeks) before an employee starts. IT needs to know the specific equipment the employee will need and should have a plan to have the equipment (with all its programs and accessories) available and ready for the employee to use on the first day. Everything should be set up and ready to use before the employee starts work.(5)
Enabling Day-One Readiness on Employees’ Device of Choice
More than half of all companies have bring-your-own-device policies, while three-quarters of employees use their personal devices for work.(6) The proliferation of remote work isn’t slowing down BYOD adoption, either. Letting employees use their own devices at work is a good practice for both new and existing hires. For new hires, giving them the option of using their own equipment enhances the employee experience. Having that option also allows for flexibility in case any company-supplied equipment doesn’t arrive in the mail by the time the employee is ready to start work.
Learning Opportunities
Webinar
Jun
6
The Future of Social Media: Emerging Trends and How to Stay Ahead of the Curve
The impact of emerging technologies like AI on social media
Webinar
Jun
7
The Building Blocks of Personalization
This webinar will explore how personalization can create powerful ecommerce shopping experience.
Webinar
Jun
8
Attracting—and Keeping—Your High-Net-Worth Investors
Join PwC to dissect their recent survey findings on a specific customer subset — high-net-worth investors.
Webinar
Jun
13
The Future of Contact Centers with AI at the Helm
Learn how to balance human intuition and interaction with the potential uses of AI to create delightful and lasting CX
Webinar
Jun
20
3 Steps to Unlock Your Customer Data and Drive Revenue
Discover how Twilio Segment’s #1 Customer Data Platform helps implement data-driven strategies.
Webinar
On demand
AI for Marketers: Optimize Personalization Across the Funnel
Understand the benefits of utilizing AI across your entire marketing stack
Having a solid digital workspace strategy allows employees to be prepared to contribute from the first day of work on whatever device they choose. This could be their own machines, with access to a secure digital workspace, or through company-supplied equipment that has the digital workspace preloaded. Tools such as VMWare’s Workspace ONE Intelligent Hub allow for single sign on, which reduces the number of setups employees need to perform before they can access the tools they need.
Conclusion
Through preparation and collaboration, the IT and HR departments can ensure employees are ready with the tools they need for their job from the first day. Supporting employees during their initial onboarding assists an employee’s speed to competency, limits downtime and contributes to a positive employee experience.
Having an employee’s workspace set up and ready to go from the start does more than prepare the employee to be productive and immediately contribute to the team. It also demonstrates to the employee that the company is organized, focused and dedicated to employee success. When employees feel welcomed by all business lines, it does wonders for their productivity.
Learn how VMWare can support your company’s day-one employee readiness at vmware.com.
Sources
1 VMWare (2020). The New Work Era: Distributed Work Trends2 Rao, S. (2019). The Step-By-Step Guide to New Hire Onboarding. Wagepoint3 VMWare (2020). IT and your employee experience survey4 VMWare (2020). HR and your employee experience survey5 Maurer, R. New Employee Onboarding Guide: Proper onboarding is key to retaining, engaging talent. SHRM6 Georgiev, D. (2020). 41 Stunning BYOD Stats and Facts to Know in 2020. Techjury
More Thought Leadership from VMWare
- Executive Profile Q&A: Brian Madden: The Future of Work Is Here
- Supporting Employees as They Attempt to Maintain Work/Life Balance During a Pandemic
- Opportunities to Optimize the Employee Experience
- Jump-Starting Return to the Office Plans
- Delivering Exceptional IT Service When the Office Isn’t the Office
- Cloud Elasticity: Continuous Access to the Resources You Need
- Centralized Computing Power in a Decentralized Work Environment
- Preparing Employees for Day-One Readiness
- Leveraging Network Agility As Demand Shifts Into an Uncertain Normal
- Reviewing the Security Strategy in the New Normal: What to Watch For
- Rethinking Security Strategies for Today’s Distributed Workforce
- Cyberattacks Are Increasing — Here’s How to Stay Safe
- Zero Trust — A Security Mindset
