3 SharePoint Workflows to Streamline Employee Onboarding

When a new employee joins a company, the onboarding experience can significantly influence how productive they feel. According to data, employees with exceptional onboarding experience are more than 2.5 times more likely to be satisfied at work. A slow, unorganized onboarding process can frustrate and confuse the new hire, eventually leading to employee churn.

This is why you need fast, efficient onboarding experience. Let us explore some of the ways in which SharePoint workflows can streamline employee onboarding. But before we do that, let us first understand a bit about SharePoint

What is SharePoint?

Microsoft SharePoint is a powerful document management and collaboration platform. It allows organizations to create online intranet portals, connect teams, share information seamlessly, manage documents, and even automate workflows, in a secure and efficient way.

A key strength of SharePoint is its ability to build custom workflows, by integrating with other Microsoft Tools like Power Automate and MS Teams. This makes it an ideal platform to design a smooth, consistent and scalable onboarding experience.

How Does SharePoint Help in Employee Onboarding?

Employee onboarding is not one, but several tasks working in sync with each other. Managers and trainees need to deal with paperwork, training, provisioning access, policies and more. SharePoint helps in employee onboarding, by:

• Centralizing information: All onboarding documents, policies, and training materials are stored and accessed from one single platform.

• Automating workflows: You can easily automate tasks like document approvals, granting access, or sending notifications. This saves time and reduces errors.

• Consistency: All new hires will receive the same, high-quality onboarding experience, irrespective of which team they belong to and the location they are working from.

Now that we know about the advantages of using SharePoint and its automated workflows for employee onboarding, let us quickly look at some of the SharePoint workflows that will streamline the employee onboarding experience.

3 SharePoint Workflows to Improve the Employee Onboarding Experience

Here are some of the example SharePoint workflows you can use to streamline employee onboarding. We will only be looking at an overview of the workflow. To set up and customize the flows, it is always recommended to get in touch with a certified SharePoint consultant.

1. Document Collection Workflow for New Hires

Collecting essential documents like signed contracts, non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), ID proof and banking details can be challenging. Storing them at the right place and then making them accessible to the right people adds to the challenge.

Here is how a SharePoint workflow can help

• SharePoint can integrate with Microsoft Power Automate to send automated emails to the new hire with the request to submit documents.

• It also provides the upload link on a secure SharePoint portal

• You can also configure the workflow to send automatic reminders if any of the required documents are not submitted with the stipulated deadline.

• Once all the documents are submitted, the SharePoint workflow will automatically notify the HR team.

• It will automatically create a SharePoint folder with the name of the new employee and store all the documents in that folder.

This workflow will eliminate back-and-forth processes and will ensure that all the necessary paperwork is completed on time.

2. Workflow for Providing Access to IT and Other Resources

One of the most common reasons behind delays in onboarding is the IT taking too long to set up laptops, work accounts and access the required resources.

Here is an overview of a sample SharePoint workflow that can help you in the process

• As soon as the employment date is confirmed, the workflow automatically generates tickets.

• It also provides a list of hardware, email accounts, system logins, licenses and other technical resources that are required for the role.

• The workflow sends automatic notifications to the managers concerned when tasks are completed.

• All the details are stored in the respective SharePoint folder, so that they can be easily referenced by the right individuals.

This will help you ensure that your employees have the necessary access from day one and can start the work without any unnecessary delay. At the same time, it will also store all the information in the right place, avoiding potential issues in the future.

3. Orientation and Training Workflow

A crucial part of the onboarding process is to make the employee aware of the company culture, policies and procedures. Here are some of the things you can achieve by setting up a SharePoint workflow:

• You can automatically schedule orientation sessions, department introductions, and mandatory training. It can also share SharePoint documents with more detailed information.

• Assign training modules, and the associated SharePoint documents. You can also set automatic reminders, urging trainees to complete the program on time.

• You can share quizzes and feedback forms directly within the SharePoint portal. This can be done automatically when the trainee completes the course.

Such a structured approach will not only help new hires learn faster but also ensure that your organization gets the desired productivity from them, right from the start.

Should You Hire a SharePoint Consultant?

When it comes to SharePoint workflows, one of the most common questions businesses have is whether they should hire a consultant or not.

Automating workflows in SharePoint is easy, so even people without any in-depth technical skill can set them up. However, there are a few reasons why it is recommended to hire a SharePoint consultant

Customization: They can customize the workflows to align with your specific processes, HR policies and company culture. This will help you achieve better results.

Seamless Integration: Proper setup done by professionals ensures that your workflows integrate smoothly with Teams, Outlook and HR systems, further streamlining the process.

Faster Implementation: They follow an efficient process, where they avoid mistakes and can deploy the workflow considerably faster.

Training and Support: Not all your employees will be pros at SharePoint! Consultants will offer comprehensive and role-based training so that your HR and L&D teams can handle the automated workflows with confidence.

So, this is how you can use SharePoint workflows to streamline employee onboarding. Get the support you need and transform your onboarding experience into a more immersive one.