Onboarding. Crossboarding. Offboarding. Are these processes on your agenda? And how important are these processes? We at Sariba have been working with HR systems and HR processes for over 20 years and believe that these processes deserve even more attention than they already get.
To highlight this, and to find out more about what they mean and why this is so important, we went straight to the source. We had a chat with Jens Conradi. Jens is a wise and experienced man, and holds the position of Head of SAP SuccessFactors for the Nordic and Baltic countries. With this as a starting point, we would like to hear more about his thoughts on onboarding.
But before we delve into onboarding, let's take a few minutes to get to know Jens and his background a little better.
- Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your background, Jens?
-Yes, I can do that. I like to make the most out of my days both privately and at work, so I can spend my time on what gives me the most energy, such as family, friends and kitesurfing. And this is what onboarding and good employee experiences are all about, making time for the things that create engagement at work!
Professionally, I have always worked at the intersection of business and technology. For the last seven years, I have had the pleasure of working in SAP SuccessFactors on streamlining and digitalizing HR processes, where I now lead a fantastic team of around 50 people in the Nordics and Baltics.
I find working with HR technology wonderfully inspiring. HR has gone from being a purely human resources operational unit to a strategically important function that helps set the agenda in the business. It has become a recognized factor that employees' sense of belonging, loyalty, motivation and commitment are crucial to the success of the company's goals and ambitions. Being able to contribute to this work through the use of technology that makes a direct difference to people's working lives is an important driver for me.
In the years I have been working with SAP SuccessFactors I have been on a unique journey. When I started a few years ago, we had less than a handful of customers in Norway, and now we have multiplied the number of customers locally and have a total of several hundred in the Nordic and Baltic countries.
It's clear that the market wants to invest in becoming even better at attracting, developing and retaining employees through great HR technology - where we have a platform that meets the needs of the market well. In addition to our unique platform, we also have a well-functioning partner ecosystem, including Sariba, where we connect our leading global HR platform with local experience and expertise, which is key to our success.
- What are your thoughts on the onboarding process?
-A good onboarding process should ensure good, simple and streamlined handling for the company as well as ensuring an engaging, professional and predictable process towards the new employee. For the individual line manager, it is important to have support where they can easily take ownership in a hectic workday. A good onboarding system facilitates a common and good process, regardless of who is the new employee's immediate manager. At the same time, good onboarding will ensure that the employee is welcomed in the best possible way and has the shortest possible "time-to-productivity" with a high level of engagement. According to research, a new employee is 69% more likely to stay in the job over time if they have been through a good onboarding process.
After the client implemented onboarding in SAP SuccessFactors and structured their onboarding process, they reduced their new employee turnover by 19%! I would say those are great results!
When onboarding is done correctly, it has major positive ripple effects on both the bottom and top line. Unwanted turnover costs a company an average of NOK 1.5 million, and if the research is to be believed, good onboarding will provide a fairly large cost saving through reduced turnover. In addition, it will contribute to the top line through earlier increased productivity and engagement after hiring. In other words, it is important to use the so-called "honeymoon phase" wisely. This will ensure a high level of well-being, increased engagement and, not least, loyalty among the new employee. You can measure this concretely through, for example, pulse surveys to gain insight into the engagement level of new employees, or through the number of resignations in your company among employees who have been employed for less than two years. This is unwanted turnover, and while there can be a variety of reasons for an employee leaving early, it often indicates a mis-hire with a deviation in expectations from either the employee or the employer.
I have an example of this from a Norwegian customer. After the customer implemented onboarding in SAP SuccessFactors and structured their onboarding process, they reduced turnover among new employees by 19%! I would say these are brilliant results!
One process - two phases
- Many people make a distinction between preboarding and onboarding - what do you think about this?
-"I would say these are two phases within the same process. Pre-boarding starts when the new employee signs the contract and lasts until the first day of work. In Norway, this phase usually lasts for three months. During this period, motivation is often very high, but there is not necessarily much contact between employer and new employee. This is also a time when your new colleague may get cold feet and consider other options. It is therefore incredibly important to use this time both well and correctly, and this is where preboarding comes in.
The new employee often has a lot HR -related questions, which may include, among other things, payroll , benefits, mobile subscriptions, or insurance schemes. These can be easily answered during the pre-boarding phase through our mobile app, which is the same app that can provide access to various e-learning courses that can be taken before the first day of work. In this way, your new colleague gets to know you better as an employer, and motivation and excitement are kept up.
A good pre-boarding session gives your new colleague a good insight into what the company does, as well as practical information such as office space, and where and who they will meet on their first day. This creates a sense of security and is an important start to the socialization process for the new employee. By providing access to good and correct information before the first day of work, your new colleague will start off motivated and up to date - which also results in a faster time-to-productivity.
The onboarding phase itself starts on the first day of work. How long it lasts is up to each company to decide, but it usually lasts for 6 months, so it coincides with the probationary period. Good onboarding allows you to plan for the first day of work and the first period of your new colleague's employment with you. In addition to ensuring that your new colleague has all systems and accesses in order for the first day of work, socialization, training and follow-up are also very important.
Structured measurements
-Most of our customers have structured surveys and pulse measurements related to the employee lifecycle, where the onboarding phase is an important part of this. We recommend starting with a check-in early in the onboarding process both to take the pulse of the individual's experience and further needs, and not least to get feedback on the onboarding process itself as part of a continuous improvement process.
We at Sariba are experiencing a great focus on the onboarding module in SAP SuccessFactors - our customers are simply keen on this. What do you think is the reason for this?
- Businesses are keen to engage and motivate their employees and they see the value of retaining the best people. They also want to keep time-to-productivity as low as possible. It's not enough to attract the best minds - you also need to make them want to stay and develop in your company. This starts with a good onboarding process. A good onboarding process is no longer just a "nice to have", it has become a necessity to succeed in the war for talent. Even if you have landed the contract with your dream candidate, it's only after signing that the work really begins to make a successful hire.
A good and orderly onboarding and crossboarding and offboarding process
- The world, and also the labor market, is currently in turmoil. Crossboarding and offboarding are possibly as important as the onboarding process itself at the moment. What are your thoughts on this?
- There will always be changes in organizations where employees change roles, such as an employee moving into their first management role, or changing departments and taking on new responsibilities. To support employee development, a good crossboarding process will ensure that employees are well looked after and quickly settle into their new role.
When you have a good crossboarding process, you allow your talent to move internally more easily. This supports internal mobility and is a benefit not only for the employee who can get new and exciting career opportunities internally, but also for the business that will retain talent over time with internal career paths.
When an employee leaves the company, it's also important to have a process that takes into account both the individual employee's needs and the company's reputation. After all, you want the employee to be the best possible ambassador for you afterwards, and who knows: Maybe they'll want to come back at a later date? It's therefore incredibly important that the offboarding process is not left to chance, and that it's not up to each individual manager how to do this. By having a good process supported by a good tool, you streamline this process and make it easier for your managers to carry it out in the best possible way.
- Do you yourself have any personal experience related to these processes?
-Yes, I have. I was onboarded myself when I joined the SAP SuccessFactors team, and I must say I was impressed with the process.
As soon as a new employee has signed a contract with us, we start the onboarding process in the form of "pre-boarding". The first thing that happens is that you get access to SuccessFactors via an app. Here you can access important information and e-learning to prepare for the first day of work.
The first day at work with us starts with a celebration. It is important to us that our new colleagues feel welcome, so we make sure that there are flowers on the desk and that there is internal communication about our new colleague.
Of course, we also focus on time-to-productivity. This is not only important for us as an employer, but also for our new colleagues. When you feel that you are contributing to the team, you will thrive and find your place more quickly. We therefore focus on competence, and all new employees are assigned a mentor. As a new employee, you also get access to your own onboarding plan in SAP SuccessFactors . Here you will, among other things, have the opportunity to get to know both key people and key functions at our company. In this way, you can quickly establish an important and appropriate network.
New employees are also sent to a 'boot camp'. This brings together new recruits from across the region. People from management present different topics, and the new hires solve case studies. This is simply a week of inspiration and networking, and most of them take friendships across teams and countries home with them.
Finally, Jens: Why is SuccessFactors the best HR suite in the market, from your point of view?
-Good question! Thanks for the listicle fit, let me take some of the highlights in my eyes:
- Ease of use - intuitive user interfaces and, of course, a mobile app that facilitates a high degree of self-service for managers and staff.
- Covers the entire employee journey – from end to end, including payroll ! No other platform on the market does this. A comprehensive platform enables a consistent process flow across all HR processes. This means simplification and a high degree of automation. In addition, with all HR related data in one place to easily analyze and report to create insights and a basis for data-driven decisions in HR .
- Continuous innovation - twice a year we release a new version, continuously improving the platform with new innovation and functionality. With almost 10,000 customers globally, we need to stay ahead of the trends to remain relevant in the future. We therefore make sure that the platform evolves in line with the changes happening in the market.
Finally, I would like to highlight something that is unique to the Nordics: we have well over 100 local consultants in our various partners, such as Sariba. When it comes to HR , it is important to have local roots and processes that work with our different corporate cultures. Being able to build on established best practices that are seen to work specifically in Norway is something that provides security in the projects. This facilitates a platform that is more easily adopted by the whole business, not just HR. Our local partners allow us to be physically present with our customers, creating closer relationships, collaboration and further benefits.
Thanks for your time, Jens!
Want to know more about onboarding, crossboarding and offboarding? Then you are more than welcome to get in touch.