How an LMS can transform the way you preboard new starts

What is preboarding?

We’re familiar with the term onboarding as being the induction process that starts when an employee joins your company.

Preboarding is similar, but it comprises the steps that are carried out between when an individual accepts a job offer and when they officially start work.

Most HR departments have a set of preboarding processes that they carry out as a matter of course.

The typical examples include arranging for non-disclosure agreements to be signed and making sure candidates have read and understood a range of policies, including health and safety reading, acceptable IT facility usage policies, and so on.

All very boring, right?

The fact is, you could be doing so much more with your pre-boarding processes and in ways that can make or break your new employee relationship.

Are you making the most of your pre-boarding opportunity?

Organisations that have a considered and proactive pre-boarding plan that goes beyond addressing the usual ‘T’s & C’s’, stand to benefit in many ways:

New starts can ‘hit the ground running’

Why not take advantage of what could be ‘garden leave’ time for your new starts to help them get up-to-speed with their new role and new employer.

Company videos, marketing collateral, customer case studies – these are a few examples of the ways in which you can ‘gently’ start to educate your soon-to-be employees so that they will become more productive in a shorter timeframe.

You can start building relationships

With many employees working remotely, HR departments and managers need to work even harder forge connections and convey the values and ethics of the company.

This is especially the case with new starts whom they may have not even met in person.  By reaching out in advance, perhaps simply with the offer to answer any ad-hoc questions or concerns, new members of staff will feel immediately welcome and part of the team.

You’ll reduce the likelihood of candidates withdrawing from job offers

The timeline between accepting a job offer, handing in their notice and starting a new job can be many months.  During this time candidates can start to feel uncertain about their decision:  Perhaps they’ll receive counter offers from their current employer or attract ‘better’ job offers elsewhere.  Maybe the new role suddenly feels outside of their comfort zone.

Keeping candidates engaged in a meaningful way during this timeframe will help maintain confidence and demonstrate that the candidate is very much valued.  Importantly it will reduce the risk of last-minute withdrawals and the costly re-recruitment cycle that will need to follow.

What our customers have to say

“On-line training means you don’t have to get a whole bunch of new starts in one room at the same time to do the training. It’s just more convenient.”

Gideon Tester, Business Digital Systems Manager, Altro Floors

What our customers have to say

“1,076 people have visited the site, with visits in every hour of the day which shows the importance of learning and support resources being available 24/7 and on the go for our operational colleagues” Read more on LinkedIn>

Katy Livesey, Digital Training Manager at British Transport Police

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Seek practical ways to streamline your pre-boarding process

Use Microsoft 365 Guest Accounts to help with preboarding

Microsoft 365 guest accounts allow people outside of your organisation, such as partners, contractors, private individuals, customers, and so on, to access files and services within your Microsoft Teams, SharePoint sites or Groups.

For example, you can invite a prospective employee (using their personal email account, of course) to participate in a Teams Welcome channel, giving them access to information, chat and meetings.

You can also take advantage of Microsoft Power Automate to automatically send your welcome message and other notifications when an individual is added to the Team.

Automate preboarding using an LMS

Enterprises can also take advantage of a learning management system (LMS) to help automate and manage the process of welcoming new and prospective employees into their company.

The ideal LMS should also allow any preboarding records collected in advance of joining the company (such as electrically signed documents) to be merged with their records as soon as they transition to their ‘enterprise’ LMS account.

This creates invaluable continuity for both the business and the employee.