AI in Onboarding: 5 Use Cases Shaping its Future
Onboarding is crucial for businesses across almost every industry. It is the process of introducing new employees to the company and equipping them with the skills and tools they need to excel in their new roles. However, despite its importance, onboarding has evolved into a boring and uninteresting function for both new employees and businesses. This is not only due to the huge amount of paperwork involved, but also newer and more flexible working models. As a result, businesses are looking for ways to reshape onboarding to effectively serve its purpose while keeping new employees engaged. Let’s take a look at how new technologies, specifically artificial intelligence, will impact onboarding in the future by looking at five use cases for AI in onboarding.
5 ways to use artificial intelligence for onboarding
1. Automate administrative tasks
Starting a new job can be an exciting experience, but the amount of paperwork required for the onboarding process can ruin the experience. During the first few days, employees feel overwhelmed with forms to fill out and send, legal notices, pay slips, and more. At the same time, HR departments spend a huge amount of time managing and processing all this paperwork.
AI can significantly simplify these processes for both parties. First, physical paperwork is no longer necessary when digital signatures are enabled and submission is automated. Paperwork is stored on a digital platform that companies and new hires can access at any time. Reminders for on-time submission are sent automatically, ensuring each stage is completed within set timeframes. Additionally, AI algorithms can instantly check documents and forms for missing information or inconsistencies and prompt new hires to correct them on the spot, reducing errors and preventing delays.
2. Personalize the onboarding experience
As companies start incorporating AI into their onboarding strategies, they are sure to move away from a one-size-fits-all approach. Each employee who joins a company is unique, and the welcoming and integration process should reflect that. AI-based personalization will be evident at every stage of onboarding, from the welcome email they receive on their first day to training plans that are tailored to their specific needs. For example, AI can design and automate checklists for the first week, month, or 90 days based on an employee’s job title and specific preferences. A personalized onboarding experience will increase employee engagement while providing the support they need to help new hires succeed.
3. Provide immediate support to employees
Another element of personalization that AI can integrate into onboarding is continuous and immediate support through chatbots and virtual assistants. When employees start a new job, it’s natural that they will have many questions about benefits, vacation days, remote work policies, and more. Instead of wasting time stressing about whether they should ask the right person, AI can help employees get answers instantly. These AI-powered tools are designed to generate answers instantly and respond appropriately to follow-up questions. Whenever they can’t provide a satisfactory answer, they provide the employee with the contact details of the right colleague. AI tools can also collect useful data about the most common questions asked by new employees. This information can be used to improve the system’s knowledge base, making it work even more efficiently in the future.
4. Increased inclusivity
As remote work becomes more prevalent in the future, companies will become more culturally diverse. For example, if you run an international organization with offices in different countries, you need to ensure that all your employees have a common onboarding experience that takes into account the complexities of each country. Using artificial intelligence during the onboarding process, you can translate training materials into employees’ native languages, so they can acquire the knowledge they need for their new job in the language they are most comfortable with. Also, depending on where an employee is located, they will be provided with an appropriate employee handbook with information applicable to their region. This makes onboarding inclusive for all employees and fits into today’s increasingly diverse work environment.
5. Collect and provide data-driven feedback
One of the major benefits of AI is its ability to provide data-backed insights. As long as employees receive comprehensive feedback on their progress and companies can quantify the effectiveness of their onboarding strategies, the future of onboarding is promising. Through quizzes, surveys, sentiment analysis, and a host of other capabilities, AI can help organizations analyze and decipher every aspect and stage of onboarding to ensure better resource planning, optimize employee onboarding experience, and identify areas for improvement. Leveraging AI predictive analytics, companies will be able to learn from previous onboarding strategies and ultimately develop an onboarding strategy that perfectly aligns with their company culture, organizational goals, and workforce requirements.
Conclusion
The importance of an effective onboarding strategy is no longer up for debate. It’s vital to attracting and retaining talent and the long-term success of your organization. But as technology and societal transformations change the business environment as we know it, leaders must embrace artificial intelligence to keep up with the competition.
