What is your top recommended strategy or tool for onboarding and offboarding employees to and from technology?

In remote settings, expecting users to navigate new tools without proper guidance can be an arduous task leading to a litany of mistakes down the line. Setting your company up with digital adoption platforms such as OnScreen or Coassemble will not only provide on-screen guidance but can ensure the user has a measurable and human error-free method of explaining them thoroughly. Additionally, it provides quizzes and in-depth information that one can revert back to at a later time if they need to go back and further digest the new knowledge without bothering a team leader for more explanation. Finally, the company itself can rely on the platform as a metric by which to measure how adept your team is at adopting these tools and handling the remote workstyle.

I've experimented with many different onboarding tools in the past few years, and I found Loom to be just perfect. Loom is a video messaging tool that lets you quickly & efficiently record videos and uploads them to your organization. It's a great way to onboard employees to new technology as it allows you to record your screen and go through the steps on your own while providing commentary. All it takes is 15-30 minutes of recording screen-shared explanations about the technology. Fast, efficient, and very easy to use.

When onboarding new employees on to our tech stack, I'll first send over our standard documentation on how to use each platform: Loom video overviews, Notion docs, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), etc. However, one unlock that I've recently added to our onboarding flow is scheduling a 1:1, "done with you" working session for each vital tool we use. These 30-60 minute calls typically start with me walking the new employee through our platform and demonstrating a basic exercise. From there, I'll let them take the reins, and start to use the tech themselves—with me on the call available to answer any questions and talk them through the nuances of our setup. More than any static doc, adding these 1:1 calls to our standard 30/60/90 day onboarding plans for new team members has been a game changer.

There's a reason pilots use checklists for things they do everyday like pre-takeoff checks - it's critical not to forget an important step and it's essential do the right things in the right order. A checklist is part of the process. So at Articulate Marketing, we have a checklist template in ClickUp (our project management tool of choice) that covers every step we need to take when onboarding and offboarding people. It's divided into sections for HR, the hiring manager, our chief happiness officer and - importantly - for IT. The IT checklist includes all the steps we need to take to add users to all our systems and remove them properly when they leave. The important part of the whole system is that we update the checklist template every time we add a new tool or application.

My top onboarding and offboarding strategy is to assign employees company devices rather than have them bring their own. When onboarding, company devices are already set up with everything an employee needs, including their account. This preplanning makes onboarding faster. For offboarding, I program company devices to block specific files from being shared. This blockage creates security for any confidential file or information the employee has access to. Company devices enable me to have a certain degree of control over what data an employee can take when they leave.

OnePassword is an essential piece of our tech stack. It’s a secure platform where we can store all of our passwords in one place for the whole team to access. This helps keep us organized and eliminates a lot of questions and guesswork surrounding lost and forgotten passwords. It also enables us to successfully change passwords when we have employee turnover. OnePassword is a truly timesaving tool that has become a central piece of our onboarding and offboarding process.

Project management software is an invaluable tool in onboarding employees, regardless of specialty or industry. For example, Monday.com offers top-notch project management, but an important aspect of this is the ability to set up an effective and easily understood onboarding agenda for your new hires. With Monday, you can create different categories, tasks, and subitems for each step of your onboarding process, all of which can be accessed and updated by both employees and managers. This user friendly and organized tool allows for employees to complete certain tasks on their own, speeding up your onboarding process and freeing up managers’ time. This software is especially useful in a remote setting where employees may not receive as much direction from their managers as they would in an in-office setting. Monday.com is useful for a number of industries and organizations, but is a safe bet for any company’s smooth and effective onboarding process.

Even if you are explaining things verbally, you should always have written instructions that employees can refer to just in case. Learning new technologies can take some time, and offboarding from technologies can be tricky to navigate, as well. Sometimes even managers can forget things, so it is best to have written resources that everyone involved can look at if needed.

It is important to complete employee onboarding and offboarding procedures promptly, because procrastinating on this can cause problems. For example, if one of your employees has left the company, yet they still have an active Slack account, then those trying to communicate with this employee on Slack may not realize that this employee has left the company. Everyone needs to be on the same page as to who the current employees are in order to avoid any confusion and potential workflow delays.

We recommend using onboarding software to ensure that everyone on your team has the right tools for the job. Onboarding software can be used to set up new hires with their email, credentials, computer, and other necessary equipment. Onboarding software can also be used to help new employees learn about company culture, as well as give them access to the critical information they will need to do their jobs.

The best strategy for onboarding and offboarding into and from technology employees is to have a standardized process that is followed consistently across all departments. A good onboarding process will ensure that new employees receive the necessary training and information they need to be productive members of the team using new technology. It will also help them build relationships with their co-workers and get up to speed on company culture. A good offboarding process will help ensure that departing employees leave on good terms and that all necessary paperwork is completed properly. It should also include steps for transferring employee files and other important information to the person who will be taking over their role.

Trello makes the onboarding and offboarding process much easier just by its simplicity and flexibility. Since the pandemic, collaboration and communication has always been a problem but with Trello, it's like magic. It helps the employees to collaborate much more easily while organizing everything so that the workflow remains smooth. You can set calendars, timelines, and cards to see what your week will look like and from there you can easily take on. Since it's automated, no need for you to click on projects as automation is your best friend here.

I've used a lot of different employee onboarding tools but none of them comes close to Looop. This software comes with incredible features & solutions for modern employee onboarding to and from technology. Loop is extremely simple and easy to use, and it allowed me to create the ideal onboarding experience for new employees. Its automation features are particularly exceptional, making it a fantastic tool for onboarding.

The best way to create a solid employee experience, especially for new employees in a remote setting, is to have them shadow other colleagues in a similar position. This way, they can connect with team members and familiarize themselves with their new role in a way that's engaging and collaborative instead of watching training videos for hours on end. Screen sharing is the most effective method to learn in a virtual office, and the ability to record training sessions so new hires can review it at any time will be extremely beneficial. It allows new employees to ask questions and develop their own strategy in a way that's productive for both parties. Leaders should schedule time with new employees and veteran workers each day until they feel they can confidently execute their role without any guidance. Regardless of your office environment, shadowing team members as a method of training is a successful way to onboard new staff and build a great culture.

Monday.com is mainly for workflow, but they have recently built in a number of HR features specifically for onboarding. While it is not 100% dedicated to HR, its onboarding is great for new employees. The best aspect is the workflows that map out the processing of interviewing and hiring plus it allows for commenting and task assignment throughout the hiring process. Plus, it is affordable for any size business.

Using Slack can allow people to get used to communicating with co-workers and onboard them into the company. New employees can get to know other employees, from their mentors to co-workers in other departments, through the convenience of online tools like Slack. However, this can also be beneficial when offboarding employees because you can control their access to private groups.

Many of us talk about employee engagement and the intrinsic link between engagement with technology and productivity. But, do we really understand the key elements that contribute to engagement, and how to embark on the journey to increase technology engagement levels to create a more well-rounded and happy experience at work? My recommendation is to provide all employees with ample means to develop and learn within a constantly evolving digital business model. Engaging, encouraging, teaching, and propelling your employees towards a greater goal, is the only way of developing your company. If your employees feel that they have a future in your company and if you are willing to facilitate those steps in advancing their technological knowledge, you've got a solid business model for loyal, happy, and ultimately successful employees and business.

Hello, I am Devin Schumacher, Founder of SERP Co. Over the past two years we have spent a lot of time onboarding and offboarding employees from technology, and this is what I have found is important. Advanced and transparent communication behind the reasons 'why'. Employees loathe change to their day-to-day to processes and transitioning new technology into a company is very disruptive. The earlier leadership can communicate the changes, and be transparent about the reasons why, the better off you set yourself up for success. This early and open communication builds trust and encourages adoption. Please let me know if you have any questions! Cheers, Devin Schumacher

The easiest way to help employees have a smooth and successful onboarding or offboarding from technology is to provide them with a roadmap to follow. This roadmap should have clear instructions written in the order of what they need to do, as well as include checklists to help employees stay on track. This makes the process uniform for everyone and ensures that everything that needs to get done actually gets done, all without managers having to micromanage.

I divide technology onboarding and offboarding employees to access and customisation of use. Using list templates created with tools like ClickUp, Trello or even Google Docs to ensure all pieces of software are made available is a great start. Then, reflecting on crucial SOPs for specific functions and roles and types of helpful feedback from departing employees can make the process more comprehensive.