Christine MarinoWhen it comes to business growth, small numbers mean huge things. Consider, for example, how large of a shift it is for the United State’s GDP to grow 2.4%. So when we think about business growth, we have to think about all the ways we can make those small increases add up. And while you can’t turn your company’s bottom line around on a dime in HR, you can do numerous small things to help. One thing we recommend? Paperless onboarding.
It Puts You Ahead of the Curve
When you implement paperless onboarding into your hiring process, you’ll be thinking ahead of most other companies against which you’re competing. Only 32% of companies currently have a formal onboarding program. If you decide to increase your onboarding presence by making it paperless, you’re committing enough to your onboarding to have a more robust and streamlined process in place, meaning you’re far ahead on getting employees up to speed than companies which don’t have a plan.
It Simplifies the Process
You hate paperwork. Your new hires hate paperwork. So why not use paperless onboarding? When you make your paperless onboarding a reality, many of the redundant fields (like your new hire’s name, address, etc.) get filled in automatically on every form after you’ve written it down once. This reduces the time your employees spend on forms, which means it takes them less time to get up to speed and productive. Don’t you want to create the best first-day experience ever? This means introducing your new hire to potential mentors, showing them the lunchroom and giving them time to make their desk their own, not filing tons of boring paperwork.
It’s Easier to Reference
When all of your paperwork is stored online, it makes it easier to reference. What’s more, you can be sure that every form is both in its rightful place and easier to find. Contrast that with paper filing cabinets, which are either very secure and difficult to look through, or vice versa. And since every misfiled piece of paper costs a business an average of $ 125, cutting down on those errors can save you a lump sum. With paperless onboarding, you’re much better off with all of your information stored online.
It’s Cheaper
Not only is paperless onboarding easier to reference, it’s cheaper, too. You might be paying a little extra to manage all your online documents somewhere, but trust us, the results are worth it. The average office worker uses around 10,000 sheets of paper per year. Imagine cutting this down to 100, or 0. How much money would your business save? Now imagine that across 10, 100, or 1,000 employees. The upfront cost of paperless onboarding doesn’t seem so bad now, does it?
It Helps Retention
Part of a good paperless onboarding program is making sure employees feel welcomed enough to stick around. And with a more simplified, formal and paperless onboarding experience, your new hires are less likely to be among the 22% of employees who leave their job after the first 45 days. This saves you the hassle of having to start the recruiting process (including onboarding) all over again. A lack of paper makes everyone happy, and when employees are happy, they’ll love working for you, giving big returns on business growth in the long run.
There’s a lot to love about going paperless with your onboarding: it’s fast, cheap and keeps employees around longer, for starters. So the sooner you get your onboarding away from paper, the better off your business will be.
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