Tutorials

Automate Your Onboarding: From Offer to First Day Productivity

Welcome a new hire with a seamless, structured experience! This tutorial will guide you through setting up automated workflows and checklists in Flowtly to manage the entire employee onboarding journey. By the end, you'll have a robust system that ensures compliance, accelerates productivity, and provides a warm welcome from the moment an offer is accepted.

1. Design Your Onboarding Blueprint: The Project Template

The first step to automating your onboarding is to create a comprehensive project template that encompasses all necessary tasks. This template will be duplicated for each new hire, ensuring consistency and efficiency.

  1. Navigate to Projects: From your Flowtly dashboard, click on Projects in the main navigation.

  2. Create a New Project: Click the + New Project button.

  3. Name Your Template: Give your project a clear, descriptive name such as "Onboarding Template - General," "Onboarding Template - Sales Role," or "Onboarding Template - Engineering." This allows you to create role-specific templates if needed.

  4. Add Onboarding Phases as Sections (Optional but Recommended): Within the project, you can organize tasks into sections like "Pre-Day One," "First Week," "First Month," etc., to provide a clearer structure.

  5. Populate with Tasks: Start adding all the individual tasks required for onboarding. Think broadly across departments:

    • HR Tasks:
      • Send official offer letter for e-signature.
      • Initiate background check.
      • Collect new hire paperwork (e.g., tax forms, emergency contacts).
      • Enroll in benefits program.
      • Schedule HR orientation session.
      • Add employee to payroll system.
    • IT Tasks:
      • Order and configure laptop/equipment.
      • Set up email account and network access.
      • Grant access to necessary software/tools (e.g., CRM, project management).
      • Prepare desk setup (monitor, keyboard, mouse).
    • Manager Tasks:
      • Schedule welcome meeting with team.
      • Assign a buddy or mentor.
      • Develop a 30/60/90-day plan.
      • Review initial projects/responsibilities.
      • Provide team directory and communication guidelines.
    • Admin/Facilities Tasks:
      • Issue building access cards.
      • Prepare welcome kit (swag, stationery).
      • Schedule office tour.

  6. Assign Roles and Set Due Dates:

    • For each task, assign the responsible individual or department (e.g., "HR Team Lead," "IT Support," "Hiring Manager"). This ensures accountability.
    • Set dynamic due dates. Instead of absolute dates, think in terms of "X days before start date," "Day 1," "End of Week 1," etc. When you duplicate this project for a new hire, you can easily adjust all dates relative to their actual start date.

  7. Define Task Dependencies: This is crucial for automation. Use Flowtly's dependency feature to ensure tasks are completed in the correct order. For example:

    • "Set up email account" depends on "Order laptop."
    • "Grant system access" depends on "Set up email account."
    • "Schedule HR orientation" depends on "Collect new hire paperwork." This prevents bottlenecks and ensures a logical flow.

  8. Add Detailed Descriptions and Resources: For each task, include clear instructions, links to relevant forms, policies, or internal resources. This minimizes confusion for the task assignee.

    Tip: Consider creating different template projects for different roles or departments if their onboarding processes vary significantly. This allows for tailored experiences.

2. Onboard Your New Hire: Duplicating the Template

Once your template is ready, adding a new employee and initiating their onboarding process is quick and simple.

  1. Create the New Employee Profile:

    • Go to Employees in the main navigation.
    • Click + New Employee.
    • Fill in the new hire's basic information (name, email, role, start date). This profile will be the central hub for all their employee data.

  2. Duplicate Your Onboarding Project Template:

    • Go back to Projects.
    • Find your "Onboarding Template."
    • Click the options menu (usually three dots) next to the template and select Duplicate or Copy Project.

  3. Customize the Duplicated Project:

    • Rename the new project: "Onboarding - [New Employee Name] - [Start Date]".
    • Crucially, adjust the due dates for all tasks relative to the new employee's actual start date. Flowtly should allow you to bulk-shift dates based on a new project start date.
    • Assign the new employee as a project participant (if applicable) or ensure tasks are correctly assigned to their specific manager, IT contact, or HR representative.

    Tip: In the project description of the duplicated project, link directly to the new employee's profile in Flowtly. This provides quick access to their details for anyone working on their onboarding tasks.

3. Streamline Document Management and E-Signatures

Flowtly's document management capabilities are essential for handling offer letters, contracts, and policy acknowledgements efficiently.

  1. Upload Key Documents:

    • Navigate to the new employee's profile (from Step 2).
    • Go to the Documents tab.
    • Upload the offer letter, employment contract, company policies, non-disclosure agreements, and any other required paperwork.

  2. Send for E-Signature:

    • For documents requiring a signature, Flowtly allows you to initiate an e-signature request directly from the platform. Select the document, specify the signer (the new employee), and send.

  3. Track Signature Status:

    • Monitor the status of all sent documents from the Documents tab or a dedicated Signatures section within Flowtly. You'll see if documents are pending, signed, or rejected.

    Tip: Leverage Flowtly's document reminder alerts. Configure automatic reminders to be sent to the new hire if documents remain unsigned past a certain deadline, reducing manual follow-ups.

4. Assign Resources, Benefits, and Agreements

Ensure your new hire has all necessary physical and digital resources and is properly set up with benefits and agreements.

  1. Asset Management:

    • If using Flowtly's Asset Management module, assign equipment like laptops, monitors, mobile phones, or software licenses directly to the new employee.
    • Track inventory, assignment dates, and return dates.

  2. Benefits Enrollment:

    • From the employee's profile, go to the Benefits tab.
    • Enroll them in the appropriate company benefits (health insurance, retirement plans, wellness programs) and provide access to relevant information.

  3. Employee Agreements:

    • In the Agreements section of the employee's profile, link them to their employment agreement, work schedule, or any other relevant company-wide or role-specific agreements.

    Tip: Integrate these resource assignments into your onboarding project tasks. For example, have a task "Assign Laptop (IT)" or "Enroll in Health Benefits (HR)" to ensure everything is covered.

5. Automated Communications and Notifications

Automated notifications keep everyone on track and ensure timely communication with the new hire.

  1. Task Notifications:

    • As tasks are assigned in the onboarding project, Flowtly will automatically send notifications to the responsible individuals.
    • Ensure your personal Notification Preferences are set up to receive alerts for tasks assigned to you or projects you're following.

  2. Automated Welcome Messages (Optional): While Flowtly doesn't have a direct "welcome email automation" module, you can schedule tasks for HR or the manager to send welcome emails or internal announcements at specific times (e.g., "Send 'Welcome to the Team!' email on start date").

  3. Calendar Invites:

    • For scheduled meetings (HR orientation, team introductions, 1:1s), create calendar events within Flowtly or link to your external calendar system. Include all relevant participants and agendas.

    Tip: Use Flowtly's internal messaging or Action Center for quick communication regarding onboarding tasks. This keeps all related discussions centralized.

6. Monitor Progress and Ensure First-Day Readiness

With your automated system in place, monitoring the progress of each onboarding journey becomes effortless.

  1. Project View:

    • Go to the Projects section and filter for your "Onboarding" projects. You'll get an immediate overview of all active onboarding processes.
    • Visually track task completion, overdue items, and dependencies.

  2. Employee Profile Overview:

    • The Employee Profile provides a holistic view of the new hire, including their assigned documents, benefits, and potentially linked projects, allowing you to quickly check their status.

  3. Dashboards and Reports:

    • Leverage Flowtly's dashboards or custom reports to gain insights into your onboarding efficiency. Track metrics like average time to complete onboarding tasks, document signature rates, or overdue items.

    Tip: Regularly review your onboarding project template. Gather feedback from new hires and managers to identify areas for improvement and update the template accordingly. This continuous optimization ensures your process remains efficient and effective.

Summary and Next Steps

By implementing an automated onboarding workflow in Flowtly, you've transformed a traditionally complex and time-consuming process into a streamlined, consistent, and compliant experience. You've ensured that from the moment an offer is accepted, every necessary step, document, and resource is managed systematically, leading to a productive and positive start for your new employees.

Next Steps:

  • Refine Your Templates: Continuously improve your onboarding project templates based on feedback and evolving company needs.
  • Explore Further Integrations: Investigate how Flowtly integrates with other tools you use (e.g., HRIS, payroll) to further automate data transfer and reduce manual entry.
  • Develop Offboarding Workflows: Apply the same principles to create automated offboarding projects to ensure a smooth transition when employees leave your organization.

Learn more