When you see as many employee onboarding processes as we do, you realise that the definition of ‘onboarding’ and ‘preboarding’ really depends on the organisation, the situation and the individual.
In it’s broadest sense, preboarding is all the HR-related things that need to happen before the employee starts work (offer acceptance, work rights checks and so forth) whilst onboarding generally refers to things that happen during the employee’s first day/month/year.
But for those using employee onboarding software, those lines have become blurred. You don’t need to get new employees to complete paperwork on Day 1, because they can complete them electronically as soon as they receive their offer. Pre-boarding and onboarding become one continuous, engaging process.
But this does raise a few questions: When is the best time to get your employee into your payroll system? How’s the best way to get their details across?
There’s really two factors to consider here:
Sloppy payroll processing = lower engagement
Imagine starting at a new job, excited for the challenges ahead, ready to get stuck into some new projects…and then having to ask why you haven’t been paid yet.
Missing payment is awkward, it’s a distraction and it can create unnecessary stress and compliance issues for everyone.
So Rule #1 – Get new employees paid on time
Missing information and forms are not your employee’s problem
Payslip have the wrong name on it? Phone number incorrect in your HRMS/Payroll system?
Don’t make your new employee chase these problems themselves. If you can’t even get them into your systems correctly when they start employment, imagine the doubt they must have for the rest of their employment.
Have I joined a team of under-performers? Am I not valued as an employee? Will I have to fix problems like this every day?
Rule #2 – Your payroll processes reflect you as an employer. Make them near-perfect.
With those two rules in mind, it really makes sense to include payroll processing as an early step in your onboarding and preboarding process.
Collect all the forms early
Get the details you need from employees (including any government forms) as early as you can, then get those details to payroll as early as possible. That way, you minimise any unnecessary payment delays.
In HROnboard, we automatically complete these forms before Day 1 when we first collect the new employee’s personal details. If you don’t have employee onboarding software, you could physically send the forms with their contract (just be aware that they might not complete a physical form at home. Allow time on their first day to get through any missed documents).
Automate payroll onboarding tasks
Most processing errors are due to manual error. If you can minimise the amount of times employee data needs to be keyed into a system, you’ll have fewer mistakes (and save a lot of time and effort).
For starters, collect employee details in a digital format (in HROnboard, we even put on field validation rules to minimise typing errors). It’s much easier to copy, transfer and store data than a hand-written form. Most government forms can be completed online too, so this advice doesn’t just apply to internal information collection.
Not only will this reduce manual errors, but it’ll make the process much faster for your new hires and Payroll.
Integrating HROnboard to your Payroll System
Many of our customers push employee details straight from HROnboard into their payroll system, which is the ultimate way to manage new hire payroll processing.
We have adapters ready to install for:
- ADP
- IFS
- Chris21
- SAP
- Aurion
- EmpowerHR
- Oracle E-Business Suite
- Preceda
- Ascender
plus plenty of custom adapters we can help you create.
Get in touch with our customer success team to find out how it works.
With all this in mind, where does payroll processing sit in your onboarding process? Where should it sit? Let us know in the comments.