When new employees are hired, the whole process can be a challenge for the HR department. Usually a lot of e-mails are sent out to provide the new employee with all the information, procure things for them or make sure that the necessary documents and materials are available in time for the start. And when the employee is there, he often has to be familiarized with internal rules and his job.
On average, it takes an employee 6 to 8 months before he or she can work fully productively for a company. The better the on-boarding process is handled, the shorter this training period can be. Employees who know where they can find what information to get started quickly and who they can turn to in case of doubt are also productive faster.
If you use Redmine as a ticket and project management tool in your company, with a few extensions you can use it optimally for the on-boarding process.
Redmine as On-Boarding tool
In the standard version Redmine is already suitable for the on-boarding process of a human resources department. You simply need your own project.
- You can call this for example HR Onboarding.
- Members of this project are the contact persons for the on-boarding in your HR department, as well as the newly added employees.
In the project all activities concerning the on-boarding process are handled and the necessary information is stored. Therefore, both the ticket function and the Wiki should be activated here. If you use the DB Plugin for the administration of digital information or data, you should also activate it for the project.
In times of Covid-19 the social contact with new employees is especially important. Therefore the use of a Chatsystem and / or other communication possibilities should be available like a “forum” (already integrated in Redmine) in which also everyday things can be addressed. Everything that helps the employee to feel well looked after.
Remember:
- create own project and assign users
- Activate necessary modules (e.g. Issues, Wiki, Forum, DB)
The following things are helpful for the on-boarding process and further support in the first period:
1. Request work materials for the employee
In addition to a desk with a PC, the working materials often include a laptop for home office hours. The devices should be requested from the IT department in good time. This is usually done by using the ticket function. This is where all communication with IT and other parties involved takes place. On the one hand, it is possible to document what has been requested and by when and whether there are any time bottlenecks and who is responsible for handing over the equipment to the employee, etc.
Here again the DB Plugin is used. Namely when the information about the ordered working materials is to be digitally managed. With the help of user-defined fields it is possible to record all information concerning the provided equipment for a user. So everybody who has access to the DB entry can see who has which equipment in the kit, since when and where etc. Useful for support requests by the user.
Who also uses the HRM Plugin can already take care of the access of new users to the Redmine system (create, edit, inform users etc.).
Remember:
- Create issues for material procurement and assign them accordingly
- Document working materials accordingly
- Take care of the user accounts in time
2. Supply employees with work material
From the first day of work, the employee is then given the necessary tools. Now he will usually want to test or set up the accesses he has received, view documents or manuals or read in his planned tasks.
If everything has been well prepared, then this information is already stored somewhere. The Wiki of the HR Onboarding project, for example, is suitable for this. There, everything is documented that seems worth knowing and useful for a new employee.
Files or documents for download can be offered via the DB-Plugin. This can be linked in the wiki as well as in issues, but you only have to maintain the entry in a central place. So it will always be up to date and the link will always be up to date.
For all this to work smoothly, the necessary information must be stored somewhere. And the employee has to be informed where he can access it. To avoid endless e-mail marathons, this is best done via the ticket function. You create a ticket for the employee in which he is informed about all information relevant to him. Where he finds what. He should close the issue when he is ready. Even if it is closed, he can still access the information contained in it. If he has questions, he can ask the author (his contact person) directly via the ticket. The contact person can also use the open ticket to ask after a while whether everything fits or not. This makes communication with the new employee more transparent for every member of staff.
In addition, it is easier to learn how to improve the process. It is possible that the same employee questions arise again and again. Then you know where there is room for improvement. Whoever uses the Reporting plugin has the function “Round Trips”. This helps to identify tickets that are constantly in a certain loop (e.g. from ToDo -> Feedback -> ToDo). By looking at the frequency a ticket goes through such loops you can see that something is not clear about the content.
Remember:
- Provide employees with all important information for the start (use Redmine ticket)
3. Provide company information
In tip number 2 we already pointed out that the wiki is the ideal place to document everything worth knowing that a new employee needs to find his way around the company quickly.
Everything is worth knowing that helps the newcomer from day 1 to learn as much as possible about the company, his colleagues, his contact persons and superiors, as well as his purpose or the use of special tools. Files, documents, pictures, videos, etc. all this helps him or her. That’s why the wiki pages should be as informative as possible, well structured and, above all, legible. And of course the information must always be kept up to date.
Since a wiki is a good place to work in a team, all employees should feel responsible for it and make sure that the information is always up-to-date. Either by directly changing the entries themselves or by informing a responsible person.
Remember:
- Fill points of contact with information (Wiki, DB entries etc.)
- Keep information always up to date
4. Facilitate employee communication
In tip number 1 we have pointed out how important communication with the employee is. Especially in the beginning. Therefore it is important to ask regularly if everything fits or where help is needed. And whether his expectations have been met so far.
Whoever has set up a forum should point this out and encourage interaction. Whoever works with a chat should arrange regular “chat meetings”. Video calls are helpful for video chats. Especially in the beginning it is important to be always up to date. Not every new employee dares to talk to his or her superiors, colleagues or contact persons in case of uncertainties.
During on-site activities, the employee is introduced to the others personally. In this way, everyone gets a picture of the other person, which facilitates cooperation. But this is usually a matter of course :)
In our Online-Demo the current version of Redmine can be tested. The functions described here are available there for viewing. Try it out. If you have any questions, please contact us via e-mail.