Virtual Onboarding and Cultural Impact on Shared Services Examined

Key Takeaways

• While the use of artificial intelligence in onboarding is still in its early stages, and levels of maturity vary significantly from one company to the next, it has the potential to enhance the experience of new joiners, helping to customize and personalize the experience even before their first day on the job.
• By creating a ‘joining platform’ overseen by a dedicated Engagement Team, shared services functions can process anything between 30-40 joinees a day, recording and processing all the key data up to seven days before the individual’s onboarding day.
• Even the best virtual onboarding program can be undermined by HR managers keying in the data at a local level, in terms of both the length of time it takes and the keyboard errors that can occur.
• The culture of the shared services function plays a critical role in the quality of the service it provides to clients. Companies at the ‘mature’ end of shared services provision are moving from a ‘customer service’ to a ‘customer experience’ culture, in which how employees feel about the service they are provided is a key point of measurement. ‘Moments that Matter’ and the level of customer ‘enjoyment’ are key measures suggested by participants.