7 best onboarding software to consider in 2024

Onboarding refers to the integration of new employees into the company. It is a multifaceted endeavor from the organization to help new hires understand the company and get used to working in it. It includes processes such as educating employees on the company culture, informing them on the procedures for work and remuneration, conducting introductions to the HR team, tracking employee performance for their starting period, clearing paperwork,etc.

How is that any different from an orientation period?

Comparing onboarding to orientation is like comparing a roller coaster to an entire amusement park. Orientation is often a part of onboarding and is the component of it where employees are told their work schedule and responsibilities while filling out the paperwork and other necessary prerequisites. It takes less time and certain companies often opt for simply having an orientation period for their employees following recruitment. However, it is one dimensional in nature and does not contribute significantly to employee retention.  

Onboarding on the other hand, is generally a more holistic process that encompasses orientation and further efforts from the company’s end. They are aimed at helping their latest employees get acclimatized to working in the company with the objective of retaining them and ensuring that they can work without any issues. This obviously means that the time period involved therein is longer but it has a significant impact on employee retention. Research by Brandon Hall Group has revealed that companies with a strong onboarding process improve their employee retention by 82 percent specifically for new hires and also boost their productivity by over 70 percent. 

What is onboarding software?

Onboarding software is HR software that aims to automate and coordinate the onboarding processes, while providing analytics on the same. It helps new hires adjust better to their jobs, removes the need for physical paperwork, and streamlines communication between the employee and employer. It centralizes the onboarding process and assists the employee in being productive by providing metrics for their review. It decreases the employee turnover rate as well. 

Onboarding software offers a variety of features to both employers and employees. It can provide templates for building employee schedules, help communication throughout the organization and collect metrics and forms involved in onboarding. It also provides services that extend beyond onboarding so it is useful to integrate them into your company structure.

Seven benefits of using onboarding software

It streamlines the paperwork process- Traditional onboarding often involves a lot of paperwork, such as employee forms and legal documents. These can be cumbersome for a new employee to deal with and only comes in the way of them integrating into the company. This is inevitable for any organization that still operates on a physical paperwork process. Onboarding software allows new employees to complete these forms digitally, making it easier for new employees to fill them out. It also provides benefits to the recruiters as managing and storing the information becomes a breeze. This also reduces the risk of lost paperwork, which can be a major headache for organizations that still file their paperwork by hand.

It allows for automated reminders and notifications- The onboarding process for companies can vary from anywhere between a couple of days to a couple of months. According to statistics, the average onboarding time for companies is at least three months and if the process includes tracking their progress during the starting period it can be extremely lengthy. It is important to keep new employees on track throughout the process and onboarding software can help us here. It can send automated reminders and notifications to new employees, reminding them of upcoming deadlines and tasks. It can also notify them of meetings, events, track their goals and help them stay on their desired path. This helps to keep the onboarding process moving smoothly, reduces the risk of delays and increases employee engagement.

It can integrate with other HR systems- Many companies use multiple HR systems, such as applicant tracking systems, Human Resource Management Systems and Human Resource Information Systems for all their employees regardless of whether they are a new hire or an existing employee. Onboarding software can integrate with these systems and make them more intuitive. This allows recruiters to seamlessly transfer data from one system to another, reducing manual data entry and errors. It also supplements the software by providing features that it may lack and consolidating data from all of their analytics.

It can provide real-time reporting and analytics- On top of collecting data from other software, onboarding software itself can provide recruiters and employees with real-time analytics. It also tracks various metrics regarding the onboarding process. With onboarding software, recruiters can easily track the progress of the onboarding process and identify any areas that may need improvement. This also helps us identify bottlenecks and issues encountered during onboarding and eliminate them in a timely fashion. Therefore it also helps us make adjustments to the onboarding process.

It reduces the time consumed in onboarding- Onboarding software also works towards reducing the time spent during the onboarding process. It does this not by reducing the time involved in the entire process but by assisting the parties engaged in onboarding.They lower the time spent in the more menial aspects of onboarding and by digitizing the process they make it more accessible and streamlined. 

Reduce costs for organizations- Onboarding software also reduces the costs involved for organizations. Removing paperwork has its own set of cost benefits and having a consolidated database of it just adds to this. The tracking and notification features of onboarding software also ensures that the company can keep its employees productive. The boost to employee retention provided by employee software also ensures that the organization doesn’t lose money in the form of cost per hire.

It can help to improve the overall employee experience - Onboarding software can provide new employees with easy access to company policies, procedures, and information. It also provides them with metrics on their progress and notifies them of any relevant or important matter. This can help to ensure that new employees are informed and prepared for their new role, which can lead to a more positive experience. It also increases employee engagement and streamlines their integration by removing the burden of paperwork. This culminates in a reduced turnover rate and effectively higher retention rates.

Top onboarding software for your company

Paycor- Paycor is a Human Capital Management system that is marketed primarily as a payroll service. Its services start at $149 per month, plus $7 per employee but it does offer a free trial of 14 days. Its low tier plan provides custom reporting, an automated payroll system and a mobile app for ease of access. It offers reports on hires in the course of their work and files paperwork such as tax documents automatically. At the higher tiers the plans provide access to benefits such as HR tools, compliance support and optimization tools. It can be on the expensive side for solely the payroll services and with some tracking features only available at the higher tiers it can be a little too pricey for certain organizations based on their needs. However with a free trial available to organizations, businesses can test out their services to see if it is the right fit for them.

BambooHR- BambooHR is an award-winning HR platform with services starting at $5.25. It provides a multitude of services beyond its use as an onboarding software such as employee data tracking, employee scouting, hiring services while automating various aspects of onboarding as well. It also offers payroll and work time tracking and managing services at various tiers. It improves and tracks employee experience and is used by companies such as Fitbit and Squarespace amongst many others across the globe.

ADP Workforce Now- ADP Workforce Now is another payroll and HR software hybrid aimed at medium to large organizations. It operates on a cloud based system and also has mobile and desktop accessibility. The company must be contacted for a quote on its services but it has an established history of 70 years and over 50,000 clients and again is aimed at medium to large organizations. It integrates with other HR software and tracks attendance and work time automatically. It does face the issues of having an automated chatbot for its live support feature and lacks a free trial. If the organization can overcome the initial challenge of setting up its services, it can serve as an end to end solution for a variety of issues faced by companies.

Workday- Workday is a HCM (Human Capital Management) solution that provides services beyond the onboarding process optimization.  It is a cloud based software that offers services in recruiting and employee compensation optimization. It is another solution aimed at medium to large sized organizations and provides services such as payroll management and visualizes various metrics and data for easier comprehension or presentations. It also integrates with other forms of HR software and offers a customizable workspace. It does not have a transparent pricing system and users have to contact the company for a trial and pricing options.

CEIPAL ATS- CEIPAL ATS is primarily an Applicant Tracking System which helps recruiters recruit and retain new hires. It acts as onboarding software by providing a mobile application for streamlining employee tracking and offering online document submission services. It provides email notifications and integrates with various HR software and plugins. Currently CEIPAL ATS is providing its services for  $21.60 for each user per month and has over 2000 clients in the recruiting domain. 

Greenhouse- Greenhouse is an onboarding software used by companies such as DoorDash, Wayfair and over 4,000 other clients across the globe to optimize their hiring and onboarding endeavors. It is a fully customizable HR solution that reduces administrative loads and mitigates bias by focussing on diversity and equity. It can be modified to meet the needs of each team member and can be tailored for each organization accordingly with great customer support. It does not have an open pricing policy and users can contact the company for a quote for their services.

Trainual- Trainual is an onboarding software that acts as a training platform for new hires. It facilitates the transfer of knowledge and documents the processes involved therein. It organizes and makes the same data more accessible. This increases transparency in the company and facilitates smooth communication. This ensures that employee onboarding happens seamlessly and they can access company resources to bring themselves up to speed quickly.  It starts at $99.00 for the beginning tiers and goes up from there. Therefore it is on the more expensive end but is a dedicated onboarding software that you can consider for your organization.