16 TOPDESK MAGAZINE - SEPTEMBER 2016

Martijn Poll
works as account manager at TOPdesk.
He specializes in HR projects and implementations.

ON AND OFFBOARDING
EMPLOYEES: GETTING TO
A SMOOTH PROCESS
How can we make sure that new co-workers have everything they need to get started on
their first day? This question was addressed by HR, IT and Facility employees during
a round table discussion at SEE. Their conclusion: it should be a joint effort.
Is a new employee in your organization ready for
work right away?

managers indicated that they are often informed last-minute about

Does he have everything he needs for his job, such as a desk, entry pass

to get those employees started. The groups proposal: appoint one

and login account? In many organizations this is not the case. One of

person to be responsible for the process as a whole. It doesnt matter

the reasons for this is that HR, IT and facility departments tend to work

much who this person is. An HR staff member would make sense,

separately. That is why TOPdesk invited these departments managers

because they have to do much of the work anyway. Another option

and employees to SEE, where they tried to tackle the question: what

might be an IT employee, since they often already have access to

is the best way to set up the process of onboarding and offboarding

confidential information.

new employees, which means they have to put other work on hold

employees? The questions they dealt with, as well as the answers they
came up with, are outlined here.

Who is responsible for a smooth onboarding

process?

How to prevent the process from halting when

somebody is absent?
Pete usually handles CRM accounts, but he was off sick. This was one
of the many examples that were mentioned when we asked what goes

This question was followed by silence. Every department had taken

wrong when a new employee commences. The solution: make sure

up their part of the process, but nobody could see the big picture.

tasks are transferable. Establish which process needs to be followed

As it turned out, though, there was a need for this. IT and facility

upon commencement and communicate this to everyone involved.

TOPDESK MAGAZINE - SEPTEMBER 2016 17

MAKE SURE YOU STANDARDIZE

EIGHTY PER CENT, AND KEEP THE
REST FLEXIBLE
Checklist
1 person responsible
Make work transferable
Share information
Offer 1 portal

but this was not working in practice. There were simply too many

Which system should be used to manage supplies

or offer a self-service portal?

exceptions. What does work, according to one participant: standardize

It turned out that this doesnt really matter. Whether you keep track of

80 per cent of the process and keep the rest flexible.

assets in a CAFM, ITSM or HR system, the most important thing is that

In order to do this, some organizations were setting up job profiles,

you choose one source and ensure that other systems can access it. As

How to safeguard an employees privacy when

working with multiple departments in a single tool?
This is a much-heard concern. After all, an HR department handles
much more confidential information than an IT or facility department,
for example concerning employees performance and special leave.
Usually, this information may only be viewed by HR staff. However,
during our session it became clear that participants wanted to share
more information to aid the onboarding process, such as whether
a new employee is in possession of a drivers licence or will get a
smartphone. In most cases you can easily share this information
without putting privacy at risk.

for self-service portals: which system you choose is not that important,
as long as customers are offered a single portal where they find
answers to all their questions. They can be linked to the right systems
at the back-end.