I-board is a web app that focuses on onboarding new staff members to the the hotel industry as efficiently as possible.
The onboarding process is a vital process to new employees joining their new companies, therefore it is imperative that the onboarding process is smooth and on point.
Traditionally the onboarding process is done face to face with HR staff going through one week of paperwork, and then on to on the job learning by getting assigned a buddy.
I-boards goal is to make HR life easier, and at the same time keep the the importance of the onboarding process aligned with the companies needs and goals.
Introduction
Onboarding is the process of getting new employees accustomed to the companies culture and helping them understand the job function as well as getting them comfortable with their new job.
In order to enhance productivity, meeting a certain job satisfaction as well as knowledge about the company it is vital for companies to have a good onboarding program. A good program by most standards is one that makes employees feel welcome to the company.
Making new staff feel welcomed accomplishes quite a few things, it will make them understand how things are done at the company, and at the same time learn about the companies values. This will result in having more confident workers in your company.
What I believe to be a key difference between “a good” onboarding and a successful onboarding program is having different onboarding deepening on the department that you work in, as well as the level you’re at within the company.
3.1 Why On boarding ?
I decided to go with onboarding because it was the most interesting topic within HR, I also believe that it is one of the most important aspects in running a successful company.
Research conducted
4.2 Desk research
I started with doing desk research on different onboarding plans for different companies in order to get a broader understanding of my topic. Moreover, I also wanted to see what other people thought of onboarding as well as get a scope of the overall all importance it has to a company.
4.3 Interviews
I conducted four interviews, where three of the were Google hangouts, Skype or Phone Calls and one of them was a in person Interview.
Nikola Spehar: is a Marketing and PR Executive at Velavaru Ansagna Resorts in the Maldives.
Grace Wayne: is a HR manager in W hotels and resorts in the Maldives.
Fauz: is a Sales and Marketing Coordinator at Gili-Lankanfushi Hotels and Resorts in the Maldives
José: is a receptionist at the student hotel in front of Ironhack here in Barcelona.
4.3 Competitive Research
When I did my competitive research on the onboarding process in different companies, a reoccurring website was Bamboo HR. Even though they didn’t solely focus on onboarding, they pretty much did everything HR related.
However what I decided to look at was only their onboarding process which seamed to be a well functioning part of their web app.
Bamboo HR
- As you can see above, they have small boxes that you can tick when you have finished a task which lets the HR member know that it is done.
- It is also separated into different sections according to who is giving you the task.
Key Insights
- What I gathered from all of my interviews was that in the hospitality industry, HR spends a lot of time on the onboarding process.
- It is a very face to face kind of meeting where you have to have an introduction and and orientation.
- There is a lot of paperwork involved.
- A lot of information given, that can easily be forgotten, so paper is not really the best option.
- Most 5 start Hotels want to be sustainable and Eco friendly so giving a lot of paper to every employee doesn’t align with that goal.
- Information regarding the onboarding varies depending on your position and the department.
- Companies lose 25% of all new employees within a year (Source: Allied Workforce Mobility Survey)
- Up to 20% of employee turnover happens in the first 45 days (Source: O.C. Tanner)
- 32% of global executives rate the onboarding they experienced as poor (Source: Harvard Business Review) and replacing each failed executive can cost a business up to 213% of his or her salary (Source: Center for American Progress).
- 69% of employees are more likely to stay with a company for three years if they experienced great onboarding (Source: Society For Human Resources Management).
- 54% of companies with onboarding programs reported higher employee engagement (Source: Society For Human Resources Management)
Synthesising My Findings
I started by listing things that I thought was needed in the app according to the research that I had conducted.
- One version for HR/Managers
- One version for Employees
- Different data according to position and department
- Add new employees
- Editing Content
- Assigning buddies to new employees
- Start date?
- Postion?
- Department?
- Manager?
- Buddy?
- User Personas
Liv
32 years old
HR Manager
The hotel is fairly new and most of the policies are new as well. Which means that she has to meet with all of the staff at the company to discuss various things, such as professional development and how they would like to improve and what they want to improve in, introducing all of the new staff to the company policies and the brand goals.
Liv’s pain problems:
- Meeting everyone
- Keeping track of everyones progress
- Not having time to meet with everyone because of her busy schedule
- Making sure everyone gets a successful onboarding
- Making sure that every single new staff has a buddy
Jane
22 years old
Sales and Marketing
Jane is 22 years old and just started working in Sales and Marketing within Hotels, He had a very busy onboarding process with a lot of paperwork. He had to meet the HR manager several times every week in-order to finish his onboarding process. He had someone train him for a week in order to finish his onboarding process, as well as going through several employee guidelines and handbooks with the HR manager.
Janes’s pain problems:
- Having a good buddy
- Knowing what to do during the onboarding
- Having a successful onboarding
- Problem Statement
HR members need a system to do onboarding, in order to effectively keep track of everyone’s progress and save time to prioritise other things.
Testing
“Size is wrong”
“Some content can be fit in the same page”
“Can I filter the names, position and department
“What happens inside Add content”?
“Sizes don’t match”
Roadmap
- First of all, I would add a feature where you can message through he Web App
- I would launch a App version of it
- I would also like to add a section in the HR Tasks related to Professional development, as I felt like it was a recurring theme with men interviews and that it was very connected.
- Showing the Add Content Section.
- Work on the Employee perspective.
Key Learnings
- I would definitely schedule my interviews earlier than I did, send out more emails to other contacts rather than the ones I knew would give me good information.
- Test a lot more often than I did, also test words.
Thank You For Your Time!
Final Prototype
