Onboarding paperwork is much simpler to process as an orderly and logical progression than as a pile of independent forms. Every paper has a specific reason to be included. Therefore, it should be sequenced in a way that reflects what has previously taken place. An onboarding document may start with a request or a submitted form. Next, it may be followed by an approval or authorization to perform another action. Then, the process may include an internal order or other employment record to make an employment decision officially.
First, define the fictitious case details for an employee in your sample documents. List the full name of the employee, their role, their department, their projected start date, and anything else that must be added to complete the exercise in the exercise. The fictitious case details serve as your reference point. Without them, it becomes easy for names, dates, and positions from a previous case to creep into the sample documents, because your previous sample document may be filled out with those details.
The first set of documents collects or verifies information used to determine whether the process is required. An employee request, personal information form, notice, acknowledgment form, or some other supporting paper may constitute these documents, based on your institution and your state or country. The point of this exercise is not to memorize one universal set of documents, but to understand which record supplies information, which one requests an action, and which one confirms that the information has been reviewed.
The second set of documents consists of approvals and the creation of a record documenting the employment event. An internal order or other employment document should accurately state the relevant details of your case. Check the name of the employee, their role, their department, the effective date of their employment, and a relevant case number. Pay special attention to the difference between the date a document is prepared and the date employment begins. These dates can differ, but their order should remain logical.
The third set of documents includes the documents that reflect the action of the second set, or are updated based on the second set. This may include adding the name of a new employee to a personnel register, ensuring the personnel file includes the employee’s name and is easy to locate, and creating an electronic file and electronic folder for an employee using the organization’s established naming convention. It is not enough just to file away the internal order, if your personnel register does not yet reflect a new employee or if the personnel file does not yet include the documentation that substantiates the current internal order.
To practice the process described above, take a small set of fictitious onboarding documents that are out of order and attempt to arrange them in sequential order, from the employee’s initial submission of documentation to the final filing of the documents. Then, attempt to explain the purpose of each document. Finally, attempt to find errors in the documents you’ve arranged, such as missing signatures, missing data fields, conflicting start dates, or inconsistent job title entries. Attempting to identify errors helps ensure you can recognize and understand the sequence of documents, rather than just recalling the names of documents you’ve seen before.
If you are able to successfully arrange, define the purpose of, and identify errors in your set of fictitious documents, the documents should be able to tell you exactly who the new employee is, what the request was, what the approved action was, the start date of the employment, and where to locate the final documentation. As you move through the document, take a moment before each new document and ensure that the new document makes sense in context with the previously presented document.