The HR team at Xebia always looks to enhance processes and use innovative solutions to improve the Employee Experience. This time, they tackled the onboarding process to ensure a smooth and personalized welcome for new team members.

Over the last few years, the Xebia team has faced rapid growth, and the HR team realized it was time to optimize and perfect the onboarding process for new colleagues. On average, the process was taking around two hours for every new joiner. Think of manual tasks like creating contracts, sending internal emails, and typing many details into Xebia's system - it all became a bit much. Automating this process would mean saying goodbye to the time-consuming, easily overlooked manual tasks.  

After setting up different automations into the workflow, the onboarding process went from two time-consuming hours to just ten minutes. The only manual tasks the team needs to complete now are filling in the employment offer and approving the generated contract. There is no need to worry about the rest anymore. A link to the personnel system ensures that all information and generated documents are contained in one space. New Xebians also receive personalized emails containing relevant information tailored to their specific onboarding needs. The speed at which a new hire can progress through the process, along with advanced customization of their onboarding, further enhances the experience. 

"A smooth onboarding process is essential, and while it traditionally involves a significant administrative component, we recognized the opportunity to innovate. Less time spent on manual administrative tasks means more time devoted to creating a personalized experience for our new team members," said Véronique Reijinga, an HR business partner at Xebia.

Teamwork Makes the Dream Work

The onboarding transformation kicked off with a team of Xebians, and with the support of Nima Saed, a consultant, the project requirements were mapped out in Miro. This mapping gave the team an initial view of the possibilities for automation in a flow chart. All of the small onboarding steps were documented and linked together to create a comprehensive overview of the entire administrative process. With the help of HR Future Proof, experts in HR solutions within Microsoft Teams and Sharepoint, it all came to life. 

‘’The automation is carried out using various apps within the Microsoft environment. Primarily, we utilize Power Automate, an application within Microsoft that enables the automation of processes in a 'low-code' and visual manner. Additionally, we used SharePoint for both storing information and presenting key details to the employee, and Teams serves as a central hub for HR to monitor the status of the onboarding process.’’ said Esmee Tiemissen, a digital HR specialist at HR Future Proof. 

Sharing is Caring 

The improvement of the automation process reflects Xebia's values, from "People First" to "Knowledge Sharing" and "Quality Without Compromise." This type of project involves many different people and departments, all coming together to create added value. Xebia's Office Management, ICT, and Hospitality departments all played a significant role in making this transformation.

"Crafting a new onboarding process was quite a journey. For example, hiring international employees adds complexity to the onboarding process (think of VISAs). We had to consider all these different process flows. With the guidance of Nima and HR Future Proof, we made it work,"  said Jeanine Ottenhof, an HR officer at Xebia. "Throughout the entire project, we often found ourselves saying, 'But maybe... we also need to add this.' Our advice: start with essential steps and build from there. Along the way, you'll encounter things that aren't running smoothly or elements that you've overlooked," Jeanine added.

The impact of this initiative has been huge, and that has inspired other HR teams at Xebia worldwide to jump on the automation bandwagon.

"We're all about sharing knowledge and successes, so we're helping the HR team at Xebia Switzerland kickstart their own onboarding automation! We'll tell them what we learned when creating their flowcharts. There might be a few tweaks, but why reinvent the wheel, right?" said Veronique.

This commitment to spreading knowledge and innovation at Xebia shows their never-ending quest for improvement and dedication to the Employee Experience.