Georgiou Group Values High-Efficiency Onboarding

Results

• One consistent onboarding process that eliminated paper forms
• Reduction of general orientation from one day to half a day. Now more time is spent acclimating the employee to the company’s systems and safety culture.
• An easy-to-use portal that provides a superb experience for new hires and engages them from Day One

Greater transparency across the organization, since departments are automatically notified when an employee is ready to start work and told what equipment the person needs.

Problem

Georgiou is a progressive, fast-growing company, yet its manual onboarding system was not aligned with the needs of its expanding business. The organization sought an automated process that was more strategic and engaged employees immediately–while reducing staff time and paper waste.

Background

Georgiou is a rapidly growing national building construction, engineering, and property development company based in Australia. Over three decades, the firm has expanded to multiple business units with projects distributed across Queensland, Western Australia, and Victoria. Technicians, heavy equipment operators, shop and field mechanics, engineers, project managers, and financial and administrative professionals are just a few of the types of staff that Georgiou employs.

In Georgiou’s industry, onboarding is a dynamic, ongoing activity. Georgiou brought on 600 new employees in 2012 alone. Moreover, every year the company engages hundreds of workers, who are assigned to projects for a specific length of time, then are offboarded and re-onboarded for new projects.

Challenges

1. Easily move from a collection of manual processes to a single, automated onboarding solution.
2. Choose a system that would onboard both permanent employees and hundreds of workers hired as “life of project” employees, i.e. those who are hired for the duration of a project.
3. Help make new employees productive and engaged, as soon as possible.
4. Identify software with an intuitive interface that all workers could use.
5. Achieve cost and time savings by eliminating paper forms and phone calls.

 
The Onboarding Challenge

Georgiou sought a state-of-the-art onboarding system that could keep up with its fast-paced business. It also wanted to support its need to deploy workers quickly at numerous job sites. However, the manual onboarding process was time-consuming and prevented new employees from focusing on “need to have” information. On orientation day, workers were presented with stacks of paper forms to sign.

In short, the entire onboarding experience did not reflect Georgiou’s technical prowess or reputation for excellence.

The company’s evaluation team recognized that SilkRoad’s Onboarding software was easy-to-use, full-featured, and integrated with SilkRoad HRMS and other SilkRoad products. So, Georgiou bought SilkRoad’s Onboarding and HRMS, together with SilkRoad’s Performance for performance management and SilkRoad’s Learning for learning management.

Solution

SilkRoad’s system has completely automated Georgiou’s onboarding process. Time spent in general orientation has decreased, while employees are productive sooner and focused on information critical to their jobs, such as safety.

Employees Hit The Ground Running, With Greater Focus On Safety

The SilkRoad Onboarding solution has helped ensure that Georgiou can prepare project workers quickly for an assignment at a job site. General orientation for new workers, which previously took a full day, now takes little more than half a day.

Thanks to SilkRoad Onboarding software, all paperwork has been removed from the orientation process. All routine policies and procedures have been compressed, so that new hires can review the items that are truly critical when they start the job. Georgiou now uses the orientation time previously spent on paperwork to discuss safety—a topic that is vital in the building and construction industry. Moreover, new hires have met their general manager and their HR contacts online through SilkRoad Onboarding, so they are already acclimated to the company. The SilkRoad Onboarding solution has shifted the focus of orientation from signing paper to adding value for employees and their work teams.

Substantial Time Savings, Effective Communication

SilkRoad’s seamless onboarding process delivered substantial time and cost savings to Georgiou. Before the company used SilkRoad Onboarding, the recruiter had to call IT, Payroll, and the Plant departments to ensure that the employee was set up on Day One. Now the system’s automatic notifications let all departments know the tools an employee requires on the job—whether a company vehicle, a laptop, a cell phone, or an office space. This efficiency creates a positive first impression of Georgiou’s professionalism—and saves time for managers, recruiters, and the new hire.

In sum, what is the benefit of SilkRoad Onboarding’s software for Georgiou? The company’s onboarding system is now aligned with the needs of its growing business. Workers can be mobilized more quickly in response to clients’ requirements. New employees are engaged from Day One and rapidly introduced to the company culture of safety. Ultimately, this all adds up to greater worker satisfaction and competitive advantage for Georgiou.