Small is beautiful | How can SMEs, start-ups and charities deliver exceptional onboarding?

Without the economies of scale that a large number of annual hires brings to the onboarding process, it’s easy to believe that delivering a fully immersive, interactive and personalised onboarding solution is out of reach for smaller organisations.

The perceived cost of the investment – both financially, and in terms of time resource – can seem prohibitive.

But as Autism Unlimited have shown, creating a deluxe onboarding experience which delivers engagement, inclusion (and sweets) to new starters, all whilst remaining cost-effective and saving HR professionals precious time, is far from a pipe dream. Not least because, for many organisations, the benefits in terms of increases in retention and performance can bear fruit remarkably quickly.

Autism Unlimited provides support to autistic people through education, residential and supported independent living. With a workforce of 500, they don’t hire huge numbers every year, but wanted to introduce a step-change for their onboarding experience. “Before the overhaul our onboarding was just ‘paper, paper, paper’, with lots of people sat around waiting to hear from us,” recalls Claire Causley, HR Business Partner at Autism Unlimited. It was time for change.