The New and Improved Michigan Ross Onboarding System

When a new staff or faculty member is hired, there are a number of important steps that need to be taken to prepare for their arrival. These steps are critical to ensuring that new hires feel welcomed and comfortable here at Michigan Ross from their very first day. From adding individuals to mailing lists to setting up their computers, many units from across the school are involved in the onboarding of new team members. Colleagues from the Administrative Core Team, Faculty Support, HR, IT, Operations, Finance, Dean’s Office, and Kresge Library all play a part. 

In 2019, Lisa Frye, director of ACT and Faculty Support Services, led efforts to implement a new, automated onboarding system. The goal was to establish a tool to help significantly streamline the onboarding process and make it possible for everyone involved to track tasks from start to finish. 

“The new system is much more transparent and user-friendly for those responsible for onboarding tasks,” said Frye. “Most of the communication can be done right in the system instead of sending emails, and users receive automated emails with updates throughout the process to ensure everything is in place for the new employee’s first day/week.” 

The previous Michigan Ross onboarding system was overdue for an upgrade. It was outdated and relied on a network of Google forms and required ACT or Faculty Support staff to follow up to ensure everyone was doing their part. In an effort to improve the system, Frye recruited colleagues to participate in a workgroup to address the problem.

“It was very eye-opening to hear the feedback about the pain points and ideas for how to streamline the process,” said Frye. “The best part was that everyone was actively engaged and motivated to find a solution.”

The working group met monthly for a year to develop a future state which included a new automated system.

The new system

Now, when HR staff enter the onboarding information of a new hire, the system will generate email alerts of the tasks that need to be completed. This process makes it easier for everyone to keep track of what needs to be done.

Since its launch, the system continues to evolve, and a how-to manual is being created to train new users. Moreover, Frye and the workgroup still meet quarterly to discuss what improvements can be made.