Streamlining New Starter Onboarding With Digital Lean Thinking
When onboarding slows an organisation down
Many organisations still rely on long email chains to manage the hiring and onboarding process. Everything from the initial interview scheduling to contracts, equipment requests, and account creation is passed around by email, often with no single owner and no clear workflow.
The result is a slow, inconsistent process. It is not uncommon for new starters to arrive on their first day with no laptop, or with a laptop but no user account, or with neither. This creates a poor first impression and places unnecessary pressure on HR, IT, and hiring managers.
In most cases, the underlying issue is not people but the process itself.
Where the bottlenecks appeared
Email‑driven workflows inevitably suffer from the same issues:
information gets lost in threads
no one has visibility of what stage someone is at
responsibility is unclear
the process changes depending on who handles it
IT learns about new starters too late
HR cannot track progress easily
hiring managers are unsure who is doing what
Everyone is working hard, but the system they are working within creates friction.
Applying Digital Lean to the onboarding journey
Rather than patching the email chain, we applied a Digital Lean approach. The goal was to reduce waste, remove unnecessary handoffs, and create a single, dependable flow of information that everyone could trust.
Step 1: Map the end‑to‑end process
We reviewed every stage of the journey:
initial candidate entry
interview stage
shortlisting
offer decision
contract creation
equipment requests
account setup
first‑day readiness
This immediately highlighted delays, duplication and points where teams were waiting on each other without knowing it.
Step 2: Simplify the flow
After discussing the process with hiring managers, HR, and IT, a key improvement became clear:
Replace the scattered email chain with a single, centralised, secure digital process.
Step 3: Create a unified SharePoint list
We implemented a single SharePoint list with appropriate permissions and retention rules. This allowed:
hiring managers to enter candidates once
the same entry to progress through shortlisting and offer stages
automatic generation of offer letters and contracts
HR to monitor progress and compliance easily
IT to see upcoming starters in advance
retention policies to be applied correctly to unsuccessful candidates
No additional software was introduced; it used tools the organisation already had.
The results
This simple but well‑structured change delivered clear improvements:
predictable and timely onboarding
no more last‑minute IT equipment requests
HR compliance built into the process
earlier visibility for IT
reduced email traffic
faster, smoother experience for the new starter
The hiring team did not need to adopt a new system — they simply used a clearer version of the one they already had.
Takeaway
Digital Lean is not about large systems or major investments. It is about simplifying processes so people can do their work more effectively. By moving from an email‑based workflow to a single shared digital process, organisations can dramatically improve onboarding speed, accuracy, and the new starter experience.
A small change produced a significant improvement.
