4 Ways Automation Simplifies Employee Onboarding

Migration has always played a vital role in staffing Australia’s service industries. Following two years of pandemic closures, the influx of foreign workers and students has surged. However, urgent workforce needs clash with the lengthy visa procedures. Employers require staff quickly, while workers and students seek access to job opportunities and education tied to Australian visas. If you’re among the many employers addressing talent shortages, accelerating the hiring of migrant workers is paramount, and automation is a potential solution. 

Explore how automation can streamline onboarding and ensure compliance.

1. Improved Employee Experience

Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese recently announced the new Migration Strategy, promising to bring migration back to sustainable levels, while ensuring Australian employers have the skills needed for the future of business.

Businesses operating in healthcare, hospitality, and other service industries have been competing for workers since before the pandemic. But historically, the process for recruiting overseas workers is riddled with bottlenecks and delays. The new Migration Strategy promises more streamlined labour market testing and visa processing.

Companies must create a smooth onboarding process to compete against other establishments hoping to attract new workers. To hire migrant workers, you must ensure the candidate has a valid visa with unlimited sufficient rights to work in Australia. For new employees, providing essential information necessary for employment can be a cumbersome process. 

An automated employee onboarding process allows you to streamline hiring with automated self onboarding via email, bulk spreadsheet upload or integration with your HRM software. If your onboarding process can be faster and easier than that of the competition, you can eliminate the stress involved with hiring migrant employees.

2. Streamlined Internal Processes

For many organisations, labour shortages aren’t limited to service employees and HR teams are often short-staffed. If you’re considering hiring workers from overseas, you must make sure they have the correct type of visa, as well as the licences and qualifications for their roles.

In other words, your internal team is responsible for collecting and storing significant documentation for each new worker. Completing these processes manually requires considerable time and effort, and a robust HR staff. Taking on the responsibility of hiring migrant workers can often be added to the ‘too hard’ basket. By automating document collection, and integrating VEVO with your payroll software, you can eliminate many of the manual tasks associated with hiring workers from overseas.

3. Improved Compliance

There are many rules and procedures surrounding the practice of hiring overseas employees to work in Australia. Foreign workers must have a visa that not only allows them to live in Australia but also to work without restrictions. Once a temporary visa holder is in Australia and engaged in employment, it’s your responsibility as an employer to continue to monitor the employee’s visa. Employers are also required to keep records on temporary foreign workers for seven years in case of an audit. Failure to comply with these laws can lead to fines for first offences of $37,560 and two years imprisonment for an individual (e.g. a sole trader) or $187,800+ for a corporate body (e.g. a company) per illegal worker.

Maintaining seamless oversight of changing documentation can be an accident waiting to happen. When your team depends on manual processes to review and update visa changes, a single human error can leave you subject to expensive fines and possibly affect your rights to employ foreign workers. An automated system alleviates this issue with automated updates and alerts that highlight events requiring immediate action. For example, the CheckWorkRights system provides a monthly report that includes:

Work Entitlement

An overview of how many employees have no work rights, limited work rights, or conditions on their visa. And how many are Australian citizens or have unlimited work rights.

Evidence Verification

A clear description of how many employees need to submit extra documentation before their checks can be processed.

Visa Expiry Summary

An explanation that lists the number of employees whose visas are expiring in the next 30, 60, or 90 days.

In addition to these monthly reports, a Critical Work Rights Report will provide you with an “emergency” report with details of any staff members whose visas are expiring shortly. As a result, you can contact the employee and upload details of their new visa.

When these alerts are automatically supplied to your team, you can immediately address issues and avoid penalties for non-compliance.

4. Improved Retention

A positive onboarding experience provides new workers with a positive opinion of your establishment and makes them more likely to maintain employment. Retention is critical in a tight labour market. Competitors are always seeking ways to attract new employees.

When you greet new employees with an automated onboarding and documentation process that streamlines critical steps of employment, you set new hires up with positive expectations and a willingness to learn. Your training programs that follow onboarding will have an increased ROI when new employees are eager to maintain their employment with your organisation.

Improve Employee Onboarding with Automation

Automation offers a variety of ways to both improve the onboarding process of overseas workers for candidates and employees, as well as lighten workload for HR teams. In today’s tight labour market, finding ways to improve hiring and onboarding processes will be crucial to attracting new workers to your organisation. 

To learn more about improving your onboarding and documentation process with automation, contact CheckWorkRights to book a free demo right away.

Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is general only, and not to be taken as Migration Advice. Please be aware that visas and regulations are subject to frequent change. It is advisable to verify the latest information from the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) and or seek specific advice relating to your circumstances from a MARA Registered Migration Agent.