Onboarding and welcoming communications for new staff

Purpose

1. Automate and streamline onboarding and welcoming communications for new staff at community colleges within higher education.

2. Ensure each new hire receives consistent, timely, and personalized information about their role, policies, resources, and team introductions.

3. Facilitate automated scheduling of orientation sessions, paperwork distribution, mandatory training reminders, and access to essential digital assets.

4. Reduce manual administrative efforts by automating repetitive communications and notifications throughout the staff onboarding journey.

Trigger Conditions

1. New staff record created in HRIS or ERP system.

2. Completion of offer acceptance or contract signing.

3. Entry of staff details into onboarding spreadsheet or database.

4. Addition of email/user account in identity/access management systems.

5. Manual trigger from HR/IT for ad-hoc onboarding.

Platform Variants

1. Microsoft Outlook 365

• Feature/Setting: Use Outlook API to automate welcome email delivery; configure with Microsoft Graph API to queue template welcome messages on staff account creation.
  

2. Google Workspace

• Feature/Setting: Use Gmail API “Users.messages.send” to automate onboarding email campaigns; automate triggers keyed on user addition to directory.
  

3. Slack

• Feature/Setting: Slack API “chat.postMessage”; configure automated direct messages or channel welcomes for new staff.
  

4. Twilio SMS

• Feature/Setting: Twilio Programmable Messaging API; automate SMS-based onboarding information to new hires’ mobile numbers.
  

5. SendGrid

• Feature/Setting: SendGrid “Mail Send” API; automate the sending of bulk or sequenced welcome emails and resources.
  

6. DocuSign

• Feature/Setting: DocuSign eSignature REST API “Envelopes:create”; automate distribution of digital onboarding paperwork for signatures.
  

7. BambooHR

• Feature/Setting: BambooHR API “POST /employees” event webhook; automate onboarding checklists and document sharing.
  

8. Workday

• Feature/Setting: Workday Web Services API “Staff Onboarding Event”; automate task assignment and announcements.
  

9. Zoom

• Feature/Setting: Zoom API “Meeting Create”; automate orientation meeting invites for new staff.
  

10. Microsoft Teams

• Feature/Setting: Teams Graph API “Send Message”; automate adaptive cards or team introductions.
  

11. Asana

• Feature/Setting: Asana API “Task Create”; automate tasks for onboarding checklists and follow-ups for the new staff.
  

12. Monday.com

• Feature/Setting: Monday.com API “create_item”; automate onboarding boards and progress tracking for each employee.
  

13. Salesforce

• Feature/Setting: Salesforce Flow Builder with “Create Record” automation; trigger onboarding communication when new staff are added.
  

14. HubSpot

• Feature/Setting: HubSpot Workflow Automation; automate onboarding nurturing emails via “Create Email” and “Enroll Contact.”
  

15. Zendesk

• Feature/Setting: Zendesk API “Tickets:create”; automate internal IT/HR support ticket creation for onboarding tasks.
  

16. Freshdesk

• Feature/Setting: Freshdesk API “Create Ticket”; automate IT access requests or onboarding checklist support tickets.
  

17. ServiceNow

• Feature/Setting: ServiceNow Workflow Designer “Record Producer”; automated approval processes and communication.
  

18. Trello

• Feature/Setting: Trello API “Cards:create”; automate onboarding workflow boards for each new hire.
  

19. Airtable

• Feature/Setting: Airtable “Automations:Send email” and “Create record”; automate onboarding tracking and notifications.
  

20. Dropbox

• Feature/Setting: Dropbox API “file requests”; automate provision and notification of shared folders containing handbooks.
  

21. SAP SuccessFactors

• Feature/Setting: SuccessFactors OData API “Onboarding”; automated communications for new staff documentation workflows.
  

22. Okta

• Feature/Setting: Okta Workflows; automatedly trigger welcome messages upon account creation.
  

Benefits

1. Automatedly delivers consistent, timely communications and documents to every new staff member.

2. Automates notifications and task assignments, reducing manual HR administration.

3. Ensures automatable onboarding compliance and checklist completion.

4. Automatedly enhances engagement by personalizing and scheduling welcomes.

5. Provides end-to-end automation visibility and reporting for onboarding programs.