4 Reasons Why a Late Laptop Will Ruin Your Remote Onboarding

Providing the right tools for your teams is essential for their success. And when it comes to the first day, there is nothing more essential than a laptop. 

In the office, if a new hire’s laptop is not ready to use immediately, they can still use their time wisely (e.g. meeting new colleagues, attending in-person onboarding sessions). But when your new hire is remote, the only way to connect with the company is through their laptop. 

If their laptop arrives late, they simply cannot start onboarding. And there are knock-on effects for their productivity, experience, your employer branding, and even security.

Below, we run through the key ways in which a late laptop can negatively impact your remote onboarding.

1. Productivity 

For every hour that your employees cannot work, you lose money in productivity. So every hour that your new hire does not have their laptop, is another  hour of their salary wasted.

With no way to get started, your new hire is  essentially absent. According to workforce solution company Circadian, unscheduled absenteeism costs US companies US$2,650 a year for salaried employees, and US$3,600 for hourly employees. 

So even if you spend a little more on delivery, or work with a slightly more expensive device provider, to guarantee your laptops arrive before day 1, you’ll be spending far less money in the long run.

One sure fire way to reduce first day admin for your talent, and to set them up to be as productive as possible, is to configure their devices before shipping them. This way, your new hires will receive an up-to-date device, installed with user accounts, applications, and security measures. And ready-to-work on arrival. 

That’s hours of waiting around for software to install and update, saved. 

2. Employee experience 

Creating a good employee experience is essential for employee engagement, retention and business growth.  

Even a laptop arriving a few hours late can have a significant impact on your new hire’s first day experience. They may spend their first few hours feeling disengaged and not useful, and may end up working late to make up for lost time. 

71% of workers work overtime at least once a week. So new hires - keen to impress and not fall behind - may feel pressured to work 3 hours late to catch up on the onboarding training that they could not do while their laptop was in transit. 

This unnecessary pressure can then add days to their settling in process. And the last thing you want is to encourage employee burnout from the start. 

When a new hire receives their laptop several days before their start date, however, it provides a sense of anticipation, and relieves first day nerves. 

Having the necessary tools from the start fosters a sense of trust, satisfaction, and motivation. Positive employee experiences like these have a ripple effect on engagement, retention, and overall team morale. Indeed, research by Brandon Hall Group revealed that a great onboarding experience can increase retention by more than 80%.

3. Employer branding

First impressions are everything. By ensuring laptops are delivered before day one, you are simply proving that you do things right.

It is also a testament to your organization's commitment to a positive employee experience. It sends a message that you value your team members' time and productivity. And that you are invested in their success. 

A sloppy onboarding experience represents a sloppy brand after all.

4. Security 

If a laptop does not arrive in time for day 1, your new hire may resort to using their personal device while they wait. However, using personal devices poses major security risks.

Personal devices are not protected by the same security measures that protect your corporate network. Which means using them greatly increases the risk of a data breach. And with the average cost of a data breach at US$4.35M per incident globally, and US$9.44M in the US, it should be your absolute priority to prevent personal device use at all costs.

By ensuring laptops arrive before day one, you eradicate the possibility of new hires using their personal laptops.

For added security, you should pre-configure your devices with firewalls, security applications, and up-to-date antivirus software before shipping, so they are secure and ready-to-use out of the box.

Ensure every first day is productive with Hofy 

By prioritizing timely laptop delivery, you showcase your commitment to employee satisfaction, security, and efficiency. So, whether you are welcoming new hires, or providing laptops to existing team members, timely laptop delivery is paramount. 

But ensuring a laptop arrives before day one is not always easy. Especially when equipping hires in hard-to-reach locations.

At Hofy, we understand how crucial it is that your new hires have their devices in time for day 1. That’s why we ensure over 99.5% of our device deliveries globally arrive in 10 working days or less. So even immediate starters are equipped to hit the ground running. 

Demo Hofy today to see how quick and effortless it is to get laptops anywhere in the world. In time for productive first days.