Related: How to use automation to off-board employees<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The first step in onboarding any new employee is formally offering them the job. But the process of sending contracts can be tedious. <\/p>\n\n\n\n You need to draw up a contract, send it, wait for their response, and then file the signed paperwork appropriately once it returns. And if you\u2019re hiring a high volume of applicants, you need to repeat this process for every single one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To streamline the process, you can use Workato to integrate DocuSign<\/a> or another e-contract service with your HR app. When a candidate\u2019s status changes to \u201chired\u201d in your HR app, Workato will automatically send them the appropriate contract\u2014and<\/i> fill in the candidate\u2019s information. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Another Workato recipe will keep an eye on DocuSign. When the signed contract comes back, Workato will move the contract into the new employee\u2019s profile in your HR app. You\u2019ll then receive a notification via Slack or email, alerting you to the signed contract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can customize this onboarding automation<\/a> to meet your specific business needs. For example, a national nonprofit with 400 staff, thousands of volunteers and canvassers, and 1.5 million supporters in all 50 states and the District of Columbia integrates DocuSign and QuickBase using Workato. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When a new hire packet is filled out in DocuSign, Workato pulls information from the contract\u2019s fields and moves it into Quick Base automatically. It might seem like a simple integration, but it adds real value for the HR team by eliminating a lot of manual data entry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It also decreases the likelihood of human error when moving that data around. And because the process moves automatically, it can significantly speed up the onboarding process; new hires can get to work sooner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Learn more about automating contracts ><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Automating contract sending is just one way to simplify onboarding; you can also easily automate the filing of that paperwork. <\/p>\n\n\n\n By creating an automated workflow that uses DocuSign, a cloud storage app such as Box<\/a>, and a chat app like Slack<\/a>, you can securely store signed contracts and automatically inform the right people when paperwork has been completed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When Workato detects that a contract has come back signed in DocuSign, a recipe<\/a> can create a new Box folder named with the new employee\u2019s email. (Because it takes a few minutes for the new Box folder to create, there is a 5 minute wait time built into this recipe before Workato downloads the contract from DocuSign as a PDF and uploads the contract into the Box folder.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n The recipe also adds the new employee as a collaborator to the folder. Finally, Workato can send a notification to the hiring manager via Slack, announcing the new employee and providing a link to the contract stored in Box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Get started with this integration ><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n When a new employee starts work, their information often needs to be entered into multiple systems. Not only do you need to add that employee to your HR app (like Workday<\/a>), but you also need to make their personal information available to other departments (like finance or payroll). <\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s a lot of data entry\u2014especially when you have to do it for each new employee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To ease the burden, you can routinely sync HR apps like Namely or Workday with a finance app like NetSuite<\/a>, Intacct, or QuickBooks. The first way to do this is on a timer, where the integration runs on a schedule you determine. For example, you could choose to sync the apps every day at midnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The second way to structure the automation is to sync the apps in real-time using a trigger. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Every time a new employee is created in Workday, for example, a recipe<\/a> can check to see if there\u2019s a corresponding employee in NetSuite. If not, the recipe can create one. (You can also create a corresponding recipe, so that every time a change or update is made to an employee in NetSuite, it syncs with Workday.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n This way, you avoid duplicate accounts while making sure all information across your apps is up-to-date and accurate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Seamlessly sync employees between Workday and NetSuite ><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n An important part of employee onboarding is getting new employees set up in the other apps and systems they need. You want new hires to have access as soon as possible so they can complete crucial onboarding tasks like entering payroll preferences\u2014and so they can start being productive right away! <\/p>\n\n\n\n But the process of granting access to apps and systems (also known as provisioning) often requires manual input. You (or an IT staff member) will have to create credentials for a new employee in every program they will use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A simple recipe<\/a> can automate provisioning so that you don\u2019t need to manually configure app access for new hires. Whenever you create a new user in Workday or another HR app, it can trigger the creation of a new user in Concur<\/a>, ServiceNow<\/a>, Salesforce<\/a>\u2014or any other app you want to grant employees access to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This way, you don\u2019t have to manually grant access; new employees will be able to get started as soon as your HR app lists them as hired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Create new users in your enterprise apps ><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n Many organizations already use an identity and access management (IAM) program like Okta<\/a> to manage provisioning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For security reasons, these apps are usually managed by the IT or Security Ops teams, so HR can\u2019t make changes as needed. This creates a time lag in the employee onboarding process because you need to wait for another department to provision your new employee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With an integrated employee onboarding workflow, however, you can securely create new users in your IAM app and kick off automatic provisioning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When a new employee signs their offer letter in an HR app like Workday or Zenefits<\/a>, it can trigger the creation of a new Okta user. The IAM app will then automatically provision that new user across all<\/i> associated systems that they need access to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This emloyee onboarding automation means that you don\u2019t need to wait for IT to create a user in your company\u2019s IAM app; the process happens automatically\u2014and securely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The workflow can even incorporate contract automation apps. When a new employee signs a DocuSign contract, a recipe can automatically provision an account for that employee so they can access the employee portal, for example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fully automate your IAM management with Workato and Okta ><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n If your organization is larger or has many different departments, it\u2019s likely that not every new employee will need access to every app. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Or employees may need different levels of access based on their seniority. This can make provisioning even more complicated because you need to customize the apps and access levels you grant to each new hire.<\/p>\n\n\n [bctt tweet=”Intelligent #automation can make onboarding new employees a breeze!” username=”Workato”]<\/p>\n\n\n\n For more granular control over provisioning, you can create an approval workflow that requires input from the right person (like a hiring manager or team lead) before granting access. <\/p>\n\n\n\n With Workbot<\/a>, a chatbot we created so you can do work in other apps directly from Slack, the approval workflow can occur right in the chat console. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Workbot is the only Slackbot to offer Verified User Access<\/a> (VUA), a proprietary feature that requires approvers to authenticate their credentials before approving actions in other apps. With VUA, your approvals are always secure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A simple approval workflow would send a Slack <\/a>message to the approver whenever a candidate is marked as \u201chired\u201d in your HR app, like Workday. The message will ask whether they want to create a new user in ServiceNow<\/a>, for example. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Alternatively, the message can offer a drop-down menu of apps that the approver can choose from. The approver then uses buttons to choose whether to \u201caccept\u201d or \u201creject\u201d the action. From there, Workato will automatically create a new user in the appropriate app.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can also use this approval flow as an extra check before executing a comprehensive IAM workflow. When a new sales employee is added in your HR app, for example, a recipe sends a message via Workbot indicating that the employee was added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The message will prompt you to approve the addition; once approved, the workflow will then automatically create an Okta user in the Sales group and provision the user across all the right apps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Learn more about constructing Slack approval workflows ><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Beyond provisioning, there are lots of other resources that you need to provide new employees. These resources range from formal documents (like the employee handbook) to tips for navigating the chain of communication. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In many companies, these resources are either provided as hard copies, stored in HR apps like Namely<\/a>, or passed along verbally. But new employees might not know where to find help\u2014and providing frequent assistance can be a big distraction for HR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Intelligent HR workflows can help you make these resources available to new hires instantly. One way to do this is to create a workflow with Slack and your HR app. When a new employee is added to the HR app, they can automatically receive a Slack message on their start date. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The message will include the employee handbook and any other info they need. It can even recommend Slack channels the new employee should join, like #lunch-orders or #marketing. With this automation, your new hires will immediately have access to the resources they need!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Related: How to implement recruiting automations<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n HR isn\u2019t just responsible for executing the employee onboarding process; it\u2019s responsible for designing and honing that process as well. In this respect, employee feedback is crucial. It gives the HR team on-the-ground insight into how employee onboarding functions in real life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But collecting that feedback can be labor-intensive. You have to create a means for submitting it (like an online survey or a physical drop box) and then encourage the right people to respond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can easily solicit feedback from recently hired employees with Workday integration to SurveyMonkey<\/a>. Using this recipe<\/a>, you can automatically send a SurveyMonkey survey to each new hire whenever that user is created in Namely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can even tweak this recipe so that it sends a survey to new hires at your desired interval. For example, you could send the survey two weeks after the employee\u2019s start date, so they have time to experience the full employee onboarding process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Deploy internal surveys with no manual work ><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a>Collect, Store, and Sync Employee Contracts and Personal Information<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.workato.com\/the-connector\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Workato-1.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n1. Send employment contracts automatically with DocuSign<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
2. Store signed employee contracts and notify the hiring manager<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
3. Workday Integration: Sync employee information between your HR and finance apps<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>Provision New Employees Securely and Automatically<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
1. Automatically create accounts for new users in your enterprise apps<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"For](\"https:\/\/www.workato.com\/the-connector\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Workato-1-1.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n2. Fully automate provisioning with integrated identity access management<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
3. Workday Integration: Executing approval workflows in Slack<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>Give Employees the Right Tools and Refine Your Onboarding Workflows<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
1. Provide employee resources via Slack <\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"HR](\"https:\/\/www.workato.com\/the-connector\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Workato-2.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n2. Seamlessly collect feedback on the employee onboarding process<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n