A new employee starts on Monday, but the laptop hasn't been ordered, the email account is missing and nobody has put the induction in the calendar. Mishaps like these rarely come from carelessness. They happen because HR processes run on emails, Excel lists and word of mouth. This article gives you an overview of the key HR processes, shows which ones are worth digitalising first and explains what Swiss companies need to consider in terms of data protection.

What are HR processes?

HR processes are the recurring workflows in human resources, from advertising a job to an employee leaving. They define who handles each step, what information is needed and when something is complete. Along the employee lifecycle, these are the main processes:

• Recruiting: advertising the job, collecting applications, scheduling interviews, sending offers and rejections
• Onboarding: organising the contract, accounts, hardware, induction sessions and the first weeks
• Absences and time tracking: recording and approving holidays, sick leave and working hours
• Development and performance reviews: planning goals, feedback and training
• Payroll and personnel data: maintaining personnel files and preparing payroll
• Offboarding: removing access, collecting equipment, writing the reference

Which HR processes are worth digitalising first

Digitalising HR doesn't mean changing everything at once. The processes that pay off most are those that happen often, involve many people and currently run on email or paper.

Recruiting

Without a system, applications sit in different inboxes and nobody knows who has already had a reply. With an applications board, every application from the form or job portal lands automatically in the same overview. Every stage, from receipt to offer, is visible, and rejections don't get forgotten.

Onboarding

Onboarding is usually the biggest lever, because HR, IT, managers and the team are all involved. A digital checklist that starts when the contract is signed makes sure everyone gets their tasks in time.

Absences and time tracking

Holiday requests by email, an Excel list for planning, the balance on a separate sheet: this is where mistakes creep in. A digital request form with approval by the line manager and automatic entry in the team calendar saves a lot of back and forth.

Offboarding

When someone leaves, removing their access is often forgotten. That's not just untidy, it's a security risk. An offboarding checklist that automatically involves IT, managers and HR ensures that everything is done by the last working day.

Example: a digital onboarding workflow

This is how onboarding could look with monday.com and Make:

1. As soon as the contract is signed, HR sets the status on the personnel board to "Offer accepted".
2. Make automatically creates an onboarding item with a checklist and assigns the tasks: IT orders hardware, the line manager plans the first week, the team prepares the workspace.
3. A week before the start date, Make sets up the email account in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace and books the induction sessions in the calendar.
4. On the first day, a welcome email goes out with the day's schedule and contact people.
5. After 30 days, the new employee receives a short feedback form, and the answers land back on the board.

HR can see at any time which steps are done and where things are stuck. Our introduction shows how to build a workflow like this in Make: