Stemilt Streamlines Employee Orientation to Save 4500 Hours

Nestled amidst the pristine orchards of Washington State, USA, Stemilt’s fruit-growing legacy has transcended generations with roots tracing as far back as 1893. Officially founded in 1964, the company gets its name from a Native American word meaning “coming from the mountains”. But today, Stemilt has become synonymous with the finest, juiciest, and most exquisite tree fruits such as cherries, apples, and pears.

During peak harvesting season, Stemilt goes from 2000 and 5000 employees in a period of a week and a half. Many of these employees come from Mexico and Central America to support the harvest. This means that employees must be onboarded quickly and efficiently to ensure that operations run smoothly. To help them streamline the employee orientation experience, Stemilt has sought out easy-to-use and mobile friendly technology.

Let’s take a look at how they’ve leveraged technology to save both time and money in their HR operations.

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Automating Document Generation

Automating document generation for employee orientation, including critical forms like the I-9 was a significant way that Stemilt was able to streamline the onboarding process with PeopleSpheres. Not only does this ensure compliance, it also saves the HR department time and resources. “We were in need of streamline and digital so that we don’t have to create so much paperwork,” says Stemilt’s Manager of Learning and Development.

Before PeopleSpheres, employees had to go to back and forth to different windows to enter their information before they could start the job. Now, all the essential employee information needed to onboard an employee is consolidated into one form. And instead of having to constantly translate for non-English speakers, all the content can be delivered directly in Spanish. This enhances the employee experience from day one and expedites their readiness for work.

One of the things that has been great with PeopleSpheres is being able to minimize the time we’re doing orientation. It’s very easy to use, very thorough. Just one page, you have everything you need there.” – Manager, Talent Management at Stemilt

Mobility for On-site Orientation

Wether in the orchards, in the office or in the warehouse, the Stemilt team has the ability to use PeopleSpheres on their mobile device. This means that onboarding and other HR tasks can be completed from anywhere.

This mobility aligns with the goal to continue improving the employee experience at Stemilt. It meets workers exactly where they are, making it easier for them to integrate to their new work environment. Not only does it make easier for the employee, it is also more efficient for HR.

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43% of HR decision-makers agree that engaging front-line leaders and supervisors is one of the biggest challenges when it comes to onboarding. Allowing an organization to go digital and mobile supports collaboration across the entire workforce in order to give employees the best experience possible.

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Significant Time Savings for Stemilt

In the past, it took a week to onboard 100 employees. Now, 300+ employees can be brought on in 2 days and on the job in just 4 days.

Vivian Page, VP of Human Resources at Stemilt says “We’ve saved an hour and a half on onboarding per person. So times 3000 employees, and the cost is about $150,000.” In other words, 4500 hours in orientation time is saved annually. This is thanks to the fact that employees don’t have to set up multiple passwords to get into multiple systems.

Additionally, 90% of the employees are repeat hires coming from outside of the United States. Instead of having to go through the same 3-hour process again every year, their information is saved in PeopleSpheres. They system automates most of the rehiring process so that employees can be onboarded in a fraction of the time.

We are happy with the ease of use, which is really how we want to optimize our people experience at Stemilt” – VP of Human Resources, Stemilt