onboarding

The three R's: Repetition, Repetition, Repetition

Simon Morgan-Wilson

• 7 min read
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Doing the paperwork on a new contract. Anyone who contracts through a consultancy, working through their own company, will know the routine. Forms, copies of documents, insurance certificates, references. Then reminders from a few different people, each working from their own version of the list.

None of this is anyone being difficult. The people sending the emails are doing their job, under pressure. Engagement packs like this grow over years, one requirement at a time, and it's usually nobody's job to step back and look at the whole thing.

So I did, a bit. It's what I'd do with any service, and this is a service, even if it doesn't often get treated like one.

What I tend to notice

The first thing: how much is always being asked for. A lot of it is needed, sure, but much of it is the same thing asked in different ways. I've been through the process a lot of times. Each time, it comes to around 20 separate asks across the lists of forms and documents. Grouped by what they're trying to find out, they come down to about five facts:

  • who I am
  • whether I can work in the UK
  • what my company and I have delivered over the last few years, and who can vouch for it
  • that my company is properly set up: registered, insured, with a bank account and VAT number
  • whether I have a criminal record

For example:

  • name, date of birth and nationality appear on several different forms
  • proof of identity is asked for as a passport copy, a photo, a utility bill and an online identity check, all doing roughly the same job
  • company details typed out by hand are already on Companies House

Some forms don't fit the person filling them in:

  • a security clearance transfer form, for someone who doesn't hold clearance
  • pages of immigration questions for everyone, when one question first would show who actually needs them
  • references to laws and agencies that have since been replaced, which says something about how long some templates have been around

Most items are marked urgent. Understandable with a contract start date coming up, but it makes it harder to see what needs doing first and what can follow.

Some requirements, like insurance limits, arrive after the rate and start date are agreed. Raising cover costs money, and it's easier to know at the start.

And packs usually only go one way. Lots about what I need to provide, little or nothing about payment terms, invoicing, timesheets or notice. I contract through my company, so it's a supplier, and those things matter to me as much as my passport matters to them.

One part tends to work really well. The online DBS check on GOV.UK. You apply, get a share code and pass it on, and the result can be confirmed within minutes.

Some principles

  • Tell before you ask. Share the requirements and terms up front, before the rate conversation. Insurance limits, clearance level and reference rules. Nobody likes surprises after they've said yes
  • Ask once. Collect each detail once and reuse it. If you can't, be clear up front about everything you'll ask for, where each thing is used and why
  • Check at source. Digital identity checks, Companies House, HMRC and share codes do much of this already. A check result is better than a copy of a document, and safer for everyone
  • Handle it with care. Passports, NI numbers and bank details are some of the most personal things people hand over. Ask for the least you need, use a secure upload rather than email, and say how long you'll keep it
  • It works both ways. Set out payment terms, invoicing and notice as clearly as the pack asks for your details

Start with a start page

The GOV.UK Design System has a pattern for this. A good start page tells people up front what the service does, whether it's for them, and what they'll need to have ready. Contract paperwork could do with one.

It doesn't have to be a web page. The same rules work for an email or a first conversation. Whatever the channel, it's about better design and better habits.

What this is

  • the role, the end client and the start date
  • how you'll be engaged: through your own company or an umbrella company, inside or outside IR35
  • whether the role needs security clearance

What you'll get

  • the contract, sent with the offer
  • payment terms: rate, invoicing, timesheets, and how long until your company is paid
  • notice period and expenses
  • equipment: whether the end client provides a laptop or you use your own, and if it's your own, how it needs to be secured
  • access: which systems you'll need, such as email, timesheets and the client's tools, and when the logins will arrive

What you'll need to have ready

  • your passport, or a right to work share code, for the online identity check
  • your company's registration number
  • your company's insurance certificates, with the limits it'll need
  • a work email for a referee for each role in the last three years
  • your company's accountant's work email
  • a basic DBS certificate, or time to apply for one

How it works

  1. Before you agree. Terms, payment and requirements, shared up front
  2. Offer. The contract and one shared list, sent together
  3. Identity. One online check covering passport, photo, address and right to work
  4. Your company. Registration number, VAT number, bank details and insurance
  5. History and checks. Work history, referees, declaration and DBS share code
  6. Start. Everything that blocks day one is done, and your logins work
  7. First invoice. Paid on the terms agreed in step 1

Some things can follow the start date. They run alongside and can finish after you've started:

  • referees' replies
  • the accountant reference
  • the bank and VAT checks

Anything that only applies to some people gets asked as a question along the way, not put in front of everyone. One question – "Do you have a British or Irish passport?" – decides whether any immigration questions are needed at all. Another – "Do you hold security clearance?" – does the same for clearance.

Behind the start page sits one source of truth: a list both sides work from, showing what's needed, what's done and what's waiting on whom. I end up keeping my own checklist each time, and that's actually the thing that should be shared.

Ask, then say why

Then, under each request, a line saying why it's needed. Something like:

  • The ask: what you need from me
  • Why we need this: the reason, and who requires it (for example, government vetting rules, the end client or HMRC)
  • What happens to it: who sees it, and how long it's kept
  • Needed by: before the start date, or can it follow

Here's a typical pack written that way.

Your CV
Why we need this: [the end client sees it before confirming you]. Your work history covers any gaps, so it doesn't need to repeat them.
Needed by: [before the client confirms you].
Whether you hold security clearance
Why we need this: this role [does / doesn't] need it. If it does, we'll either transfer yours or sponsor a new application.
Needed by: [depends on the role].
Your company's registration number
Why we need this: we contract with your company, not with you. We'll look up the name, address and directors on Companies House, so you don't need to type them out.
Needed by: before we send the contract.
An online identity check
Why we need this: the Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS), the government's minimum check for anyone working with its systems or data, requires us to check your identity and right to work. A certified service checks your passport, photo and address in one go, and gives us the result rather than copies. So you don't need to send a passport copy, a photo or proof of address.
Needed by: before you start.
A right to work share code, if you don't have a British or Irish passport
Why we need this: it lets us confirm your right to work online with the Home Office.
Needed by: before you start.
Your work history for the last three years, with a referee for each role
Why we need this: BPSS asks us to confirm three years of history. We'll email each referee to check dates and roles, once you've said we can. Gaps over three months need a personal reference.
Needed by: before you start, though referees' replies can follow.
A basic DBS share code
Why we need this: BPSS requires a check for unspent convictions. We view the result online and record that it was done.
Needed by: before you start.
Your criminal record declaration
Why we need this: BPSS asks you to confirm in writing that you have no unspent convictions, and to tell us if that changes.
Needed by: before you start.
Your company's insurance certificates
Why we need this: [the end client's contract / our policy] requires professional indemnity of [£x], employers' liability of [£x] and public liability of [£x]. We'll note the expiry dates and remind you before renewal.
Needed by: before you start.
Your details for HMRC reporting
Why we need this: the law requires us to report contractors we place to HMRC every quarter. We'll take your company's details from Companies House, so we only need your date of birth and home address, and your company's UTR.
Needed by: before you start.
Your company's VAT number, if it's registered
Why we need this: so we handle VAT on your company's invoices correctly. We'll check it's valid and current with HMRC, so you don't need to send a certificate.
Needed by: before your first invoice.
Your company's bank details
Why we need this: so we pay your company's invoices to the right account. We'll check the account name matches your company, so you don't need to send a bank statement.
Needed by: before your first invoice.
Your NI number, if someone runs payroll for you
Why we need this: if you're inside IR35 or paid through an umbrella company, payroll needs it. If you're outside IR35 through your own company, we don't.
Needed by: before your first payment.
Your company's accountant's work email
Why we need this: for periods when you've worked through your own company, BPSS asks for someone to confirm the business was run properly. We'll email them and copy you in.
Needed by: can follow your start.

It does a few things at once. It tells me why I'm handing something over, which makes it easier to do. It sorts what's needed now from what can wait.

Writing the why is also a good test. If you can't write it, you probably don't need to ask.

I spend my working life helping teams start with user needs, ask people only for what's needed, and explain why. Getting someone started on a contract – getting someone onboarded – is a service like any other, and the same rules apply. Very little of this needs new technology. Most of it needs someone to own the whole journey.