Onboarding people should be painless, but anyone who’s done it knows it’s a mess—accounts to create, permissions to wrangle, endless “Did you do this yet?” emails. If you’re tired of clicking through the same 15 tabs every time someone joins, this guide’s for you. I’ll walk through how to automate onboarding across multiple apps using Workato, with straight talk about what’s worth your time and what’s not.
Who Should Read This
- You’re responsible for onboarding employees or contractors.
- You use multiple SaaS tools (think Slack, Google Workspace, Okta, Jira, etc.).
- You want to automate the routine stuff but don’t have weeks to learn a new programming language.
If you’re after a magic “one-click” solution, stop here—Workato’s powerful, but you’ll need to roll up your sleeves a bit. But if you want to save hours each month, let’s dig in.
Step 1: Map Out Your Onboarding Process (Before Touching Workato)
Don’t skip this. Most “automation fails” happen because the process is a moving target. Grab a notepad or a whiteboard and answer:
- What apps/accounts does a new hire need (Slack, Google, payroll, etc.)?
- What exactly do you do for each? (Invite, add to a group, set permissions?)
- What kicks off onboarding? (HR system entry, signed offer letter, manual trigger?)
Pro Tip
Write down the bare minimum steps first. You can always add bells and whistles later. If you have edge cases ("contractors need X, employees need Y"), note those, but don’t automate the weird exceptions right away.
Step 2: Get Your App Accounts Ready
Workato connects to your apps using “connections.” To avoid headaches, make sure you have:
- Admin access to every app you want to automate.
- API access or service accounts where possible. (Some tools charge extra for this—watch out.)
- Test accounts, so you’re not spamming real users as you experiment.
What Trips People Up
- Google Workspace usually wants a service account and domain-wide delegation. If the setup guide looks like legalese, you’re not alone.
- Slack permissions can be a pain. You’ll need to create a Slack app for automation to work.
If you hit a wall, check Workato’s documentation or lean on your IT folks—they’ve usually seen it all.
Step 3: Set Up Workato and Your First Recipe
Workato calls its automations “recipes.” Each recipe has a trigger (the thing that starts it) and actions (what happens next).
3.1. Sign Up and Get Oriented
- Sign up for Workato (trials are available, but pricing isn’t cheap—this is an investment).
- Click around. The UI is less intimidating than Zapier, but there’s more “under the hood” if you want it.
3.2. Choose Your Trigger
Common onboarding triggers:
- New employee added to HR system (like BambooHR, Workday)
- Google Sheet row added (if you’re scrappy)
- Manual trigger (good for testing or edge cases)
3.3. Connect Your Apps
- Go to “Connections” and add each app you want to automate.
- For each, you’ll need to sign in and grant permissions. Don’t use your personal account—use a service or admin account if possible.
3.4. Build the Recipe
Let’s say your trigger is “New row in Google Sheet” (one of the easiest ways to start):
- Set the trigger to “New row in Google Sheet.”
- Add actions for each onboarding step. Example:
- Create user in Google Workspace.
- Invite user to Slack.
- Add user to specific channels/groups.
- Send a welcome email.
- Map fields from your trigger (e.g., name, email) to the actions.
What Actually Works
Focus on the basics: account creation, group membership, notifications. Don’t get cute with “first day GIFs” or 20-step approval flows out of the gate. Get a boring, reliable process running first.
Step 4: Test, Test, and Test Again
Testing saves you from embarrassing mistakes (like sending welcome emails to the CEO instead of the new hire).
- Use test accounts and fake data.
- Make sure each action works—does the Slack invite go out? Does the Google account have the right permissions?
- Log errors, or at least set up notifications if something fails.
Honest Take
Most “automation disasters” happen because someone skipped testing, or assumed “of course the integration works!” Don’t be that person.
Step 5: Handle Exceptions and Edge Cases
No onboarding process is 100% standard. Sooner or later, you’ll need to handle:
- Contractors vs. employees (different permissions)
- People in different departments needing different tools
- Manual steps (like ordering laptops—don’t automate unless you really trust your process)
Workato recipes support conditional logic (“if employee type = contractor, skip step X”). Use it, but keep things as simple as you can. Complexity snowballs fast.
Pro Tip
Write down weird cases as you find them. Decide if they’re worth automating, or if a manual step is actually safer.
Step 6: Roll Out and Monitor
You’re ready to go live. But don’t walk away just yet.
- Run your automation for a handful of hires, not the whole company.
- Watch for failures, delays, or permissions issues.
- Set up email or Slack alerts if something in the flow breaks.
What Doesn’t Work
Don’t expect “set and forget.” SaaS APIs change, permissions get tweaked, and someone always finds a way to break the process. Plan to revisit your automation every month or so.
What to Ignore (For Now)
- Fancy dashboards. You probably don’t need one unless you’re onboarding dozens per week.
- Automating hardware or physical stuff. Unless your IT setup is top-notch, sending laptops or badges is still easier with a checklist.
- One-size-fits-all templates. Every company’s stack is different. Use Workato’s community recipes for inspiration, not gospel.
Common Gotchas and Honest Advice
- Workato isn’t magic. If an app doesn’t have an API or is locked down, you’re out of luck. Some integrations require expensive enterprise plans.
- Costs add up. Workato isn’t cheap, especially if you need lots of recipes or premium connectors. Get a quote before you commit.
- Documentation can be hit-or-miss. Sometimes you’ll need to Google or poke around forums.
- Don’t automate everything. The best onboarding flows blend automation with human touch—nobody wants a welcome from a robot.
Keep It Simple and Iterate
Automating onboarding with Workato can save you huge amounts of time and hassle—if you keep it simple, test thoroughly, and don’t try to solve every edge case on day one. Start with the basics, get feedback, and tweak as you go. The goal isn’t perfection; it’s fewer headaches and more time spent actually welcoming people, not fighting your apps.
Remember: good automation is invisible. If nobody notices, you did it right.