6 Ways HR Managers Can Use a Knowledge Base CareerMetis.com

6 Ways HR Managers Can Use a Knowledge Base Original Source â€" Depositphotos.comDoes your company have an internal knowledge base that can be accessed by all employees?If so, are you using it to the full?Whether your knowledge base is big or small, here are six important ways you can use it to the full:1)To Store Forms Used with Applicants, New Hires, and ContractorsevalWhenever your company interviews someone new, that likely generates a lot of paperwork before they’re even hired. If hiring managers have to come to you If there are loads of them, create different categories of questions â€" potentially aimed at different levels of employees A style guide can go beyond covering all the little details 5) To Train New EmployeesDo new employees get bombarded with information during onboarding… only to end up coming to you with lots of questions later, because they’ve forgotten everything? Are managers and other employees frustrated with having to spend a lot of time going through the basics over and over again with each ne w hire?Your knowledge base can come in handy here if you create a training portal for employees. As wpDocs explains:The employee onboarding process can be tedious for management and the new members of your company.Creating training portals via a knowledge base and providing online training manuals will make the process faster and more efficient, and will help your team get to work with the information they need.6) To Capture Knowledge Before Employees LeaveWhen an employee hands in their notice, you want to be ready to capture any knowledge they have that hasn’t yet been documented. This could include almost anything from the process for segmenting clients in the mailing software to the best way to fix the photocopier when it jams.While you may not want to let employees add content straight into the knowledge base themselves, it’s definitely a good idea to capture and share content swiftly once you know an employee is leaving â€" even if that means fitting in an extra meeting or two before they go.Tips for Ensuring Your Knowledge Base is As Valuable As PossibleIs your knowledge base working as efficiently as it should? Or is it rarely updated and often ignored by employees?Here are three key tips for making sure that your knowledge base offers as much value as possible:a) Keep it up to dateevalIf your knowledge base consists of articles that were mainly written years ago by the previous HR manager You might find it helps to include “portals” that link to key information on specific topics (e.g. you might have a portal for new employees, plus one for managers).c) Encourage employees to request new contentFinally, while you’re hopefully adding new content to the knowledge base as soon as you recognize a need for it, there may well be questions or omissions that you’re not aware of.Encourage all employees to request new content any time they come across something they need and can’t find, even if it’s something small like “how do I create a drop -down in Excel?”(If you get frequent requests for content that’s alreadyin the knowledge base, that’s probably a sign that you need to categorize it differently to help people navigate it better).You might find that including a form in the knowledge base for “new content requests” helps, or you might want to ask employees more proactively whether there’s anything new they’d like to see in there.Whether your company (and your knowledge base) is enormous or relatively modest, it’s important to use it to the full. Is there a particular area in which you could go further with your knowledge base? For instance, if it’s used primarily as a repository for useful documents, could you add in a “Frequently Asked Questions” page as well?Make sure it’s as easy as possible for employees at all levels â€" from new hires up to senior management â€" to find and use the content in the knowledge base, too. Keep it up to date and keep in mind that layout and organization can ma ke a huge difference to how easy people find it to dig in and find what they’re looking for.