Starting to use Workhub as an administrator can be a daunting task! There are so many components to review and so many moving parts in our safety and compliance software that it can be challenging to figure out where to start. We'll outline the simplest steps for getting started, and then you can hit the ground running for bringing your organization on board with Workhub.
The first steps that most administrators ask about and that we recommend taking on are:
Creating your Workhub account
Creating your Positions
Creating and enabling your Compliance items
Creating your Positions' Assignments
Creating your Workers and inviting them to log in
After those basic steps, building out your account can be done in bits and pieces, as small or large as you need! We have devoted Help Articles for each of those steps that will be linked in each section. This article can be a good starting place for you to ensure you're on the right track, but we encourage you to look a bit further for more in-depth explanation if you need.
It's important to keep in mind that Workhub is very broad in the scope of tools we provide. Getting all your components perfected right off the bat isn't essential or realistic. It is more than alright to start small and slow and work up from there.
We're here to help at every step along the way!
Creating your Workhub Account
To get started, you'll need to create an account. The steps to do so are pretty darn simple!
First, you'll need to navigate to Workhub.com and click the Sign Up For Free button in the top right corner. You can follow the steps outlined for you from that point to choose your account type and enter your relevant information. In Step 3, be sure to enter something clear and easily entered by your Workers in the Your Company Name field, as that's how your Workers will be able to find the account to log in!
You can follow more detailed steps for how to create an account in our Help Article on the subject: How to create a new account.
Creating your Positions
Within Workhub, Positions are your main element of control for assignments and reporting. They are also how you control who has access to what in your organization's account through permissions. Having your Positions set up gives you a solid foundation for rolling out the use of the software smoothly!
To begin creating your Positions for your Workers, you can begin on your Admin dash and click into your Positions & Roles component:
Click the Add Position button in the top right corner of the page, and fill in the page with your Position's information.
The only mandatory field on this page is the Position Name, but you can add a job description and can tailor the Position Settings to outline what Position this role may report to and to limit the access of the Workers in this Position. You may not have that information in place right at the beginning, and that's okay!
You can hit Create Position in the top right corner of the page to finalize the creation of your Position.
After saving your Position, you'll see new options appear along the top of the screen. When setting up your account, your biggest concern of these tabs will be your Permissions tab. Permissions control what a Worker in your account can access and do in the software, so having these set properly is important! We have a Help Article devoted to explaining Permissions in detail if you need a detailed explanation of how they function.
If you want this Position to be completing items for compliance as a Worker, you can provide their Position a Worker Default set of Permissions. If you want this Position to be administering elements of the account, you can provide an Admin Default set of Permissions. If you're on a paid account, you'll also be able to choose the third Permission type, Custom Permissions. While the Default Permission types will set a selection of pre-determined Permissions that can't be edited for a Position, the Custom option will allow you to hand select each needed Permission for the Position!
You can maximize the Permission options beneath the Permission Type selector to review what Permissions are applied to the default you've chosen or to add or remove them from the Custom Permission Type.
After reviewing your Permissions, you can click the Save Permission button in the top right corner of the page.
You'll need to set the Permissions for each Position you create within your organization. Positions will default to have a Worker Default permission type to limit their access to administrative elements of the account, just in case you forget to make that selection!
Creating and enabling your Compliance items
Generally, most admins start off with Workhub to get their Workers onboarded as new employees or to refresh Workers' training. The components in the top row of the Admin dash constitute our Onboarding and Compliance category of components, and include:
As an administrator, you can populate these components with items relevant to your particular organization. You can click those above links for detailed explanations of how to assign all those items.
Some of these components are made up of a lot of information! Competencies, for instance, are compilations of other items from your Onboarding and Compliance components plus any criteria you'd like someone assessed on to gauge competence. Because of this, you aren't able to build those out until you have other items in place.
Our recommendation would be to start slow and with your most important needs first. If your organization places a lot of emphasis on a Worker's training, your first steps might be to assign your Online Training course and create your Certificates first. If you need policy documents read and acknowledged for onboarding, you can populate that component to get started.
Creating your Positions' Assignments
At this point, you have your some of your Positions created and some of your Compliance items created in your account. Now it's time to put those together!
You'll need to assign your compliance items to your Positions. That sounds complicated, but it's pretty simple. This is how you make sure the Workers in your organization are completing the training and items they need for their roles.
You can do this in two ways: by Position or by compliance item.
By Position
To assign compliance items such as Online Training, Certificates, etc., by Position, you can start on your Admin dash and click into your Positions component. You can then select your desired Position from the list and navigate to the Assignments tab.
Within the Assignments tab, you'll see another nested set of tabs. These tabs will include the assignable content from your Onboarding and Compliance components. You can click into any of the tabs and set the assignment level for any of the items within that component.
For your assignments, the different levels will apply different requirements for your Workers. The different levels are:
N/A: N/A means the item will not be visible to or assigned to the Position
Optional: this assignment level makes the item visible in the list for that Position but does not make the item required
Required: The Required columns include low, medium, high, and critical. Any of them will list the item as a red requirement for your Workers.
Once you've made your changes, be sure to click the Save Assignments button in the top right corner of the page.
This method is best if you have one Position that you need to make many compliance item assignments for! It has all your compliance items listed in a single, easily accessible place.
By Compliance Item
To assign your Compliance items to many Positions, you can start on your Admin dash and click into the Onboarding and Compliance component that has the item you want to assign. We can use Online Training as an example.
You can begin by clicking into Online Training and finding the specific course in the list that you want to assign. Click into the course and navigate to the Assignments tab along the top of the screen.
In the Assignments screen, you will see your Positions listed along the left side of the page and your assignment levels in the other columns. Click the radio button (that's the little dot) for the requirement level for each Position. The levels are outlined above in the description for assigning by Position.
This method is best if you have one Compliance item that you need to assign to many Positions!
An easy cheat sheet for easy assignments:
One Position to assign many compliance items = assign by Position
One compliance item to assign to many Positions = assign by Compliance Item
It's important to keep in mind that you don't have to assign everything at once! You can assign one course, one Certificate, one of anything if that's the stage you're at. You can always build onto and change your assignments as your account grows and your needs change! For more information about assignments, including information on how to assign items within your Form Tools and Communication categories, you can view our Help Article on Assignments.
Creating your Workers and inviting them to log in
You have nearly all the pieces you need in place:
Your Positions have been created
Your Onboarding and Compliance items have been created
Your assignments for your Positions have been entered
You're now ready to add Workers to your account to get them started on their assignments!
To add a Worker, you'll need to begin on your Admin dash and click into your Workers component. You can click the Add Worker button in the top right corner of your page and enter the necessary details to create your Worker. Keep in mind the Positions you created and made assignments for when you're entering the details for your Worker - the choice of the Position will dictate what items are available and assigned to them!
We have a dedicated Help Article outlining the steps and nuances to creating a Worker, including the details of how to send your Worker a prompt to create a password and log into their account for the first time.
Need Help?
Those are the basic steps in beginning to use your Workhub account! There is a lot to consider when setting an account up but we know you're up to the task, even if you need some guidance along the way. If you run into any trouble or if you have any questions, you can always contact our Support Centre for assistance. You can click the orange question mark Help Chat button in the bottom left corner of your screen for chat support:
You can also email our Support Centre at [email protected].
Finally, if your account is on a paid plan, you can also call in for phone support. The number for our Support Centre is 1-888-668-6403.