Employee Onboarding Training: Ultimate Guide for HR Managers

Today's world is more interconnected than ever. A corporation can be based in one end of the world and its employees on the other. While this has made it convenient for companies to operate from various locations, it too comes with its set of complications. For instance, employee onboarding and training. Taking on new recruits and directing them across oceans via computer screens can be fairly difficult.

However, with 'work-from-home becoming the norm, remote employee training has become the need of the hour. With this guide, you will learn how to create a successful employee onboarding training program, that too via an LMS.

Why do you need employee onboarding training?

As HR managers, you must be well familiar with the arduous task of taking on newcomers and helping them settle into the organization. Not only do you have to ensure the long-term success of the company but also of your employees. This is where this training program comes in. It essentially helps to integrate workers - old & new - into the ecosystem of the workplace. Matter of fact, research shows that companies that administer regular onboarding training, report higher productivity levels.

1. Improved job performance

Regular onboarding sessions keep the employees informed. Consequently, they stay aware of their duties and can perform them with confidence. Moreover, such programs give them an assurance that help is present when they need it. It sort of works like a safety net and further motivates the employees to perform even better.

2. Clarity of role

One of the things newcomers struggle with is the nature of their role. Out of the fear of humiliation, many refuse to seek out help. And so, they are unable to perform their tasks according to the organization's expectations. An onboarding program then ensures that the employees are well guided regarding their duties and what is expected of them.

Clarity of role also helps to avoid any work overlap that might create any competition amongst colleagues.

3. Social integration

According to a report by Forbes magazine, workplaces with strong social connections and environments boast higher employee satisfaction and performance. This makes all the more sense! A company can only really succeed if all of its workforces act as one unit - a family, Remember the good old saying? United we stand, divided we fall.

Employee onboarding programs provide that extra space for people to connect and interact with each other. By doing so, companies can build a strong sense of community between their workers.

4. Awareness of workplace culture

During job interviews, recruiters often specify how important it is for their employees to adjust to their workplace culture. However, little to nothing is done to assimilate the new recruits. Among other things, employee onboarding educates the workers on the values and goals of the company.

Steps to create a successful employee onboarding training program

Determine knowledge baseline for the program

For a program to be effective, the employees must be subjected to the same material. Otherwise, their understanding of the company and duties will differ leading to confusion within the workforce. By setting a knowledge baseline, the company can standardize the program and ensure that the employees remain on the same track.

To establish the knowledge baseline, the company stakeholders must work alongside the HR team. With the departments working together, it will be easier to establish goals and duties. It is advised to initially keep the baseline knowledge to concise only to basics and later build around it as you go. Start by focusing on what aspects of the organization are vital for all the newcomers. In this way, it will be much simpler to keep everyone informed and on track.

Create specific training teams

The purpose of baseline knowledge is for educate all the employees on the same aspects and pointers. However, not every employee is there for the same task. Each employee is taken on for a special role. And to train them accordingly it is fundamental that employees be divided into sub-groups or teams according to their roles and expertise.

This will target specialized learning. Moreover, it can also act like fast-track learning by which less specialized learners can catch up with more skilled ones in less time. Creating teams will also make larger training programs more manageable and hence more efficient too.

Provide an employee handbook

Having an employee handbook slashes away half the burden of the training program. It acts as a quick read on the basic workings of the workplace. With the easier bits off the list, the rest of the program can focus on the more nuanced aspects. It saves time and effort. Anyway, having a written down guideline gives a little something for the employees to refer to routinely.

Determine instruction strategies

Undoubtedly, the success of any training program rests on how it is delivered to the learners. From determining the content to figuring out ways that prove the most efficient in communicating the knowledge across, it all depends on having the right instruction strategies.

The strategies you choose also the nature of your training. Keep it too casual and it'll look like an 'employee meet & greet'. Keep it too formal, and it'll look like a college lecture. An efficient and enjoyable onboarding training strikes a balance between these two extremes.

Here is a good resource on engaging learning strategies that HR managers can incorporate when designing training programs: 10 collaborative learning strategies.

Conduct regular onboarding surveys

If you wish to make your programs better and relevant for later recruits, conduct regular surveys. Feedbacks will tell you where your program lacks and what the employees expect from the corporation as well. It will help overcome any communication gap that otherwise may occur. Moreover, seeking the opinions of your employees will make them feel valued and invested more in their job. A pro-tip: have an open-door policy so that people can freely share their concerns and advice.

Set milestones

Milestones help set an upper limit on the expectations. It is important to have attainable goals so that you can achieve them. Being too ambitious, especially when starting out, could deter your motivation. Mark out what you as HR managers hope to achieve, set out milestones for the company as a whole, and most importantly, make your employees set their milestones. This will help you track the performance of the organization and the employees. At the end of each milestone period, you can also assess how the onboarding program is performing.

How to choose an LMS for employee onboarding training program?

What is even an onboarding program today without an LMS to host it? Whilst many are familiar with the idea of a learning management system, they are less aware of its versatile uses like corporate training or employee onboarding programs. Matter of fact, this is not a new concept. Several companies have been using LMS for training their employees e.g. Amazon.

LMS acts more than hosting sites for your programs. They provide access to exclusive app integrations and in turn cutting down expenditure, making it easier to design, launch, and host the program from one platform. Moreover, LMS can offer a variety of ways you can conduct the program. Whether you want a synchronous or an asynchronous program, they will have you sorted.

With seamless management, data protection, and program scalability features, LMS proves to be a necessary pre-requisite for creating an employee onboarding program.

Here's how you too can use LMS to run your program.

Asses the needs

Start by asking, why and from whom are you creating this program. These questions will help you understand how you need to design the program to satisfy the answers to them. And so, you'll have a clearer view of the features you need. For instance, if you wish to host a synchronous program, you will need an LMS that offers a video hosting site, communication features (in-app messaging, slack groups, etc), and a scheduling app among other things.

Then weigh in your options. See which LMS tick the boxes. Compare their pricing. And finally, make your decision.

Why Teachfloor is perfect for your next employee onboarding training program?

Cohort-Based Technology:

Teachfloor is one of the only LMS out there that is created with cohort-based learning in mind. But why does that matter to onboarding training? As mentioned above, social integration is a vital aspect of employee training. Through it, new recruits are introduced to each other and the workplace culture. By using cohort-based technology, one can achieve these goals a lot smoothly.

Moreover, employees have different roles and belong to various departments, which can make it difficult to manage them all in one space. This is where cohorts come in handy. With them, you can easily team up employees according to their departments so they may train according to their specific roles.

Peer Review:

Teachfloor comes with Peer Review feature which enables learners to interact with each other constructively. People can learn from one another and give feedback on the program simultaneously with it. Furthermore, there is an additional discussion wall, where employees can communicate more casually too.

Gamification & Assessment:

To keep trainees focused and interested, gamification is necessary. With the help of Teachfloor's quiz feature, managers can create fun pop-quizzes to both keep the learners entertained and invested in the content.

Zoom Integration:

And finally, the most important feature; Teachfloor offers Zoom integration its users. Pay only for the LMS and use these add-on features without paying any extra fee.

So why wait any longer. Sign up today and run a successful employee onboarding program with Teachfloor right away: START NOW!