It's no surprise that a thorough onboarding process is important so new employees settle in well and swiftly in your company. But...
... perhaps you would be surprised when we tell you that onboarding actually starts when the employee applies for the job.
Have you ever thought that the elements and dynamics that make games fun actually can be used to make your new hire settle in her new job the best way possible?
In many companies onboarding (and preboarding) is an overseen part of the recruitment process. A process that starts with a need, a hire, and hopefully a long an ever-lasting marriage between employee and company.
It is odd how this is overseen when you think of how all of us know the feeling of being welcomed properly is so important. That applies whether it's in a new class in school, in the locker room at your new sports club or in your new workplace.
Bad onboarding processes are, of course, not on purpose. No one earns anything from new hires that stumbles on the way into your company. When it goes wrong it is usually because the company underestimates the need for onboarding, or that the onboarding simply isn't timely and won't work as intended. Also, should your employees leave you for some reason, it's a really good idea to have a plan for offboarding.
Digital Learning Makes a Difference in Onboarding
Traditional learning methods, even e-learning with videos, face a challenge: the world has changed, and so have its people. Today's workforce is accustomed to sleek apps and dynamic websites, spending their leisure time on games and other digital delights. They crave the freedom to learn on their own terms.
Gone are the days of passive learning, where employees were mere spectators in a knowledge dump. The modern learner thrives when they have energy and focus, which might be Thursday evening after the kids are tucked in, not Tuesday morning when HR has scheduled it.
Simply put, employees are most ready to learn when they're cozy on their couch with a steaming cup of coffee in hand.
This is where digital learning comes into play. With the right setup, you can deliver the right package to the employee who then can unpack it the way and time they want to do it. That creates the right circumstances for the employee to become a success - because they simply learn better which is crucial for performance.
Why is Onboarding Necessary?
As described earlier most people have tried being in this new person in any given situation. But one perspective is soft values and feelings - another is hard facts:
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25% of all new hires stops within a year
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It costs a company 75.000 USD if an employee quits after 4-6 months
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Effective onboarding increases employee engagement with more than 20%
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New hires are 58% more inclined to stay in a company for more than 3 years, when properly onboarded.
A premise often overlooked is that people are different and learn differently. This implies that you should tailor the onboarding process to different types of employees to a greater extent than before.
Remember also that onboarding is not only relevant when hiring new people. If an employee is promoted or gets a new function, it would be easy to think that this person automatically falls well into place.
But if the tasks are new and different than old ones the employee will feel a bit if not quite a lot out of his or her comfort zone. Nonetheless maybe it also embarrassing to ask for a "starting package", just like new hires get, when you're an experienced employee in the company.
The same counts for onboarding freelancers. These can easily be forgotten when the focus is on new employees who get flowers on their first day and a personal desk. If you want optimal cooperation and results from your freelancers, you should really consider them in your learning and onboarding processes.
Learn more about Onboarding in these insightful posts:
Virtual reality and gamification is the way forward
In Learningbank we are specialized in digital learning - simply because it works.
Our research shows that 80 % of companies that use gamification in their learning see a much higher completion rate of the learning provided. The same goes with satisfaction - when gamification is applied, 84% see a higher satisfaction among employees. Lastly, 71% see better results in tests, when employees have received gamified learning.
The benefits of VR and gamification are that the learning path requires learners to interact instead of passively observing, which increases the ability to actually remember the learning.