Employee onboarding is crucial for a successful and efficient workforce expansion. According to research, 77% of properly onboarded new hires hit their performance goals but also put in 20% more discretionary effort. This early success in the organization leads to higher time-to-productivity ratios and a 60% increase in year-on-year revenue. As a leader, are these the results you’re striving for? These exceptional outcomes can be within your reach if you priotitize employee onboarding and make onboarding training your first automation focus. Keep reading to dive deep into the strategy and scale effectively. The best part? Our tips are applicable to in-office, hybrid, and remote onboarding.
Employee onboarding training: #1 Thing to automate and reap the most benefits
When you think about automating any process, you may initially consider automating routine tasks. It's a smart move, and numerous HR tools and other solutions can help streamline this aspect.
However, if you're looking to maximize your financial returns, automating knowledge transfer takes the top spot. When employees are well-prepared from day one, they contribute more quickly and effectively to the organization's success, leading to increased revenue and cost savings.
Before we dive deeper into the world of employee onboarding, let's start with the basics.
What is employee onboarding?
Employee onboarding is the systematic process of introducing a new hire to their role within a company. This encompasses more than just the nuts and bolts of the job; it's about immersing them in the organization's culture, values, and expectations.
A positive onboarding experience can significantly enhance employee retention rates and motivation, setting the stage for a productive and engaged workforce since the early days with the company.
📚 Here at Edtch, we see employee onboarding as the foundational step that a knowledge-driven organization takes on its path to success.
What is automated employee onboarding?
This concept revolves around harnessing the power of automation technology to streamline the new employee onboarding process and reduce the heavy reliance on HR teams and immediate supervisor involvement.
Automation platforms enable businesses to standardize and accelerate:
Routine tasks, such as sending emails, updating statuses, and routing information;
Organizational procedures, including granting access to critical applications, scheduling orientation meetings, and facilitating the distribution of feedback surveys;
More complex processes like data entry, notifications, document generation, and even signature capture;
👨🏫 Most importantly, automation technology empowers knowledge transfer through automated employee onboarding training.
Why is automating employee onboarding training so important?
Effective employee onboarding is more than just a checklist of administrative tasks; it's about imparting the knowledge and skills required for success within an organization.
⚠️ Knowledge transfer is usually the most time-consuming and sensitive part of employee onboarding, especially as you work in the industries like healthcare, finance, or tech, as each may have unique requirements and compliance standards.
In other words, onboarding training is quite an investment.
Therefore, it is essential to ensure:
🚀 The process is as smooth as possible;
⚡ Relevant knowledge is transferred;
📋 Up-to-date industry-specific regulations are taught to new employees;
👔 Training is tailored to the needs of specific departments, roles, juniors, middle management, and senior executives.
If all the pieces fall into place, the results can be impressive:
➡ Increased productivity;
➡ Higher retention rates;
➡ A stronger, more cohesive team, all contributing to your company's growth.
Does it sound intriguing? Edtch offers a solution that can bring you just that!
Strategy: Automate new hire onboarding with modern e-learning technology
To streamline your new employee training at scale, opt for an e-learning platform packed with these key features:
👔 Customization
The platform should allow organizations to tailor training content to their specific industry, role, and department requirements. This customization ensures that new hires receive relevant and targeted training.
An e-learning platform should offer intuitive content authoring tools that enable organizations to create, edit, and update training materials with ease. This empowers HR professionals to keep content current and aligned with industry standards.
🧩 Integration capabilities
The platform should seamlessly integrate with existing HR systems and other software used in the onboarding process. This integration streamlines data exchange, ensuring a cohesive onboarding experience.
👨🏻💻 No-code an low-code features
To accelerate the content development process, you want to avoid addressing every request to the tech team. Opt for the platform allowing for quick adjustments as regulations or company policies change.
📶 Scalability
As the business scales, the e-learning platform should accommodate a growing number of users and adapt to evolving training needs.
📱 Mobile-friendly design
The platform should be accessible on various devices, including smartphones and tablets, to accommodate remote or on-the-go learning.
👆 Interactive features
Quizzes, simulations, and multimedia resources engage learners and promote active participation.
📈 Tracking and analytics
Robust tracking and analytics tools provide insights into employee progress, helping organizations identify areas that may need improvement.
🔐 Security
Data security is crucial. The platform should adhere to industry-standard security protocols to protect sensitive employee information.
🙌 User support
The platform should offer training and troubleshooting assistance for both administrators and learners.
📋 Compliance management
Particularly important for industries with specific regulations, the platform should support compliance training, tracking, and reporting.
👍 Feedback and evaluation
Tools for gathering feedback and evaluating the effectiveness of training modules enable continuous improvement.
🏆 Gamification
Gamification elements, such as badges and leaderboards, can make training more engaging and motivate employees to complete modules.
Leverage Edtch: Your all-in-one e-learning solution
If you’re looking for an e-learning platform that meets all the essential criteria for automating your employee onboarding training, Edtch stands out as the complete package. Here are six points that prove it:
With a focus on course authoring tools and learning management solutions, Edtch empowers your organization to create, adapt, and deliver training content seamlessly.
Engagement is key, and Edtch offers interactive surveys, audio, video, and image resources that keep your learners actively participating in their training.
Robust tracking and analytics tools provide in-depth insights into employee progress, enabling continuous improvement.
Edtch places a strong emphasis on data security, adhering to industry-standard protocols to protect sensitive employee information.
Our dedicated user support ensures that both administrators and learners have the assistance they need.
The Edtch platform is built to accommodate growing and scaling teams – our pricing model of choice ensures fair value for money.
🤝 In short, when you choose Edtch, you're choosing a partner dedicated to your organization's growth and success.
5 Steps to automate your employee onboarding process
Structure the onboarding workflow
Start by developing a well-defined onboarding process that includes documentation, training, progress tracking, and feedback. Create a 30-60-90-day plan that outlines what needs to be accomplished at each stage.
👉 Use Edtch's storyboarding feature to organize all the necessary content and steps you envision for your onboarding courses (branching included!)
Put everything you need into a course
As a company that has been in the business for a while, you may have collected a bunch of training materials and docs in your internal knowledge base.
👉 Import your existing assets to Edtch in the SCORM, PPT or PDF formats and drag and drop them on the canvas of our storyboarding tool.
Drag and drop multimedia files with the built-in Google Images and YouTube search in Edtch.
Enroll new hires automatically
As you’ve started automating the onboarding process, you want to automate every part of it, right? This saves time and ensures everyone gets access to the right training materials right from the start.
👉 Opt for automatic enrollment to courses supported by Edtch.
Make integrations work
Integrate your onboarding software with other essential tools in your tech stack to create a seamless experience for new hires.
👉 Edtch's API and Webhooks make this process straightforward and efficient.
Track progress and tailor onboarding
Recognize that not all new hires have the same learning curve. Keep a close eye on their progress and offer assistance as needed.
👉 Edtch's advanced reporting at the individual user level and course branching allow you to create personalized learning paths, ensuring that each employee gets the right support and training tailored to their needs.
By following these steps and taking advantage of Edtch's features, you can automate and optimize your employee onboarding process, setting the stage for a more efficient and engaging experience for your new hires.
Extra tips: How to gain a competitive edge with automated employee onboarding training
Personalize your onboarding courses and improve user experience
Personalization is key to many doors, including higher engagement in the training content and better employee performance.
👉 Consider branching your onboarding courses to specialized and personalized paths, hold tailored quizzes, and add interactive elements available on the Edtch platform.
🎓 Advanced tip: Assess your new hire's knowledge on a specific topic on Day 1, embark them on a tailored onboarding journey, and track their progress along the way.
🧐 Our (educated) guess is that this approach will help new employee get into the topic quicker and stay more engaged throughout their onboarding.
Remain compliant
Delve into the legal aspects, ensuring that your onboarding automation aligns with data protection regulations, security standards, and industry-specific requirements.
🦾 Edtch ensures security standards for your peace of mind and also provides toola to enable compliance training.
Keep the human touch even when onboarding automatically and remotely
Recognize the 'people' aspect within your organization and extend it to your employee onboarding.
There is a 4 C’s principle, implying that employee onboarding should encompass four levels within a company:
Compliance – policies and rules;
Clarification – job-specific expectations;
Culture – the company’s values and norms;
Connection – personal relationships between new hires and other employees.
🤨 Automated onboarding, especially in the fully-remote space, often focuses on Compliance and Clarification but overlooks Culture and Connection. This is a miss, as the last two C’s directly impact employee retention and satisfaction.
👉 Add a human touch to your onboarding course by introducing new hires to the company’s values and the unique individuals that make up your team.
Improve your training continuously with employee feedback
Explore how your chosen e-learning platform facilitates feedback collection and analysis.
The current trend is to use feedback to continuously improve your corporate training and make it more employee-centric.
Automate your onboarding training and reap the rewards
The first days in the organization are pivotal for unlocking exceptional performance of a new employee. The smoother your onboarding process, the shorter time-to-productivity you may see.
Edtch is your trusted partner in creating efficient onboarding training. Our platform provides you with all the necessary features to automate and optimize your employee e-learning, ensuring that new hires receive tailored, engaging, and effective training.
