Understanding the effective modes for employee onboarding is an important part of an organization’s growth and success. With the importance of effective employee onboarding apparent, the next step is to pick the right employee onboarding methods that are ideal for your overall organization and individual team members. This blog will give you a list of different employee onboarding methods to understand and choose from.
Table of Contents
Here is a list of 11 effective ways you can conduct employee onboarding
- eLearning
eLearning is a good option for organizations that want to offer flexible training opportunities in a short period to a global audience by delivering interactive and engaging training programs in the form of games, videos, quizzes, and other content. eLearning can be, therefore, a suitable method for organizations that need to provide onboarding for remote employees.
- On-the-Job Training
On-the-job training enables active participation for new employees by allowing them to learn in the workflow. It is one of the most effective employee onboarding methods to train new software applications or processes via in-app and on-screen walkthroughs and guides that help new employees navigate through different features and tasks. The end goal of on-the-job training is faster employee adoption of new tools or newly released features. On-the-job training leads to better outcomes as it is easier for new employees to learn while performing a project themselves. The new employees pick up new skills without disrupting their day-to-day routines and productivity.
- Instructor-Led Learning
Instructor-led training (ILT) is a method of training facilitated by an instructor. ILT is either face-to-face or virtual. In instructor-led training, learners and instructors are engaged in course content in real time. This engagement permits easy give-and-take discussion and a learning environment that is highly social and interactive. Using this synchronous nature of learning while employee onboarding can provide new employees with instant feedback that helps them evaluate their growth.
A scenario is essentially a story. A scenario-based learning program offers the learners a scenario or a situation and is then asked how to move forward in that given scenario. A scenario-based learning environment eliminates the lack of personal one-on-one engagement with instructors by providing an interactive environment for active learning. This type of learning aims to identify a solution or response to a real-life issue. Through scenario-based learning, it is possible to provide compliance training, soft skills training, sales and marketing training, professional skills training, leadership training, etc., to a new employee.
- Simulation Training
Simulation training puts different scenarios that allow new employees to practice tasks that mimic the actual work of their specific job’s role. Simulation training can be necessary for employees working in high-risk or high-stakes fields. It builds skills such as problem-solving and critical thinking under pressure. Employees can make decisions in a risk-free environment and experience the consequences of their choices.
- Just-in-Time Training
Just-in-time (JIT) training is a method of learning and development that promotes need-related training. Just-in-time training (or embedded learning) refers to learning that occurs on the job as needed; it involves collaboration and non-learning technologies such as microlearning and microblogs, and it integrates knowledge management systems. It may become increasingly prevalent because organizations can no longer have employees attend traditional training sessions or spend hours on online learning that is not directly relevant to their current job demands. Therefore, just-in-time training can be a valuable method of training new employees.
- Webinars and Video Training
Webinars are live or recorded online presentations that employees can watch at their convenience. It is a type of asynchronous learning. New employees can see past training modules or team meetings to clearly understand the organizational goals. This is a huge advantage for the new employees. This allows them to learn the values and the workplace culture at their convenience. This can be achieved using animated whiteboard videos as well. The visuals quickly capture the employees’ attention and can easily communicate the training goals.
- Job Shadowing
Job shadowing allows new employees to observe and follow other professionals working in different roles to gain an understanding of their work area. Job shadowing is also implemented to allow lesser skilled individuals to work alongside skilled professionals to sharpen their skills from those who have already mastered them. It also enhances communications across various departments, boosts continuous growth and improvement for employees, and allows employees to examine other potential career options for themselves.
With the case study method, new employees are presented with a real or imagined difficult situation to explore and use as a reference for their solutions. While circumstances vary in complexity and detail, new employees should be given enough information to analyze the situation and develop solutions. It creates data analysis, decision-making, and problem-solving skills for new employees. Employees who constantly work on case studies find it less difficult to handle similar situations during their jobs.
- Peer-to-Peer Learning
Another employee onboarding method is the peer-to-peer learning method. Peer-to-peer training is a mutual learning and training strategy that involves employees of the same level engaging in collaborative training. To put it simply, peer-to-peer learning is when one or more employees teach other employees. This kind of training allows new employees to work using new concepts and share opinions with their peers working on the same project. The chance to train and be trained by each other is an effective way for organizations to produce stronger employees that work together productively.
- Spaced Learning
Employee onboarding is an ongoing process. Human cognition cannot retain information after reading or learning just once. Thereby, using spaced learning, the recruiters can facilitate long-term remembering using spaced repetition.
This Gallup article provides more details.
Infographics
11 Effective Modes for Employee Onboarding
Conclusion
To find an employee onboarding mode that works best for your workplace, L&D teams need to understand their employees’ learning styles and consider other factors such as training objectives, goals, cost, and timeline. Determining the best training mode for new employees needs a lot of detailed introspection and planning. The team of professionals at Learning Everest can help you and guide you on the type of trainings that you can implement for your employees as per your requirements.
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