How To Boost Employee Job Satisfaction Using Basic Onboarding Resources
First impressions do make a difference. Onboarding is one of the most important processes an employee goes through; it is their introduction to the company, their opportunity to start contributing quickly, and the point at which they decide whether they made a good career decision. Getting off to a great start from Day 1 is critical to success! Every day an employee
cannot be productive is a day that includes wasted money and unattained goals. It’s also a day where a new employee could become frustrated and question whether they’ve chosen the right employer or even the right industry.
What is the correct length for a comprehensive onboarding program? According to the Society for Human Resource Management research, best-in-class organizations extend onboarding touchpoints from pre-hire to at least the first year of employment, integrated with each employee’s professional development plan. A recent study conducted by the Human Capital Institute and Kronos shows that “capitalizing on new-hire momentum can drive stronger business results,” and that happens over the first 90 days. These more extended onboarding programs consistently correlate to more substantial business outcomes and lower attrition.
Key Considerations When Creating An Onboarding Plan
As you design an onboarding plan, it is imperative to bring consistency to the process across an organization. Consider the five most critical pieces of knowledge, skills, experiences, and/or behaviors that a new hire needs to master within the first 90 days to succeed at the company. Next, prioritize the new employee onboarding resources and align them to must-learn concepts. According to research shared by Brandon Hall Group, “organizations with a strong onboarding process improve new hire retention by 82% and productivity by over 70%.”
Make it easy for your new employees to find the training resources when they need them by creating an individualized Impact Plan. Do they have a clear plan showing them what to expect in their first 90 days? Six months? Their first year? Part of the kit of resources that new hires need is knowing who to go for answers or help. Motivating employees to learn to succeed quickly entails seeking out and connecting with others who can help them get better answers faster to increase their impact.
By putting key content into bite-sized chunks via microlearning or gamification, your new employees will not feel that they are overwhelmed or “drinking from a fire hose.” Research suggests that it takes about a year to fully onboard an employee, so why do we deliver everything in the first few days? Using multiple learning modalities and performance support methods over the first year is more pragmatic and useful, putting information closer to the point of need.
Onboarding Tools And Modalities
When you incorporate gamified learning into the onboarding process, newbies are motivated to complete tasks, socialize with their colleagues, quickly check off those necessary compliance and policy requirements, and become immersed in the company culture. Game-based learning is not only fun and engaging. It is also ideal for compressing days of traditional classroom training into several hours that can be broken down into small segments and consumed as the new employee has available time. When you can connect learning games to a company’s Learning Management System (LMS), reports can illustrate real-time completion and retention rates.
Infographics can be terrific resources to help visual learners and, as job aids, to bring timelines, processes, and how-tos to life.
These colorful and engaging tools can streamline content, simplify concepts, and improve retention. Infographics also can help keep learners engaged longer by breaking up what could have been an overload of data and putting it into eye-catching and digestible pieces.
Scenario-Based Learning
Many companies are finding value in scenario-based learning (SBL) to solidify new skills and concepts further.
SBLs can be conducted either in-person or (more often these days) in a virtual or digital environment.
Real-life situations give learners a relatable and highly relevant experience. Its immersive approach creates high engagement, which leads to improved job satisfaction.
There are many reasons why SBL is a great option to consider as you map out onboarding frameworks. Learning and Development teams gravitate to SBL because it not only allows learners to apply what they’ve learned in a safe environment; it can illustrate the potential repercussions of their decision(s).
One size does not fit all when incorporating SBL into an onboarding plan. Often the best learning experience takes place when new employees start with basic problem-solving scenarios. To test that the transfer of knowledge has taken place, Immersive Branching Scenarios will take the learner through a series of situations where they must make decisions and then face the consequences of each choice. These types of experiences will require the learner to recall the concepts presented in the course.
Conclusion
When new hires are allowed to hone their skills before they “go live” in their role, they will steadily build their proficiency. This leads to higher levels of confidence when faced with actual challenges they have already had the chance to solve as part of their onboarding experience.
Download the eBook The Pillars Of Strategic Employee Onboarding for insider secrets to launching a new hire training program that's adaptive, personalized, and perfectly suited for your modern workforce. Also, join the webinar to discover how onboarding drives business success!
