“I am not sure if my decision to join this company is the right one!”
“I am not sure if my decision to hire this candidate is the right one!”
If you have come across this sentiment that often prevails for both new hires and their employers, then you are not alone. Not being on the same page is very visible and obvious in the first few days of an employee joining; likewise other staffers can be quick to make judgment calls about the new hire. Having a proper and structured onboarding process can help overcome these feelings of “buyer’s remorse.”
Everyone appreciates the need to be on the same page when bringing in a new employee—yet we often fall short on the time, resources, and accountability needed to manage a proper onboarding and training process. Here are some challenges:
- The onboarding process is “person dependent”: No matter how well established your company onboarding and training processes are, the execution varies from one manager to the next.
- The variability and inconsistency in the onboarding process largely occurs between corporate functions and business functions: The training programs conducted by HR and compliance offices are often well structured and executed consistently, but we find great variability with functional training, such as within sales and product groups, conducted by individual program/project managers, practice managers, and department heads.
- Information overload fails onboarding process: New employees often deem the onboarding training process as “information overload,” particularly for those who are in sales, product development, customer/professional services, and project management.
An E-Learning Technology-Based Federated Model
In response to these challenges, companies often resort to centralizing the onboarding training. Unfortunately, a centralized onboarding training program tends to be inflexible and far removed from the day-to-day business realities of a sales or a product group. An e-learning technology-based federated model (with some centralized control) of training will allow the managers and the subject matter experts (SMEs) in each business function to provide the latest content to the new hire.
Furthermore, e-learning technology has advanced substantially through artificial intelligence (AI) and immersive mobile technologies. These new technological advancements improve the entire learning experience by making the training process more engaging, self-paced, customizable, easily referenceable, and cost-effective. Technology can help SMEs keep the training resources updated with little overhead cost, reuse existing content, make content immersive or even game-based, and deliver the content in microlearning modules without committing lots of time. AI Chatbots helps improve learner engagement by automating the delivery of the relevant content to the learners, answer specific queries, and provide the nudge to complete the program.
The investment in e-learning technology for onboarding training should be considered as an investment for continuous learning for the employee. Consider the number of times employees moves from one project, product, or market to another—it is evident that they need onboarding every time they join another project team. There is an economic argument in investing in a technology-based onboarding process, say Reid Hoffman (founder, LinkedIn), Ben Casnocha, and Chris Yeh, authors of “The Alliance.” They note: “The importance of onboarding is significantly increased these days since the average turnover at work is less than four years, and lifetime employment strategies are out of date.”
The onboarding process and training must deliver a positive experience and be a two-way process between the company (the managers) and the new hire. Not only does the company have to help the employee understand its business, but the team must understand what the new employee brings to the table. Connecting the learner’s outcomes to the team’s goals serves as great motivation for everyone to ensure the onboarding training process is executed well and consistently.
Thanks to technology, we now are able to deliver a much more effective onboarding experience in an agile manner at a much lower cost customized for business functions (sales, product groups, and customer services teams) within an enterprise.
Acky Kamdar is the CEO of Magic Edtech, a company that is committed to making digital lifelong learning affordable, accessible, and sustainable by leveraging technology, content, and platforms.
