An article in Psychology Today cited a survey of 1,500 American workers (mostly professionals). An astounding 33% said they had quit a new job within the first three months of being hired!

A big reason many new employees leave so quickly can be directly traced to a poor onboarding process that doesn’t make the new hire feel welcome and valued – and doesn’t set them up to succeed. According to Hireology, organizations with an effective, standardized onboarding program will retain 50% more of their new employees than those without a program in place.

These days, it’s not as simple as sitting a new employee in a sterile classroom setting for a half-day training session. Or throwing them a 3” policy binder and wishing them luck.

HR professionals are finding that the most effective and engaging onboarding processes are multi-faceted. Programs that involve a combination of in-person and online onboarding strategies.

Increasingly, online training software are proving to be an effective onboarding tool, particularly for small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs).

As these platforms become more accessible and easier to use among multiple users across an organization, they are opening the door to expanded onboarding applications.

There are several ways companies and organizations in industries of all shapes and sizes are using online training software to improve their onboarding experiences. Here are six examples.

1. Consistent onboarding for each employee

By using a set course-style onboarding tool, each employee gets the same introduction to company policies, culture, and procedures. This ensures no one slips through the cracks, and that key information is never left out.

As a bonus, most online training software platforms can tell you if the employee has taken the time to go through the onboarding material.

2. More engaging experience

Online training software isn’t just about training…it’s also a valuable tool for educating. And yes…inspiring!

A new generation of course authoring software provides easy-to-use templates that allow users to create slick-looking content with minimal training (unlike traditional LMS systems which can be quite complex).

The ability to use audio, photos, graphics, and videos can make messaging “stickier” and more memorable. Plus, employees are more inclined to sit through a well-designed online presentation than to trudge through text-heavy Word docs or 3” thick policy manuals.

3. Decentralized onboarding

Often, onboarding falls on the lap of HR specialists or hiring managers…just because. Yet, onboarding is often more meaningful and valuable when it comes from the people who have the most knowledge and investment in the topic.
 
With today’s “skinny”, templated course training software, it’s easy to distribute the workload to others in the company, based on the appropriate role. No training is required.
 
For example, an HR person may be great at explaining benefits – but are they the most logical choice to lead onboarding training on safe equipment operation and processes? Or is that information better coming from operations or department manager who know it like the back of their hand!

4. Frees up senior staff

In many SMBs, onboarding is often done by a senior team member, supervisor, or manager. This one-on-one attention helps build a relationship and connection – and goes a long way to making the employee feel welcome. However, if you can put the bulk of key information in an online onboarding module, you free senior staff to do their job.

A good strategy is to start with personal introductions where team members cover high-level topics face-to-face and leave the details to an onboarding session you created with training software.

5. Seamless onboarding for remote employees

Does your company have offices in multiple cities? Or are you part of the growing shift to a remote workforce that can span different cities, even different countries? This trend is only expected to increase as we emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic and have realized the relative ease and advantages of a remote workforce.

Online training software provides the ideal platform for quickly and effectively bringing remote employees onboard and up-to-speed. They can receive the same (or similar) training as every other employee – without the expense of flying them in for an in-person orientation.

6. Flexibility to review at any time

The nice thing about corporate training platforms is that the courses are all online. That means the employee can review the onboarding materials at any time.

While any mission-critical or intensive onboarding training should be completed during office hours, the ability to learn about vacation policies or company culture is things the employee might prefer to view at home.

Be sure to prioritize onboarding. What do they need to know on day one? What can wait a week? What can be reviewed at home? Staggering onboarding can also help prevent overwhelming a new hire with information overload!

Set new employees up for success

Companies that do a good job of properly onboarding new hires will reduce early turnover and help make the new hire feel like they’re part of the team.

It goes without saying that while training software can help improve onboarding, it should not replace the human element that is essential to successful employee integration. Before you introduce a new employee to your onboarding courses – take the time to tour them around the office and introduce them to their new coworkers (or set up an introduction on your remote meeting platform).