Make Employees Feel Welcome with Onboarding

Too often, companies oversimplify the goals of new hire training, boiling it down to teaching workers the skills they need to complete their jobs. In reality, the training period should do more than that – it needs to acclimate fresh talent to the work culture and the company as a whole.

This is precisely why many businesses have shifted the way they view this introductory time period – rather than calling it training, they consider it to be onboarding. By perceiving it in this way, they shift the emphasis from learning skills to immersing the new hires in their work culture and the community of the workplace. Onboarding revolves around engagement and long-term retention, rather than simply expediting how quickly employers can turn new hires into productive members of the workforce.

“There's a fairly new term in the talent management world and it's called onboarding employees,” Money-zine explains. “This idea has been around for quite some time, and it used to be known as new employee orientation. But … onboarding is more about retaining talent than getting people settled in their new office.”

Studies conducted by the Corporate Leadership Council have found that first impressions are absolutely critical when it comes to new hires. By engaging employees early on and often, businesses will be in a better position to positively affect the motivation, productivity and satisfaction of fresh talent. So this begs the question: How can employers create a positive first impression?

Using Online Training to Bolster Onboarding

One potential solution is online training. Compared with other approaches to training, online courses offer more engagement potential. Whereas some companies may prefer to ship employees to regional locations for new training or pursue other costly measures, online training can expedite the acclimation period.

One key advantage is the fact that online training can be done in employees' workspaces. This allows them to grow accustomed to their surroundings, notably the people they will work with.

Another perk is that online training can be interactive through community discussion boards. This enables new hires to discuss skills they've learned with other people at the office to reinforce core concepts.

Onboarding is pivotal to integrating new hires into office culture, and online training can be a major asset to the onboarding process. Enna's comprehensive list of training materials will help you achieve your goals and instill the Kaizen mindset throughout your organization.