Within the space of a few years, almost all training processes have become digital. Since companies like Facebook, Spotify or Twitter first introduced permanent remote work, many others have followed in their footsteps. Now, working from home is ‘the new normal’, and many employees and employers are still adapting to this new reality.
This change is especially present in onboarding processes. In working environments where it’s no longer possible to have that first coffee with your new colleagues, or to attend to that in-person training about the company’s processes, mission and values, starting a new job can be an even more daunting prospect. That’s why it’s so important to create an onboarding program that makes new employees feel at home from day one.
Onboarding? Yes, but through a screen!
Making your new employees understand how your company works is key to boosting confidence and keeping them happy in the long run. This is why you need to lay the foundations and give them the tools they need to get started successfully.
But how is this possible given the new digital landscape? The 4 C’s rule outlines the key considerations for creating an online onboarding that’s as effective as any in-person process.
1. Connection
From the minute you decide to welcome a new hire into your team, you’ll have to make them feel like they’re a part of the company. A good idea is to carry out a pre-boarding process. For example, you can welcome them through social media or send them an email from a team leader. Not only will this show your company’s true colors but will make them feel part of the team.
2. Confidence
Once they’re in, focus on boosting self-confidence. How? Help them understand all internal processes, tasks and goals easily through custom onboarding courses, according to their profile, job or tasks. Even better if you add interactive and multimedia resources that make it easier to apply this knowledge to their day-to-day.
3. Communication
In order to lessen the anxiety of the first first days, let your employees know the team is available. A new hire can feel vulnerable at times. Having a relaxed conversation with any team member will help the onboarding go more smoothly and avoid misinformation.
Take time to ask about how they’re adapting to the new routine or how you could improve their remote experience. A simple email or videocall is enough. Also, tools like Trello or Slack ease communication and organization, and allow the rest of the team to put a face to the newcomers!
4. Contribution
Your onboarding program doesn’t have to be permanent. In fact, you should review it once in a while to improve processes and adapt to your employees’ needs. What if your new hires could contribute to optimizing it? With the right tools, you can turn your new collaborators into e-learning content creators, that will train future employees.
*Our tip: make life easier for them with tools for creating e-learning courses like isEazy Author, which allows any professional to develop interactive and dynamic courses, effortlessly.
How to impress your new employees
As for the content of your onboarding, there are other things you should consider to offer an experience that engages your new employees.
- Make it easy and fun
With training strategies like gamification and microlearning, you can turn “boring” training into fun and motivating exercises.
- Include clear, direct and engaging messages
In an onboarding the ideas we transmit must be effective and easy to understand. We have to, therefore, minimize that initial confusion that our collaborators may feel by presenting information in a digestible format.
- Customize it for each profile
If an employee perceives that the onboarding process is personalized and addresses them personally, they are more likely to participate. For this reason, it is essential to adapt all documentation, training and communication to the type of profile you want to address.
- Offer training anytime, anywhere
Practically everything we do passes, sooner or later, through a screen. Why not make the most of it? Give your employees the opportunity to access their onboarding anytime, anywhere, on any device to maximize engagement.
- Keep content up to date
It is essential that the onboarding process is always up to date. Not only in terms of tools and processes, but also in terms of documentation. This is the best way to avoid transmitting obsolete ideas and create training that resonates with your audience.
Now we’ve looked at how to develop effective onboarding, check out our case study to see these steps in action. Keep reading to find out how Sellics, the nº1 software for sales optimization on Amazon, managed to create an online onboarding program, from scratch!
Sellics Case Study: how to create an online and effective onboarding
Up until a few months back, the German company Sellics carried out training with PDF and PowerPoint documents every now and then. However, after 7 years of unstoppable growth, they needed to create a 100% online onboarding program that kept all their know-how alive in order to keep offering the best costumer service.
isEazy Author was the perfect answer to their needs. With our software, they managed to speed up all their onboarding processes, without having to learn to use complex tools. And the results were immediate… and amazing!
“Courses with isEazy Author are an innovative improvement in our way of creating content and learning. Their games and exercises not only save us time, but are an efficient way to train and evaluate our team.” – Lidia Krasowski, Head of CSM for Enterprise Customers en Sellics.
Want to know all the details? Read the full case study and start creating your own onboarding content like Sellics did! See results that will get your new hires hooked instantly.
