Your organization can reduce employee turnover and promote employee loyalty by implementing an effective onboarding training program. As a series of learning and training exercises, the onboarding training program will enable employees to learn two important things: showcasing their talent or skill and excelling at work. The learning management systems make it easier for you to design, implement, and manage employee onboarding training programs without putting in extra time and effort. You can use the right LMS to streamline, organize, and automate the employee onboarding process by personalizing the learning path, delivering diverse content, and tracking employee progress.
According to Harvard Business Review,
“Nearly 33% of new hires look for a new job within their first six months on the job. (Among Millennials, that percentage is even higher … and it happens earlier.) Twenty-three percent of new hires turn over before their first anniversary.”
Most learning management systems come with in-built features to accelerate and streamline the employee onboarding process but the employee onboarding training program cannot be successful without the customization of the learning management system (LMS) workflow. It will help if the focus is on a slew of factors to create a successful employee onboarding training program by leveraging an LMS fully.
What Is Employee Onboarding Training?
Employee onboarding training is a structured program designed to help new hires quickly integrate into an organization. It goes beyond a simple orientation—offering tailored training modules that introduce employees to company policies, tools, workflows, culture, and job-specific responsibilities. The primary objective of onboarding training is to ensure employees feel confident, informed, and ready to contribute from day one. In today’s fast-paced, hybrid work environments, delivering an effective onboarding experience is more critical than ever. Poor onboarding can lead to disengagement and early attrition, while a robust training program boosts retention and productivity. That’s why many organizations are shifting towards digital, scalable solutions like Learning Management Systems (LMS) to deliver employee onboarding training seamlessly.
Why Is Employee Onboarding Training Critical for Business Success?
A successful employee onboarding training program sets the tone for a new hire’s experience and long-term performance. According to research, companies with a strong onboarding process improve new hire retention by over 80% and productivity by more than 70%. Onboarding is not just about compliance or checklists—it’s about building engagement, alignment, and confidence from day one. When new employees understand expectations, feel connected to the organization, and have access to the right learning resources, they are more likely to thrive. Effective onboarding also reduces time-to-productivity, minimizes early-stage errors, and boosts overall morale. For businesses, this translates into stronger performance and lower hiring and training costs. Simply put, investing in structured onboarding training is investing in your future workforce.
How to Optimize Employee Onboarding Training Using an LMS?
Automate Employee Enrollment
The learning management systems allow you to enroll new hires into the onboarding training program both manually and automatically. The learning management systems allow adding new hires to relevant onboarding training programs automatically based on predefined criteria. It can help in saving time and effort by automating the employee enrollment process. However, it is also important to notify the new hires that they have been added to the employee onboarding training program.
Divide Hires into Multiple Groups
The new hires differ from each other in the category of training needs or training hire. Hence, the diverse training needs of hires cannot be met by creating a single onboarding training program. While planning employee onboarding training, the employees must be divided into multiple groups based on important criteria like department – marketing, sales, accounts, and support. An onboarding training program must be created for each group of employees. The company must ensure that the new hires need to be added to the right training program.
Allow New Hires to Learn at Their Own Pace
According to Human Resources Online,
“Learning that allows employees to learn at their own pace, and in their own learning style, is likely to be the next game-changer in this area.”
The system allows optimization of the onboarding training program by allowing employees to learn at their own pace. The employees can access the LMS anytime and anywhere over the internet. Also, they can access the LMS on both computers and smartphones. Hence, the hires need to be allowed to access the LMS outside working hours.
Define Timeline and Due Dates Clearly
Despite allowing new hires to learn at their own pace, employers need to ensure that each employee acquires and retains relevant knowledge in a predefined timeframe. The timeframe and timeline will ensure that each hire completes the training program within a predefined amount of time. Also, the employer can use the timeline as a key criterion to monitor and measure the employee’s progress. While planning the learning sessions, the employer must prepare a time schedule for the entire training program. At the same time, the timeline and due dates for the training program must be announced to hire clearly using the features provided by the LMS system.
Keep the Learning Sessions Short
According to BambooHR.com,
“Creating a more robust onboarding program that extends throughout an employee’s first year helps employees become more productive, feel comfortable in their work environment.”
The new hires cannot be engaged and motivated without keeping the learning sessions short. The learning management systems allow employers to divide the employee onboarding training program into multiple modules and learning sessions. The learning sessions also help new hires to acquire and retain valuable information gradually throughout their first year.
Organize the Topics Appropriately
You must divide the entire employee onboarding training program into multiple and multiple learning sessions. Also, you must make it easier for the new hires to acquire and retain knowledge by organizing the topics appropriately. For instance, the employer should focus on answering the common and basic questions asked by a new hire before explaining more serious topics like corporate policy, ethics, and standards. It is always important to include a basic training kit in the first learning session using the LMS.
Combine Content in Multiple Formats
The new hires will learn more effectively at their own pace. But some employees prefer learning by reading eBooks, while others prefer watching videos or listening to podcasts. While creating the employee onboarding program, the employer should ensure that each employee is able to learn by accessing their preferred choice of digital content. The learning management system also allows the creation of training materials by combining audio, video, images, infographics, documents, and eBooks.
Help New Hires Use the LMS
The new-age learning management systems are easier to use and access. Most employees can start using LMS without requiring additional training. But there is always a possibility that some of the new hires might need assistance and guidance to use the LMS effortlessly. The employers cannot accelerate employee onboarding so that each employee can use and access the LMS effortlessly. While adding new hires to the LMS, the employer must check if they need any assistance or training to use the web-based software solution.
Promote Mentorship
Many new hires prefer learning through mentorship to learning on their own. The sophisticated learning management systems these days support social learning. They allow users to interact with others using options like real-time chatting, video conferencing, and discussion forums. The system allows employers to leverage the feature to make new hires learn from seasoned employees. The mentorship will also keep new hires engaged and make the employee onboarding with LMS more effective.
Leverage Gamification
Many new hires find onboarding training programs boring. Employers cannot make onboarding training programs successful without keeping the employees engaged and motivated. Also, the gamification options provided by an LMS make it easier for the employers to accelerate the pace of learning and keep the new hires engaged. While designing an onboarding training program, embedding gamification and elements like quizzes, competitions, and rewards in various modules will make the program more effective.
Track Employee Progress
Your onboarding training program will be successful only when the hires acquire and retain valuable information in a short amount of time. In addition to setting a timeline for the onboarding process, the employer can track and monitor the progress of individual hires. The learning management system allows tracking and assessing employee progress by generating reports based on real-time data. Also, they help employees track their progress by showing if they are on track to complete the onboarding process. The reports will help in motivating and persuading employees to complete onboarding training.
Creating an effective employee onboarding training program is one of the major benefits of using a learning management system for your business.
How Mintbook’s LMS + Digital Library Transforms Employee Onboarding Training
Mintbook’s Unified Learning Platform offers a powerful combination of a Learning Management System (LMS) and a Digital Library—creating a comprehensive solution for employee onboarding training. While the LMS provides structured learning paths, role-based course assignments, and performance tracking, the Digital Library supplements this with a vast repository of resources available on demand. New hires can not only complete required training modules but also explore additional content—like policy documents, industry best practices, soft skill courses, and more—in multiple languages and formats. This blended approach encourages self-paced, deeper learning and supports continuous development beyond the initial onboarding. Mintbook also offers offline access, ensuring that employees in remote or bandwidth-constrained locations can still participate in onboarding without disruption. By bringing together formal training and exploratory learning, our platform ensures every new employee feels empowered, informed, and ready to contribute from day one.
Checklist: What to Include in Your Employee Onboarding Training Program
To build an effective employee onboarding training program, it’s important to structure your content thoughtfully. Start with a warm welcome and orientation module to introduce new hires to your company’s mission, vision, and values. Follow this with a comprehensive overview of HR policies, compliance protocols, and workplace ethics. Then, move into role-specific training covering tools, workflows, and performance expectations. Soft skills like communication, problem-solving, and teamwork should also be included to help employees integrate into team dynamics. Providing access to a rich digital library can further support self-paced learning and long-term development. A checklist ensures nothing important is missed and helps maintain consistency across all onboarding journeys.
At Mintbook, we provide an LMS that is designed with features to streamline, organize, and accelerate employee onboarding training. In addition to being easy to customize, our LMS can be integrated seamlessly with a custom-created digital library, as per the business needs. A pre-integrated digital library makes our eLearning solution more effective in optimizing employee onboarding training by accessing a wide range of information on specific topics or concepts.
