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 successful 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.
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 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, the 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 to 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 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 of 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 progress. 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.
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.
