How a Successful Online Onboarding Course Can Benefit Your Business

Onboarding is the process of creating a programme which trains up newly hired employees with the skills, behaviour and attitude required for them to effectively fulfil their role.

Currently, only 12% of employees feel that their business effectively onboards new employees. Unsuccessfully creating an onboarding programme can lead to low employee retention, and added training costs for your business. Luckily, with the continued innovation of online learning, you are able to onboard employees faster, cheaper and more effectively than ever before. This article will outline the features of an onboarding programme supported by eLearning, and how this can benefit your business.

Onboard Before Their Start Date

An eLearning programme allows onboarding to begin before a new employee’s first day at the office. Users can start learning about the company processes at home, the office or even on their daily commute, cutting down wasted valuable in-office time. Online courses also allow you to add administration documents onto your platform along with company policies like your code of conduct. This allows employees to provide HR with all the details they require before their first day, meaning you can concentrate on what really matters when the employee starts.

Well-structured online onboarding courses have been shown to reduce the average time spent training by 40%, and the ability to start the training before the employee’s first day is a major factor in shortening employee ramp-up time.

Take It On the Go

Specific eLearning systems allow your learners to take their training on the go, resulting in higher retention and faster completion. Designing onboarding for mobile use offers a lot more flexibility for workers, allowing them to use it when it suits them. A recent study found that 70% of employee’s preferred mobile training, and being able to learn on the go.

Learning management systems (LMSs) such as Open LMS WORK provide the ability to take your onboarding training mobile, a feature that is constantly improving.

Gamify the Process

Gamification is one of the fastest-growing and exciting areas in eLearning. It is the process of adding “game elements” such as point scoring, levels and competing with peers. Learners of courses that included gamification elements have been found to have 20% more confidence in their abilities, and 9% higher knowledge retention.

The greatest part of gamification is that it is simple to add to an eLearning course with the right provider.

Reap the Benefits

A study by Qualtrics found that 31% of trainers faced challenges when it comes to learner engagement levels. Employing an online onboarding programme has been shown to result in higher engagement and retention. A well-structured programme has been shown to increase staff retention by 68%. The best part? It’s cheaper, easier and more creative than traditional training methods.