How to improve employee induction training

Well begun is half done. Nowhere is this more apt than in employee induction. Effective employee onboarding services help create a great first impression in new recruits and communicate your company’s most prized values and best practices in the quickest manner. Employee induction is also crucial in providing new employees the knowledge as well as training necessary to meet your company’s high standards and set new benchmarks.

Some companies feel employee induction or onboarding is a mere formality, and that new employees should just dive in and get on with the job they’ve been selected to do. Research shows that the benefits of a good induction process are actually quite substantive. A 2008 study* by the Aberdeen Group showed that the best-in-class onboarding processes improved retention rates by 100%, reduced ‘time-to-productivity’ by 60%, and ”increased the completion rate for induction tasks and activities” by as much as 57 percent. An article in Harvard Business Review observed in 2018, “with up to 20% of staff turnover occurring within the first 45 days of employment, a standardized onboarding process is essential.” This underlines the importance of employee engagement in modern day companies, especially in those with a large geographical spread.

An effective employee induction programme benefits both the employee and the organization. Your new hire feels welcomed, settles in comfortably, and has a smooth transition into his/her new role. When new employees are well-adjusted, they’re unlikely to look for other opportunities, and your company’s retention rates improve dramatically. That said, we must remember that onboarding must be kept light and easy to understand. Achieving this balance can be a tricky prospect sometimes. So let’s take a brief look at the working parts of an effective induction or onboarding process. Broadly speaking, here are the main steps that we can find in most successful onboarding processes:

1) Communicating Company Culture: This is your all-important first impression, where you communicate your organization’s values, mission and purpose. This is where you set the bar for new employees.

2) Meeting The Team: Who are the founders of the company? Why did they start it? This is the part where you explain to newcomers why it is important for them to be a part of your company’s mission. Acquaint them with the people they report to, their coworkers and peers, and the people whom they have to approach when faced with issues. Some organizations use a buddy system, where the recruit is assigned an induction buddy whom they can turn to for help or advice.

3) Policies & operations: The brasstacks of working in any organization. A good employee induction/onboarding process includes a highly effective and easy-to-recall brief on company policies and operations. For instance, what is deemed appropriate and inappropriate, the right attire at the workplace, HR policies, sensitising on gender issues etc – all the things newcomers need to know before they get started.

Personalizing the onboarding process – like a personalized note from the CEO or HR – adds a human touch, which goes a long way in ensuring that employees feel welcome. And remember not to rush the induction, or pack in too much into just one day. Give some breathing room so the newcomers can absorb the information. Follow-up with them at regular intervals -3, 6, 9 months- and, at the end of the first year, request the employee’s feedback on the effectiveness of the induction process.

Timbre Media’s employee induction training services ensure that your onboarding process reflects your company’s core values, and make recruits feel welcomed and well-prepared.

We create meticulously researched and structured content in the form of virtual modules, radio shows with sound bites from existing employees and founders, podcasts, workshops etc to ensure unity of voice and communication. Our services provide great flexibility – from quick-burst capsules to long-form podcasts that cover serious topics like POSH, or multi-episode series that cover broader categories. These radio and podcast solutions make the communication between recruits and organizations interactive and mutually beneficial, adding value to your employee induction services.

Depending on the objectives of your company’s induction training for new employees, Timbre Media customizes audio solutions that represent your company’s unique culture, and the employee induction training modules nutshell your company’s HR and diversity policies, code of conduct, perks, milestones, marquee events. Timbre Media’s induction training podcasts make it very simple for your organization to communicate one-on-one with every new joinee in a consistent, friendly, and relatable manner.