What is Onboard Training

Importance of Onboard Training

All too often onboarding is underrated and overlooked in companies, but it is the foundational building block of that employee’s success and future with them. When a new employee starts a new position, onboard training sets the tone to that employee for how the company is run. For a new employee, onboarding is the moment where an employee decides to become engaged or disengaged with that company. It is the time where the gap between strangers and colleagues is closed, and where relationships begin to build. Failing to do this, could lead the employee feeling disengaged, disinterested and ultimately hinder the new employee’s productivity. To stop this from happening; companies must give more thought and attention on how to develop new job candidates into long term employees. If not, the company is wasting time and money on recruitment and selection. When creating and implementing your company’s onboarding process or program, it is necessary that HR includes key stakeholders in the process to ensure an optimal onboarding experience. Click Boarding, an onboarding software company, provides statistics that demonstrate the value of a structured onboarding program.

• 69% of employees are likely to stay with the company for three years if they experienced a successful onboarding.
• 58% of employees are more likely to stay with the company longer than three years if experienced a structured onboarding
• Companies with a standard onboarding process showed a 50% increase in new employee productivity.

Essentials of Onboard Training

You won’t get a second chance to make a first impression for new employees. Companies must consider what first impression that they want new employees to experience on their first day, and first few weeks. Bringing new employees into the loop before their start date is strongly recommended. Sending a welcome email or message on LinkedIn welcoming them to the team only takes seconds but, sends a message of acceptance early on to that employee. Provide a good back story about your company explaining the who, what and why’s. Explain the company’s history, values, and future direction the company is aiming towards. This will make it more personable to the new employee and will minimize any speculation and uncertainty of what to expect on their start date. 

What is Continuous Training

As opposed to onboarding training, continuous training improves employees' skills and contributes to the overall success of your company. It also reinforces behaviors and areas of focus that are critical to consistent operations.

Why Continuous Training?

If you are wanting to hire top talent in your industry; continuous training is a great place to start. According to a survey, almost 40% of respondents noted that growth was a top priority when looking for new career opportunities. Being able to communicate to candidates that you have a continuous training program is critical in attracting top talent. As advancements in technology increase, companies are starting to understand the benefits of continuous training for their employees. While training employees can require considerable amount of time and money, the return in productivity, job satisfaction, team camaraderie, and overall quality of work from their employees far out way the initial outlay. This allows companies to keep their employees engaged, equipped and a head of the competition with the latest trends in their industries. 

Continuous training lowers turnover rates and shows loyalty to your employees, which makes them more likely to stay with your company long term. This also allows your employees to feel more confident and competent in their jobs/roles. To get the most out of training, your company needs to keep an updated list of employees' strengths and weaknesses. This allows management to determine where they need to spend their time and resources, which in result, makes up a stronger workforce. Employees are clearly better at their jobs/roles, more confident and knowledgeable of company processes and industry standards, and are linked to higher job satisfaction.

Naturally, we as humans dislike staleness and want opportunity for progression and growth. Having your company incorporate personal employee development goals/achievements that are attainable and measurable help employees reach personal and career goals. This allows employees to gain the needed skills and knowledge in a particular area that gives them ownership of that task. For the employer, these goals should be reviewed and revisited on a regular basis for every employee. By implementing these simple but important programs in your company, you’ll slowly begin to create a strong company culture where continuous development is encouraged as a means to better and advance your employees for future success. 

To keep reading about management approaches and values that translate into business success click here to go to our company culture blog posts.