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Webinar Highlights: Best practice for onboarding in the online environment
21 September
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This week, we welcomed Ilse White, Corporate Learning Researcher and Richard Harte, UI/UX Specialist from the Learnovate Centre to host a dedicated webinar for our network.
Ilse and Richard presented their recent research on the best practices for onboarding in an online environment, with plenty of valuable insights for anyone involved in planning onboarding for remote colleagues.
Here are the key takeaways from the session:
Onboarding Definition
Onboarding is defined as “the process of helping new hires adjust to social and performance aspects of their new jobs quickly and smoothly” (Bauer, 2010).
What currently does not work well in onboarding?
Often a ‘one-size fits all approach’
Focus on what employee needs to impart
Rather than on what the new employee needs
Structured support is not always in place
The social aspect of onboarding can be overlooked
New employees don’t know what to expect
New employees do not know what is expected of them
Get feedback from the new hire
What currently works in the online environment?
Set expectations and provide a roadmap of activities
Organize a warm welcome
Complete pre-work online
Agree and set assignments
Provide online mentorship
Encourage online collaboration
Ensure tasks are relevant and specific
Get feedback from the new hire
Why it’s important to consider the remote onboarding experience
It can exacerbate challenges such as isolation and lack of breakout, technology fatigue due to countless new apps, lack of socialisation as employees cannot meet colleagues and getting access to resources and context as most of the time they don’t know who to ask.
Learnovate Centre Research Take-Aways & Data
1. Bad onboarding impacts retention:
17% of new hires leave an organization during the first three months of employment
33% of new hires look for a new job within the first 6 months
Half of all senior outside hires fail within 18 months in a new position and half of all hourly workers leave new jobs within the first 120 days
Efficient and effective onboarding is not the norm, despite a strong business case
88% of new employees say their organization does not provide a good onboarding experience
33% of new hires look for a new job within the first 6 months
Replacing an employee costs an average of 16-20% of that employee’s salary
Total turnover cost per employee can be anywhere between 100 – 300% of the individual’s salary
2. There’s also a misconception that onboarding is a one-day, one-off process.
Onboarding is a process of acquiring, accommodating, assimilating, and accelerating the new employee and starts well before the first day
Onboarding takes a minimum of 90 days but can stretch well past the 1st year. These first 90 days are crucial for the success of the newcomer
It is key to align all stakeholders from recruitment to line manager in the process and ensure efficient handovers of responsibilities
3. Onboarding effectiveness increases if there is a high-quality psychological contract
The psychological contract defines the level of trust and commitment between employer and employee.
High levels of trust and commitment create organizational cultures where employees are more creative, innovative & profitable than others
The objective of onboarding is to ensure the employee adds value while feeling valued and empowered to contribute their skills and knowledge of responsibilities
4. Onboarding practice needs to consider the new employee’s Personal Identity
Onboarding was traditionally focused on familiarizing the new employee with the organisation’s identity
Forgetting about the new employee’s personal identity…
Denying a new employee to express their personal identity can suppress their authentic strengths and skills
This leads to missed opportunities for the individual to be their best self and for the organisation to benefit from that
Learnovate Centre recommendations for best practices for onboarding in the online environment:
Define the psychological contract. What value is put on people?
Understand the value of onboarding to the success of your organisation
Build the onboarding process from a business perspective
Align the onboarding process with the employee’s needs
Leverage/align technology but don’t force it. Consider the JTBD
We’d like to express our thanks to Ilse and Richard for sharing their research and insights. To learn more about the Learnovate Centre, click here.