Self Onboarding using a Software Enablement Platform

This post is based on my personal onboarding experience, as a new employee at Guidde.

A successful onboarding process is composed of various complex elements constructed to get new employees up to speed on their roles and responsibilities and make sure they feel included and welcomed in the company culture. Regardless of the level of seniority, every onboarding process introduces employees to the knowledge, tools, and key policies set by the company, in other words, the know-how of the company.

Since onboarding is a common denominator for every employee, companies should aim to make this process as engaging, effective, and aligned with the company’s goals as possible. If they are successful, it’s a great platform to encourage an organizational knowledge-sharing culture.

Now let’s discuss hybrid onboarding. The sudden shift to working remotely due to the Covid19 spread meant reconstructing the major milestones of a new employee’s first day. Many of the challenges I encountered in my previous job as a new employee emerged from the lack of spontaneous opportunities for social interaction applicable to work matters with my colleagues. When an interactive learning experience is offered, delivering effective training becomes a lot easier.

A great hybrid onboarding practice requires an effective communication plan

A new employee’s relationship with the company is directly impacted by how positively or negatively they feel from a communications standpoint. Communicating how to create a learning experience that is engaging and tailored to the specific needs and role of each employee being onboarded will promote employee engagement, retention, and a higher learning rate. 

According to Sapling HR, NEW TEAM MEMBER PRODUCTIVITY HOVERS AROUND 25% DURING THE FIRST 30 DAYS. "A week-long onboarding program is a common practice at many organizations, but a week is hardly enough time for a new hire to become acclimated to their company, culture, and role. In fact, only 29 percent of new hires say they feel fully prepared and supported to excel in their role after their onboarding experience."

I was able to improve those numbers significantly by using our own platform for my onboarding process.

Besides for creating an interpersonal bond with a new team, remote onboarding challenges include listing every step of the process to ensure that the new recruit does not get buried under the landslide of new information. The employer will have to guide the new employee through microlearning SaaS platforms for raising questions and learning what they need to know, particularly if they operate in another time zone. 

Were you given an explanation session about a certain part of a system used at your workplace and then needed that information again?

I was able to record all my sessions with individuals in key roles in the company that can be used later for new employees in the R&D department. I am able to constantly refer to those videos when I experience challenges.
Guidde allows you to access that information without asking your fellow employee for additional valuable time. Instead, we provide you the ability to access that information in O(1) time.
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When an interactive learning experience is offered to employees at a preferred time and place, delivering effective training becomes a lot easier. The outcome is that whatever the new employees learn in their onboarding, they are able to easily apply to their jobs without searching in different Wikis, internal knowledge bases, referring to colleagues etc.

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