An effective onboarding process can be created with the help of learning management systems (LMS).
LMS is software used by companies to develop, upload, deliver, and track the training of their employees, customers, partners, and clients.
There are many employee onboarding LMS software tools available in the market for you to choose from. LMS can help you create effective and efficient onboarding programs. The process of onboarding helps the new hires to join their new workplace smoothly and confidently. With the help of onboarding programs, the employers can get an insight into the new hires and their skill sets, tracking their performance and detecting skill gaps, if any.
Onboarding new hires can be a bit difficult, laborious, costly, and sometimes become unsuccessful if not done with proper planning. The poor onboarding process can demotivate new hires while they are trying to adjust to the new work environment. Employee onboarding should be seen as an opportunity to bring new hires up to speed with what they need to know on day one and provide them with a roadmap of what to expect in the first few months.
Looking at the benefits that LMS can bring to the onboarding process, more and more companies have started using LMS for employee onboarding. Using an LMS for onboarding is a great opportunity to save a lot of time, effort, and money.
We have mentioned some of the ways LMS can help in creating an effective onboarding process.
· Provides Streamlined Tracking and Assessment
With the help of tracking and assessment tools in the LMS, you can track the performance of the individuals and key performance indicators (KPIs) with accuracy. This process will encourage accountability among the new hires. An LMS enables you to generate performance reports of the new hires’ onboarding progress; this lets the employer make amendments to the training modules on personal and organizational levels.
· Easy Accessibility
As soon as the learning materials and training modules are created and uploaded on an employee onboarding LMS software, the new hires can access them any time and from anywhere at their convenience. The new hires won’t have to worry about carrying the hard copies of the training material as everything is available with a click. They can take up the course using any electronic devices, such as – mobile phones, tablets, laptops, and desktops. Easy accessibility is one of the biggest advantages of the LMS-based employee onboarding process.
· Helps Save Time and Money
By using LMS for employee onboarding, you can reduce the cost of appointing an instructor for taking up the onboarding process in a training room using printed learning material. This will help you save money that you would have had to spend on an instructor, booking a training room, and getting the training material printed. As the learners will not have to travel anywhere for taking the course, you will be saving on transportation costs as well. Since there is no need to travel, learning can take place online, thus, saving time.
· Easy Scalability
You can provide consistent onboarding training with LMS to any number of employees, as the software is easily scalable. Hire a few hundred employees or even a thousand, without worrying about providing them the same kind of training, as the scalability feature will help you give unified online training material to all the employees. With the help of computerized training software, you can set a process that will ensure everyone receives their courses at a scheduled time.
· Higher Employee Engagement and Retention Rate
By using an LMS for onboarding your new hires, you will definitely increase the employee engagement rate, as the chances of employees taking up the courses on an LMS will increase and in turn engagement with the workplace will also increase. With a structured and planned onboarding process, you can boost your employee engagement rate and employees are more likely to stay with the organizations, for more than 3 years. Thus, having an onboarding process in place with the help of an LMS is highly recommended.
There are four different onboarding phases that will help you create a strategy to engage the new hires, improve their retention rate, and help them adapt to your company’s organizational practices.
Phase I – Pre-Onboarding
This phase begins as soon as the candidate accepts the offer. During this phase, all the necessary paperwork is completed. To smoothen their first day, you can send a video that will provide a brief idea about how the organization works and what will their first day look like.
Phase II – Orientation
In the orientation, you can introduce the new hires to the organization and key the team members. Educate them about important policies regarding compliance materials, values, and the culture of the organization. Keep the first day as simple as possible.
Phase III – Role Training
The phase is very crucial and directly correlated with how well the new hires will perform at their jobs. This is when the LMS plays an important role. You can even include blended learning and microlearning along with providing training on an LMS, this will smoothen the process. Store the onboarding material on LMS so that it can be easily accessed by the new hires at their convenience.
Phase IV – Easy Transition
This phase helps in the easy transition from being new hires to becoming full-fledged employees. Set your expectations clearly for the new hires so that they know what they are expected to do and what they are and will be responsible for.
Conclusion:
Always remember the productivity and efficiency of the employees are directly related to the growth and development of the organization. Thus, the employee onboarding process must be highly effective, engaging, and enjoyable. The employers must make the new hires feel comfortable and motivated from day one.
