Amidst the global pandemic crisis, working remotely or virtually has become part and parcel of people’s lives. In a virtual world, onboarding new employees face-to-face is now out of the question as many companies have opted for remote work arrangements.
As part of the virtual onboarding process, new recruits are trained through online or digital means to equip them with the skills required in their roles and make them feel emotionally connected to their workspace.
This blog post highlights why virtual training onboarding is essential for a company’s survival amidst these challenging times while outlining useful tips on how to make the software onboarding process successful:
1. Promotes Consistency In Employee Training
With an increasing workforce who may not be able to travel due to safety precautions, it becomes difficult for organizations with multiple branches and locations to ensure standardization in employee training at a single location. The solution? A comprehensive virtual training onboarding includes instructional videos, quizzes, tests, and other relevant materials tailored to your organization’s needs. This strategy permits consistent personnel development across all departments without any restrictions.
2. Flexible Scheduling
Conventional training sessions might require all participants’ physical presence simultaneously. This doesn’t always come easy, especially when operating within different time zones.
Virtual training onboarding provides employers with flexible schedules by offering 24/7 accessibility, thereby allowing employees from around the globe access without geographical constraints.
3. Cost-Effectiveness Boosts ROI (Return on Investment)
Similar to traditional onsite orientation programs, arranging flights, transportation logistics, and accommodation can lead to extra expenses. Additionally, these arrangements can pose a challenge to adhering to social distancing guidelines. On-demand virtual orientation serves as a solution, bypassing these costs and reducing expenses associated with in-person orientations. This applies to venue rental fees, catering, and inventory, irrespective of the scope, size, or geographic boundaries. Consequently, this approach enhances return on investment and increases productivity.
4. Promotes Higher Retention Rate
New employees often experience feelings of being overwhelmed and stressed during their initial weeks at work. However, comprehensive training can help alleviate some of the pressures associated with this transition. Virtual training onboarding provides digital materials that aid in improving retention rates. Trainees can easily review and recapitulate what they have learned, potentially eliminating the need for expensive extra orientation sessions, even covering virtual speaker systems.
5. Better Employee Performance and Efficiency
Employees get onboarded faster and more effectively online since virtual resources are planned to be available anytime without limitations, thereby encouraging worker productivity even from remote environments.
Useful Tips To Make Your Virtual Training Onboarding Successful
As mentioned earlier, onboarding new hires digitally takes away physical interactions that occur in conventional face-to-face encounters. Hence, it’s paramount to always make them feel welcomed even amidst the distance barrier.
Here are vital tips on how you can improve the employee experience through your Virtual Training Onboarding programs:
1. Utilize Interactive Tools
Nowadays, most Learning Management Systems (LMS) come with standard interactive tools like video conferencing solutions, collaboration boards, wikis, and the like, allowing learners or new employees to communicate directly whilst still undergoing orientation along instruction lines. Making use of these tools during virtual training orientations will enhance participation levels while also helping assign tasks and distribute learning materials — mentors included.
2. Encourage New Team Members’ Questions
In onsite situations, team members might naturally offer assistance as part of an in-person workplace culture shift. However, providing assistance to fellow workers in a large conference setting could be intimidating. An effective approach involves incorporating opportunities for questions throughout each assignment schedule. This allows newcomers to ask any inquiries that arise at any point without hindrance. Such a setup empowers communication skills that are critical for productive meetings and progress.
3. Personalizing The Experience As Much As Possible
Leveraging software features enables personalization, exemplified by acknowledging anniversaries, birthdays, achievements, and exciting events, among other recognitions. These gestures extend across specific cause-vetting personal interests, contributing to an accommodative company culture that consistently bolsters morale and inclusivity.
4. Create A Comprehensive Library Of Resources
Virtual Onboarding Training systems should maintain all relevant information and written material within manuals, databases, records, etc. Employees should be able to reference details while operating remotely. This makes it simpler for new hires to get acquainted with an organization, both methodically and seamlessly.
In Conclusion
Adapting to a global pandemic crisis has brought about a significant shift in the mode-oriented business spectrum, spurting conventional models toward monumental change. This will inevitably trigger organizations to either adapt or risk getting swallowed by the tide. And that is why Virtual Training Onboarding is now more crucial than ever before as companies strive to optimize their productivity levels amidst these challenging times.
To ensure that your onboarded employees thrive in virtual workspaces, providing inclusive personalized digital resources, ongoing online support, and robust communication opportunities is crucial. This approach guarantees employee engagement, stress-free familiarization, acquisition of adequate skillsets, and improved retention, among other core benefits. Ultimately, this strategy increases overall job satisfaction and provides protection for both employees and the organization.
