Why Do I Need An Employee Induction
Companies want their staff to be productive as quickly as possible. Even more so, when we’re talking about new seasonal hires, freelancers or contractors.
This is where employee induction training will speed things up. Induction systems provide staff with the necessary knowledge and skills that their new roles require.
Induction systems allow for much more flexible training, as these can be completed online and out of working hours. Not forgetting online induction systems delivers training more clearly, consistently and efficiently than traditional face to face training.
6 Ways to improve your employees induction training:-
1. Keep It Simple
It’s an induction program for employees and contractors after all. They only need to know about their role and site safety protocols.
The purpose of an induction training program is to teach employees and contractors the most important things that they need to know to begin working, not to teach them all there is about their new job (unless, of course, their new job can be covered in a few short training sessions).
2. Don’t Forget Culture
Your employee induction program is the perfect opportunity to briefly introduce staff to your corporate culture. This is where the generic welcome from your CEO fits in, but also where you should tell a few things about the company’s history, goals, and place in the industry.
Your employee induction is also where you should inform your workforce of your company’s cultural and ethical codes (environmental responsibility, equal opportunities, non-discrimination, etc.)
3. Structure Your System
Induction systems can have multiple uses, decide what you want your system for and tailor this to your employees needs. If you have a lot of contractors or short term staff onsite and need to introduce them to a few very simple responsibilities as fast as possible, then a smaller, simpler system would be sufficient.
If you are wanting a system to onboard people for long-term employment, the ideal employee induction program could be as long as a full week or more. This gives you time to cover everything at an easy to follow pace.
4. Content
There is so much that goes into a good employee induction system.
If you want your induction to be effective, you will need to plan your content carefully. Start with what you want to include in your employee induction program, and how to structure it. This could be anything from individual chapters, welcome messages, an introduction to your corporate history and culture, a description of your employee’s job responsibilities, your code of conduct, health and safety information, notes on your organisational structure and so on.
Once you have the objectives of your induction program and its general structure down, you’ll need the relevant material to flesh it out. This might involve coordinating with several board members or a development team. For example you may want a series of short films demonstrating site safety or a sophisticated portal to store staff induction progress records.
5. Personalise
While you need content for your induction system, it’s also worth it to spend some time to personalise your employee induction for each individual employee.
A personal note from a company director welcoming staff, for example, can add a human touch, or a system which congratulates staff on their progress and rewards them with completion certificates. There is so much you can do to make a employee or contractor feel appreciated and that your system is for their benefit.
Beyond that, you could arrange for a session with your inductees, where you take time to talk with them and address their questions and concerns.
6. Use A Robust Induction System
Employee induction is nowadays more often than not performed online, through a Learning Management System (LMS). Not all systems are alike though, and not all are up to the task, whether that is an employee health and safety inductions or general employee training.
At a minimum, an LMS suitable for employee induction should offer:
- Instructor-Led Training modules
- With Q&A / Test sections, to verify whether your employees remember their induction material
- Reporting, to monitor an employee’s induction progress
- Multimedia support, so that you can embed videos, images, and audio to your employee induction program
- Mobile support, so that your employees can check their induction program anytime/ anywhere
- Forum and/or messaging support, so that staff can voice their questions and concerns.
- Professionally-made induction content
- Easy installation and good support, so that you can concentrate on your business, not on troubleshooting your LMS
Summary
An online induction system for your workforce is one of the cheapest and most effective ways to introduce your staff to your business and ensure a safe, efficient and productive workforce.
Make sure your induction system is as efficient as your company. A good employee induction program will give staff the confidence they need to tackle their responsibilities. A good system will help your workforce to understand what’s expected of them, and how they fit into your overall structure. It should, of course, also make them feel welcome.
Looking to implement and deliver successful induction training?
Contact our team or learn more about our Online Induction Systems.
