Hybrid working models, a new generation of workers and digital developments are transforming the modern workplace. Many organisations are embracing the concept of hybrid working and creating a workplace that prioritises employee flexibility and productivity. Research supports this trend, including CIPD research which concludes that 40% of employers expect more than half of their workforce to regularly work from home in the future. This emerging transformation of the workplace also requires a fresh look at traditional models of training that support learning and development.
In this article we will focus on how to revolutionise your induction process within a hybrid working model.
Induction training – it will always be required
Induction training can instill a sense of dread for any new starter, usually based on their past experiences. Historically induction training has been delivered face to face, over a long period of time. It contained huge volumes of information that the new starter was unable to contextualise and therefore found difficult to process or remember.
Induction challenges
Induction training is a way to ensure that all new starters are aware of the culture and ethos of the company, the requirements of their role and compliance elements related to their job and the work of the team.
Typically, an induction programme covers:
- Legislative context, for example health and safety, data protection, equalities act, anti-bribery and corruption. Other compliance training will be required dependent on the role, industry and sector.
- Code of conduct
- Employee and employer responsibilities
- Systems, policies and procedures
- Meeting members of the senior leadership team and colleagues
- Company history, culture, ethos and values
5 steps to transform your induction programme
1 – Learner-led induction
New starters are often very motivated to start their new role and learn more about the organisation. A learner-led induction could start as soon as the offer of employment is agreed. A new starter could be provided with login details for your in-house learning platform that contains a range of ‘resources’ that introduce your new employee to the organisation. This will give them a head start and control over how and when they engage with the learning resources.
You could also be more directive and suggest that by the end of the first week you would like your new team member to have at least five questions that have resulted from their learning and engagement with the materials.
2 – Micro learning
Long-winded inductions that require people to take in large amounts of information for long periods isn’t how inductions should work. This applies equally to face-to-face events and eLearning.
Psychologists agree that the average sustained attention span for a human is around 20 minutes. Therefore 30-minutes or a one-hour eLearning courses are only going to be partially successful. Also, if Forbes Insights confirms that 59% of senior executives confirmed they would rather watch a video that read text, when both are available, then it is reasonable to assume this applies to most employees too.
3 – Be creative
Move away from detailed documents and complicated policies. The modern learning environment requires a focus on learning resources that are video based, contain audio and have a variety of stimulating and relevant images that will enable a learner to remember. For examples of the types of videos that may work in your organisation see our portfolio here.
Scenario based training works well for some topics like health and safety. Also create fun ways to remember certain key facts that are important to the organisation.
4 – Inspire
Use video or webinars to introduce new starters to members of the senior leadership team. Allow them to hear directly from senior members of the organisation about the core values, and vision for the company. The aim is to inspire people and enable them to be completely immersed in the ethos of the organisation.
To embed this, you could task the new employee to put the organisations visions and values into their own words and ask them to describe how each one will affect their new role.
5 – Assessment remains key
You can provide as many engaging, versatile and stimulating resources as you want, but ultimately the materials are there to enable people to learn. Therefore, assessment of learning and progress remains key. Be creative with your assessment processes. Even if you have a 2-minute video you can follow it with a few questions to check knowledge and understanding.
ELearning can have ‘in-course’ knowledge checks to assess learning throughout rather than just at the end. When considering webinars, these should not be passive experiences for the learner – introduce quick fire questions based on the content covered. You could also use your organisations internal social platform to have regular incentivised quizzes.
In summary
Whether you introduce one or all of these steps into your induction programme, transforming the way you conduct it will significantly improve the employee’s initial thoughts about the business, their expectations and give them the tools to make a great start in your organisation.
Get in touch to find out how we support your training programmes.