Good onboarding requires a plan, appropriate materials, and the correct implementation method

When you want to ensure that your new employee gets the best possible start, good onboarding is key. It speeds up productivity, improves employee engagement, and prevents conflicts and unsuccessful recruitments. But is there a simple plan available for good onboarding?

Why is it worth investing in employee onboarding?

Integrating a new employee with a company and its culture is a critical moment which is easily ruined if proper induction is not provided. When the recruitment process has taken as long as a few months, as well as required money and effort, it is important to get it right the first time. Both employee and company may end up losing due to inadequate onboarding.

Good onboarding requires effort, but when carried out properly, it is a profitable investment. When you are able to engage the employee in the company and in their work tasks as soon as possible and as well as possible, work will turn productive faster. It is especially challenging in the case of substitute workers or short-term employees whose induction needs to be even more efficient. In its simplicity, onboarding should be a well-managed and standardized process that creates value for the cost and effort spent in onboarding, and ideally it also gives you less (premature) gray hair.

Creating a plan for onboarding

Own the onboarding process from beginning to end. The more detailed your onboarding plan is, the easier it is to implement. A good plan defines the goals of onboarding, its primary guidelines, schedules for various subsections, as well as the implementation and the resources it requires. The plan specifies who the onboarding is designed for and whose responsibility it is to update and implement the plan.

It is also best to specify the required induction materials already in this phase. In addition, it is also good to reserve some time to think about how to best monitor the progress of onboarding and how to support the coping and performance of a new employee in the long term.   

Good onboarding materials

A well-handled onboarding process often requires that you are present and provide good orientation to the work tasks. However, it is still good to go through various materials in order to familiarize matters. Insufficient onboarding often lacks in the quality of the onboarding materials; they are not well prepared, easy to follow or properly structured. In addition to text content, good onboarding materials include videos and images that make it easier to go through and familiarize the required material.

Needs may vary case by case, but on a general level, you should consider at least the following when designing induction materials for new employees:

• A presentation of the company’s operations, products, and goals
• A presentation of the work community and rules to follow
• Instructions and work tasks assigned to the employee
• Goals expected of the employee
• Employment-related matters
• Work tools and methods.

With regard to the method of implementation, it is also good to ensure that the onboarding can be carried out quickly if needed – even in cases where the person undergoing the induction is on the other side of the world.

Documentation of the onboarding

Onboarding is all about transfering knowledge. It is important to verify and document induction performance, so that familiarization of the subject matter can be ensured. The easiest way to implement and document verified performance is in electronic format, for example, by using a digital induction system. It also enables the creation of different types of tests and quizzes in order to verify understanding even better. A high level of data protection and the processing of information in compliance with GDPR requirements ensure that personal data and test materials are managed in a data-secure manner. 

Digital inductions create an easy and structured process

Onboarding an employee to their new job always takes time, but with the new digital solutions, it can now be so much easier. Digital inductions enable fast content creation, easy distribution, and induction performance, creation of tasks and tests, and safe documentation of completed inductions; all independent of time and place. With just a few clicks, new employees can be invited to perform their induction training in the electronic service whenever it best suits them – if needed, already before they start in their job which means that no time needs to be wasted going through the basics.

In the digital induction system, you can create the content, possible tests, and indicate who needs to perform the induction and when. You can produce the induction material yourself or outsource the creation. Invitations to perform the induction training are sent automatically. Completed inductions are stored in the system and you can compile either individual or collective reports on the results. The data can also be used as an easy way to further develop the onboarding process.

In addition to onboarding employees, the digital induction system can be utilized, for example, in providing safety inductions or verified distribution of bulletins.

How digital induction works

1. Create content – Create the desired content and a possible test to take, and then mark who are required to go through the content.
2. Select those to be inducted – The service sends an individual link to a person’s email or a text message to their mobile phone.
3. The invited persons complete the induction – The persons go through the content and acknowledge the received training.
4. The completed induction is saved – The service saves the information regarding a completed induction or training and creates a document accordingly.

Save your time and let us help you!

Does your organization have time to phase in a digital induction system? Systam Pass is 100% developed by us – a Finnish service for providing comprehensive digital inductions. Our audited service (most recent audit by Silverskin in 2022) turns employee inductions into a structured process – preprepared content for use at any time, automatic delivery of data, and verified induction performance all bring peace of mind.

You can produce the induction materials yourself or outsource the task completely to us. Our professional team has created onboarding and induction solutions since 2006 – and even today, 95% of our customers are still walking on the same path with us.

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