September is an exciting time: The new training year begins! This demands a lot from both responsible individuals in companies and the trainees: Other tasks remain unfinished, and important basic knowledge can quickly be lost. Digital support can help you and the trainees in the first weeks. How this is successfully achieved with "Blended Onboarding" you will learn in this article through an example.

Onboarding new colleagues is always a challenge: onboarding means that the focus shifts away from everyday business to knowledge transfer and support. For trainees who are starting in companies this September, the process is often even more intense. Here, supervisors, team leaders, and HR personnel must start even earlier in the learning process than with experienced professionals.

The Challenge: Conveying a Lot of Knowledge in a Short Time

The goals of the first weeks with the new trainees are clear:

• Clearly communicate the procedure for the next 2 to 3 years

• Convey necessary basic knowledge about the company and important processes

• Ensure a getting to know each other to quickly integrate the trainees

• … while still maintaining a productive work routine.

All this put together is a significant time burden for those responsible – and a cognitive challenge for the trainees, who need to acquire a lot of knowledge in a little time: from occupational safety to handling new tools and the names of many new people, all the way to the particularly important operation of the coffee machine! 😀

All this knowledge must not only be conveyed by those responsible and supervisors: The trainees must also understand it, process it, and have it readily available at all times. Only then will a smooth work routine become possible quickly.

Solution Approach: Digitally Supported Onboarding for Trainees

For onboarding to succeed quickly and sustainably, it is important that the learning process fits the target group. For this, you need to know your target group well: The biggest difference between experienced new employees and trainees is often age: The average age of trainees is around 20 years. Thus, trainees mostly belong to the "Generation Z".

What Characterizes Generation Z Trainees?

• Digital Natives: Grew up with digital technologies.

• Unquestioning use of smartphones and tablets.

• Skilled in dealing with digitally/online available knowledge.

• Tend to reject print media like books and magazines.

• Communication via smartphones, clouds, apps, and social networks.

Utilize these traits and habits for yourself! From this, you can directly derive how the onboarding for young trainees should look so that it is effective and motivating:

This is How You Should Design Onboarding for Trainees

• Focus on digital media, little print media like classic manuals.

• Knowledge available anytime (learning on demand)

• Knowledge is flexibly accessible on mobile devices, e.g., smartphone or tablet.

• Suitable devices at the workplace are readily available

• Flexible scheduling for learning directly at the workplace; alternatively, set learning times.

• Provide direct exchange with fellow trainees and contact with trainers (exciting related topic: AUBI-Plus study on the wishes of trainees regarding e-learning).

All these points are fulfilled by an innovative learning concept called "Blended Onboarding".

Digitally Supported Onboarding with "Blended Onboarding" for Trainees

You are surely familiar with the term "Blended Learning" from the field of continuing education: The combination of online and face-to-face learning. "Blended Onboarding" is directly based on this: The connection of learning content in an online course with personal live sessions.

Live sessions + online course = Blended Onboarding

An onboarding process according to the "Blended Onboarding" concept supports all the goals for the first weeks and meets the habits and expectations of young trainees.

Practice: Example Online Course for Trainee Onboarding

Below, you will see an online course on the blink.it learning platform, with which the "Blended Onboarding" concept was developed. The course may not fit all training professions but gives you an initial idea for practical implementation:

Example of a supplementary online course for trainees in the first days/weeks.

Clear Structures in the Onboarding Course

The course is set up so that the content is automatically released one after the other. This makes the online course clearer for you and the trainees and brings more structure. Recommendation: Plan the content by weeks if you have more than a few basic contents (Week 1: All content related to Topic 1 – Week 2: All content related to Topic 2, etc.) and create an onboarding plan with the help of the guide "Blended Onboarding in Companies".

Rapid Integration through Q&A Sessions

To transform an online course into blended onboarding, you should also schedule Q&A sessions on topics where questions are foreseeable, or where additional personal support is sensible. In these cases, the online content serves as a preparation so that the Q&A sessions can run productively. Recommendation: Schedule at least 15 minutes of Q&A session daily. Plan Q&A sessions with different contacts and colleagues to strengthen the integration of the trainees.

"Recycling" in the Online Course Saves Time!

Additionally, on the blink.it learning platform, you can "recycle" the content: Some information is certainly important not only for trainees but also for other new employees, interns, working students, and others. For example, safety topics or site plans. Recommendation: Create a base course as a template containing all the content that is important for all newcomers. Copy this base course and supplement it with specific content. This way, you save additional time and can be sure that all individuals in the company receive the same information. Only the welcome video should be created individually by you or the supervising person for each newcomer – this increases the bonding from the very beginning. The easiest way to create videos is with your smartphone.

Save Time and Nerves When Onboarding Trainees

The Blended Onboarding concept offers everything that is important for onboarding trainees: You save time as a responsible person or trainer since online content can be flexibly adjusted and reused each year. It allows young trainees to learn independently in their familiar digital environment. In addition, it enables intensive personal contact and support. Thus, it relieves both the responsible individuals and the trainees, facilitating a smooth onboarding. Therefore, utilize modern, digital learning concepts not only for continuing education but also for the new generation in your company!