HR professionals often face the question of how to efficiently integrate new employees into processes. With an online course, onboarding can save on personnel costs while thoroughly introducing employees to the company culture. This concept works in banking just as well as in fast food.

Update February 2019

The Situation: Fast and Effective Onboarding of New Employees

When a new employee is hired, it is a sign of success and cause for celebration. However, every new hire comes with a lot of effort and bureaucracy. HR professionals face strategic decisions at this point. After all, the new member should get to know the company as quickly as possible and soon become a permanent part of the big picture.

Typical goals in onboarding include:

• introducing the new employee to the company culture,

• familiarizing them with existing programs and tools,

• introducing them to their work processes,

• acquainting them with colleagues and supervisors.

For this, employee resources must be calculated and deployed as efficiently as possible. The big question is: Who is the mentor for the new employee and how much time can they invest in training?

Let’s consider the following two example settings where new employees should be trained as quickly and effectively as possible:

First Setting: Banking

In a bank, individuals are typically hired who already have a solid education and often some experience in banking. Nevertheless, thorough onboarding is necessary: on one hand, processes differ between banks, and on the other hand, sensitive and important content is handled. For example, in risk management, significant decisions must be made regarding who is creditworthy and who is not.

During onboarding, responsible parties should ensure that all new employees are at the same level after the training period – both in terms of soft skills and hard skills.

Second Setting: Fast Food

Now let’s imagine the contrasting onboarding in a fast food restaurant. Here, often untrained workers begin, who may only work in the company temporarily. However, there are also strict processes in fast food that must be adhered to. The consequences of poor training can have devastating effects, for example, if hygiene regulations are insufficiently explained.

During onboarding, recurring processes should therefore be thoroughly documented and prepared in such a way that every untrained worker can reproduce them.

The two settings show different types of demands on the onboarding of new employees. However, in both settings, efficient training is essential for the success of the hire, and HR professionals must calculate resources.

The Solution: Smart Onboarding with Blended Learning

Why should companies invest personnel costs for every new employee when every onboarding is based on the same foundation? Information about the company culture and strictly prescribed processes can be conveyed much more effectively in the form of an online course. This only needs to be carefully created once and can replace large parts of personal onboarding thereafter.

Important: “Large parts” does not mean that the entire onboarding should solely be an online course. Every new employee should always know who their direct contact person is in case problems arise. Only the practical training in processes and similar general content should be outsourced to online onboarding. This saves personnel costs, and the new employee still feels well-integrated personally.

That is exactly what blended learning means: Benefit from all the advantages of personal training and digital support while simultaneously saving unnecessary personnel effort. If you cleverly link both sides, you will achieve the perfect onboarding!

At a Glance: Advantages of Onboarding with Blended Learning

• fast training

• thorough training (everyone is at the same level)

• low personnel costs

• practical online exchange between new employees

• clear documentation of knowledge

Practical Examples: Onboarding in an Online Course

Successful companies provide new employees with an onboarding process that predominantly takes place in an online course and occasionally includes personal discussions with team leaders. Below, I will show you how this can look concretely in the aforementioned settings:

Example Onboarding: Banking

Let’s remember: In banking, well-trained new employees must be thoroughly trained to be on a certain level in risk management, for example.

Process with Blended Learning: An online course gives them quick access to workflows and essential criteria. In the form of exercises and case studies, they can refresh and fill knowledge gaps. Regular discussions with the direct supervisor and (online) exchanges with colleagues round off the blended learning.

Example Onboarding: Fast Food

In the example of the fast food restaurant, especially the easily understandable representation of important processes counts: HR professionals do not hire cooks, but convey detailed work steps that anyone can learn in principle.

Process with Blended Learning: How is a bun topped? From the number of individual ingredients to the correct topping order to adherence to important hygiene regulations – even a seemingly simple task like topping a bun must follow a specific structure.

In an online course, explanatory videos can be used that clearly show how buns should be topped in this specific fast food restaurant. This ensures that the buns always have the same quality and appearance.

Do you perhaps already have a concrete example in mind of how smart onboarding can succeed in your company? Take five minutes now to think about how the aforementioned advantages of blended learning could affect your case.

Tip: Write down your thoughts and go ahead and set a date in your calendar to plan the next steps!