New employees are sought in all sectors - through impressions from the HR Innovation Roadshow we know: "New workforce" is currently a focal topic for HR professionals! We show, using the example of our own blink.it team, how onboarding can be effectively, flexibly, and profitably supported online for employees and companies.
Update February 2019
Packed Startup Power at the HR Innovation Roadshow
To discover trends, sometimes you need to look more than once - and often in different directions. That's why we were at the HR Innovation Roadshow for the third time this year.
After our great kickoff in Frankfurt, we headed to Stuttgart via Cologne on October 9th this time.
The concept of the HR Innovation Roadshow has remained true to itself: Various startup companies present their innovative ideas for businesses in short presentations.
The focus is on utilizing new digital concepts to find solutions for old or current problems in the HR sector. And through exchange, new impulses for the still young products are to be gained. Just according to the motto: Learning by presenting!
Recruiting and New Talent in Focus
As different as the host cities are, so too were the audience and the most pressing topics.
Hans-Martin was on-site for blink.it and reports his impressions:
In Frankfurt, a large part of the visitors came from the banking or insurance sector. There was a lot of talk about continuing education. In Stuttgart, many HR professionals from the tech and automotive industries were present, and the focus was heavily on the topic of recruiting and hiring.
Where recruiting is the main focus, the goal is to bring in as many qualified employees as possible - to improve processes, better distribute tasks, or simply to grow alongside positive company developments.
And where many new talents are being hired, important questions for leaders and companies arise:
How do you onboard new employees so that they are as quickly independent and productive as possible?
How do you convey comprehensive knowledge about the company and the workflows and structures?
How do you find a balance between support and independence of new employees?
How do I connect new employees with colleagues and supervisors?
Every employee and manager who has ever trained someone new in a field knows: Accompanying a new employee all day takes a lot of time and requires constant attention - there is a risk that other important things will remain unfinished.
Moreover, new processes take time to be fully understood and implemented independently - inquiries and repeated practice sessions until the new knowledge is secure must also be planned.
Tip: What methods exist for onboarding and what advantages they offer for companies, colleagues, and new employees, we have prepared for you in two examples - get inspired here: Smart Onboarding with Blended Learning
We at blink.it conduct our onboarding, of course... with blink.it!
However, as personal experiences convey much more than examples, I want to show you today how a smart onboarding process can take place - firsthand, as I have just gone through our "dual-supported onboarding" (or am still in the middle of it).
How does a "Blended Onboarding" process unfold, how does it feel from the perspective of the new employee, and what can you learn for yourself and your company from it?
Practice Example 1: Onboarding in a Video Diary
The focus here is on keeping a close eye on the learning progress of new employees, promoting self-reflection and review of newly acquired knowledge, and establishing a good acquaintance between the new employees and colleagues.
New employees at blink.it record a short selfie video (maximum 2 minutes) with their own mobile phone for the first 2 weeks and after each working day, reporting on what they did and learned that day. Starting from the third week, the videos come weekly. The videos are uploaded to a video diary course, and all employees can watch and comment on the videos. Or upload response videos with ideas, suggestions, and praise.
Onboarding Video Diary - Laura & Jessi. A brief introduction and one chapter per week with personal report videos and direct feedback from Konstantin
Filming a video every day - that sounds like a lot of work. But it's really not! After 2 or 3 days, you get the hang of it; it takes a maximum of 5 minutes to shoot the video and upload it to the blink.it course - and for colleagues a maximum of 2 minutes to watch it and know exactly what the "newbies" are actually doing and capable of.
Perfect for: Reflection. Review of new knowledge. Feedback.
Practice Example 2: Onboarding in the blink.it Course
Alongside personal conversations and training on various topics related to the company, workflows, and projects, an online course for formal and content-related matters offers itself.
All content that is important for a new employee (i.e., me) in the first days or weeks is summarized in a blink.it course. Various topics are divided into chapters. In selecting between texts, documents, links, and videos, there is a suitable medium for each piece of information. The contents are released gradually, tailored to the learning process in everyday work.
Onboarding in Inbound Marketing: Personal introduction, various chapters, and short impulses
Active learning in the new job and e-learning are intertwined to enable a fast, effective, and sustainable learning process - which, from my personal experience, is also really fun. And in the process, the learning content naturally remains intact and can be used time and again. This saves time in the next onboarding and brings all employees on the same page.
Perfect for: Basic knowledge. Processes (Top: Videos!). Impulses. Exercises.
Personal Experience with "Blended Onboarding"
In onboarding, blended learning can leverage all the strengths it also has in further education and advanced training:
In personal coaching, workflows and essential basics are imparted, which are then repeated and solidified in the online course with impulses and materials. In this context, the contents can be worked on independently and can always be called up and repeated.
As a "newbie," one feels directly integrated and supported with information, inputs, and feedback. The learning curve is steep, the knowledge is firmly anchored, and the onboarding goes quickly - and has been a lot of fun for me and all the other colleagues!
The result with and for blink.it: The independence and commitment to the new company is perfectly supported from day one. And saves team leaders and executives a lot of time and money!
Conclusion: Creativity Enables Countless Applications
Through the HR Innovation Roadshow, we have taken away many ideas once again. And the conviction: blink.it offers you a variety of opportunities to develop and support innovative and creative learning processes. Not only for training and further education but also for countless other areas in the company:
Onboarding? Change of work area? Taking on new tasks? Or a little help for the next vacation replacement? Get creative and use blink.it in a diverse and individualized way!
Feel free to leave us a comment on how you would use blink.it or how you are already using it to support your colleagues or participants. We are curious!
