Ready To Roll: Effective Employee Onboarding Tools

Think onboarding only involves paperwork and orientation? Think again. Onboarding starts from when someone accepts a job offer and includes long-term training and development. It’s not just a one-day affair.

Onboarding is also the first impression employees have about an organization. So if your company doesn’t have a program (19% of companies claim they don’t), these numbers should give you a reason to put one in place.

• Companies with an engaging onboarding program retained 91% of their first-year workers (source)

• 15% of respondents noted that lack of an effective onboarding process has contributed to them quitting or considering quitting (source)

Onboarding doesn’t only affect how an employee will perform in the first few months. It can also sway a new hire to jump ship early. Well-planned onboarding equips new hires with the information and tools they need to be successful at their position. And if that sounds like a daunting task, here are some helpful tools you can use as a starting point for your onboarding program:

SilkRoad: An intuitive platform, this cloud-based tool lets you customize the onboarding experience for each employee.

• Keep all legal forms in one place

• Social media integration

• Employees can collaborate with managers to define a developmental plan

• Create virtual training tools

• Assign tasks to the new hire such as “Set up workstation” or “Create email address”

• Track all paperwork in one location

• Introduce the team to the new hire

• Introduce important tools and resources

Bloomfire: It takes an average of eight months for a new employee to become fully productive, so reduce the learning curve with this collaboration tool.

• Connect new hires with mentors

• Allows on-the-go learning through the mobile app

• Setup and track virtual training

• Social gamification with high-fives and comments

Lessonly: Learning is the most critical part of the onboarding process, and this training tool can be customized to get new hires up to speed.

• Build your own lessons, courses, and quizzes

• Assign the above to new hires

• Track what, when, and how well the new hire is doing with the training

Chronus: Extend your onboarding program beyond the first day to improve productivity and employee retention.

• Tailor-fit onboarding programs to employees

• Embed training tools

• Assign a mentor to encourage collaboration

• Track the learning process

• Measure soft skills such as communication

Employee onboarding doesn’t end after the first day. Companies should do what they can to ensure new hires are ready to work, socialize, and then track development to ensure employees are set up for success.

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