“I’ve have learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel” – Maya Angelou
This meaningful quote written on the walls of a conference hall of a leading manufacturing company set the tone of discussion(the agenda of the meeting was to discuss the development of e-induction at their organization). The meeting was fruitful and we concluded the deal but the quote still continues to impress me .
Corporate induction training is essential for new employees as it sets the tone for the employees to establish a career in the organization. Hence drawing inspiration from the above quote, I feel that an effective and successful employee induction is all about how you make your employees feel wanted and welcome in the organization. Studies have shown that induction training directly affects employee attrition rate. Hence delivering an effective induction training program to new employees should be on the priority list.
While there are the traditional followed practices of classroom induction programs, there are only a few takers for this now. The increasing cost, lesser employee engagement, no learning innovations in classroom training are some of the main factors leading to technology based solutions for employee induction. One such technology based solution , I recommend to implement is e-induction.
What is E-Induction?
Wikipedia defines an induction programme as the process used within many businesses to welcome new employees to the company and prepare them for their new role.
In simple terms, with the use of technology and electronic devices, when the traditional classroom induction programme is moved to an online mode, it is called as employee e-induction. The biggest advantage of e-induction is that there is no need to wait till you have a fixed number of new joiners to make it worth or even when there are no mentors available to run the session, it can be accessed by learners on their own.
The main purpose of an e-induction is to make the new employees comfortable into the company and make them understand the systems and procedures followed by the organization within a short time of their joining. It helps new employees in settling down quickly in the new work environment and gives them a sense of belonging. Hence let’s look into the benefits of employee e-induction from the perspective of an organisation.
1.Cost Effective
By moving your traditional e-induction program, the online way, the organisation benefits in optimizing the training budgets . Also by implementing the e-induction, the cost or expenditure becomes more of a one time investment rather than a continual one.
In a traditional classroom induction program, an organisation has to bear the recurring expenses that arises in the form of various fixed costs and other miscellaneous expenses.
2.Flexible
Digital revolution has triggered huge changes in the way we approach our learning. From the traditional induction program confined to the four walls of the classroom, the new learning technologies like e-induction promises a lot in terms of providing flexibility to the organisation.
The earlier geographical barriers of a classroom induction program are fully eliminated with e-induction. A multinational organisation can run the e-induction simultaneously at different geographical locations.
The growth and increasing penetration of mobile devices and internet connectivity has further boosted the opportunities.
3.Increases the retention rate
Retaining the learning topic is very essential for every learning strategy. The Research Institute of America concluded that e-learning increases the retention rates by 25 to 60 percent, compared to retention rates of 8 to 10 percent with traditional training. Hence converting your traditional classroom induction to e-induction can definitely lead to an increase in retention of the learning topic.
The learner can successfully revisit the e-induction and replay the learning content. The e-induction also includes e-learning assessments that contributes to increasing the retention rates of the learning topics.
4.Increases the productivity
This is a continuation to the above mentioned point. When e-induction is able to increase the retention rate of the learning topics, it contributes to the enhanced productivity of the organisation as the learners can quickly put the content learned through e-induction into practice .
Employees from the very beginning, learn the right way of doing things rather than taking decisions based on their assumptions. Further with the learning being so interesting and convenient, it helps the company to establish a professional impression of the business and implementing the code of conduct, which enhances their productivity.
5.Provides detailed tracking and reporting information
Implementation of e-induction helps organizations in keeping a track of the progress level of the learners, which is not really possible in a classroom training. The modern Learning Management Systems can generate in-depth reports on the user’s learning journey and progress. It also benefits the learners as it helps them to understand how they are faring on the learning trajectory and helps to pace their learning .
6.Quick and easy updates
Often some policy level changes, leadership transitions, product portfolio addition/deletions mandate the organisations to train their learners on it. A classroom induction can be a big affair as scheduling a training program is not that easy and involves additional resources. By implementing e-induction, the organization can quickly update the changes and deliver the learning content to the learners simultaneously.
7.Future proof
By converting the traditional induction program to e-induction, the organisation has boarded the the right track or path of future proof learning strategy. With the baby boomers soon to be replaced by the millennials, a classroom induction program is never a strategy to match their learning styles. The organisations across industries need to look into the benefits and advancements in e-induction to tackle the challenges of engaging the millennial audience
As discussed in the points above, E-Induction offers many business benefits including time, money and flexibility. So, why not consider one for your organization?
