Onboarding. We’ve all been there; You walk into your new workplace bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and with butterflies in your stomach. Knowing you’ll never get a second chance to make a first impression, you try so hard to remember all the new names being thrown your way that you almost forget your own.

And then, your induction training begins.

Cue a barrage of new information from your HR manager and a pile of paperwork including everything from instructions on how to sit in your chair safely to the hefty company handbook. Then, before you have even warmed the seat at your new desk, it’s off to a PowerPoint presentation introducing you, and your fellow new starts, to the company. You complete your first day slightly frazzled and full of information that you’ll likely forget by the morning, with only your incomprehensible notes to refer to.

If this sounds familiar, it’s because although ineffective, inefficient and a terrible way to make a first impression on your new employee, it is the commonplace induction process for organisations across the world. In fact, the Aberdeen Group’s 2014 report on onboarding found that 68% of organisations have no formal onboarding process at all.

But this baptism of fire approach is doing everyone a disservice; from the new start who is forced to awkwardly ask for information to be repeated, to the busy HR manager who has to find time to repeat the information, the inefficiency of your induction training is hindering all employees involved from adding value. And for your organisation, this poor induction costs additional time and money, each time you introduce a new starter.

There must be a better way

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) describe the induction process as an opportunity for businesses to welcome their new recruit, help them settle in and ensure they have the knowledge and support they need to perform their role. With a rising appreciation of the importance of an effective induction and an ever-increasing ability to use eLearning to its full effect, organisations all over the world are complementing and improving their induction through the use of eLearning.

Akin to the use of eLearning in development training, online inductions in companies are increasing in popularity due to the multitude of benefits they afford. While the benefits expected from bespoke eLearning inductions will be unique to each organisation, here are a few examples that all organisations can expect:

Ensure you send out the right message, every time: Gone are the days of passing on bad habits through variations of potentially-biased inductions. By providing a bespoke eLearning induction, you can ensure standardised training is provided across your organisation.

Welcome your employees with a safe and secure induction: eLearning inductions put your new recruit in control of their induction, allowing them to comfortably and fully absorb your organisation’s information at their own pace.

Training can be revisited, repeated and revised:  Remove the risk of awkward moments and wasted time caused by new starts asking for information to be repeated. With instant access to the online induction training, they can privately revise the information at their leisure.

Cost effective:  While the words Bespoke eLearning Induction may make your accountant wince, eLearning training is surprisingly affordable. What’s more, as it eliminates traditional induction training expenditure such as training staff’s time and the cost of repeating information, it can significantly cut your overall induction training cost.

So, what’s stopping you?

Despite more and more organisations choosing to reap the rewards of eLearning as an induction tool, many organisations are still holding tight to their inefficient traditional training.

While for many, their reluctance may be driven by a fear of the unknown, it is likely the cost of implementation that’s holding a lot of companies back; While it’s all well and good seeing reports of savings other organisations have made through online inductions, such a significant change to your onboarding process will of course mean an upfront investment. And, like all investments, you will want to ensure you see a healthy return.

That’s why we’ve created our Induction Training Calculator. This clever calculator allows you to gain a strong understanding of the amount of money your company currently spends on your induction process. This figure can then be directly compared to the cost of investing in bespoke online training, allowing you to decide for yourself whether an eLearning induction and the benefits it can achieve is right for you and your company.

Just click the button below to calculate the current cost of your induction training, or get in touch to discuss online induction training for your organisation.