Six reasons to take your onboarding digital

The way we work and do business in the global economy, together with the composition of the modern workforce, has rendered traditional onboarding obsolete. In this article, Louise looks at six big workplace developments driving demand for more innovative onboarding approaches.

Today’s highly competitive and rapidly evolving business environment has placed a greater onus on high quality onboarding. At Sponge, we believe it’s the foundation upon which organisations build the skilled workforces they need, setting people on their way to a productive career within a company.

However, getting onboarding right is no easy task at a time when a host of challenges are cutting across sectors, industries and borders. The good news is that today learning technologies have replaced the classroom to deliver workplace training that’s flexible, agile and immediately available – just what’s needed.Drawing on our 15 years’ expertise in digital learning, we’ve identified the top six challenges and suggest some tech-powered learning solutions that can overcome them.

1. Global consistency
Customers expect a consistent experience from a brand, irrespective of location. A digital preboarding or onboarding programme, combining human expertise and technology, can deliver consistent learning in key areas such as company culture and values, while also meeting localisation challenges. For example, Sponge worked with Specsavers to create its Global Online Induction Programme, providing new recruits in ten countries with a strong understanding of the company’s story and values. Rob Foster, Global Head of Learning Technologies at Specsavers, said: ‘This induction has achieved major benefits for the company. New employees are immediately engaged even before they start employment with us.’

2. Talent pressures
Employee experience (EX) has become the new focus for HR and L&D professionals, as companies battle it out to secure talent and meet employee expectations. With the ongoing skills shortage, an inspiring preboarding and onboarding experience can make all the difference in talent acquisition, retention and people development. Experiential onboarding that uses learning technologies such as games, simulations, immersive videos and virtual reality (VR) will help organisations to win the all-important recruitment battle. For example, Sponge delivered a VR solution for Royal Mail’s new and existing postal workers to raise awareness about dog attacks. We’ve also helped multiple organisations to ensure that their workforces are familiar with GDPR regulations through a learning game, GDPR Sorted.

3. Gig economy
The gig economy, comprising freelance and contract workers, has created a dynamic workforce ecosystem which calls for a complete rethink in training. Contingent workers are just as likely to be dealing directly with clients or customers and working on projects where performance is crucial, so they need onboarding too, as part of a dynamic, integrated workforce strategy. There’s another issue too – your culture. This can only be embedded if everyone has access to training. The answer is ‘anytime, anywhere’ digital learning that’s rapid, effective and accessible for both salaried and contract staff. Because it can be tailored to meet the needs of a diverse workforce, it ensures relevance as well as consistency.

4. Unprecedented CX demands
Customer experience (CX) is a key business differentiator, as highlighted in our five big business challenges for 2019. Your frontline staff are the public face of the business and their knowledge, efficiency and people skills are critical to customer loyalty. Sponge worked with Toyota to create a first-person interactive video for new starters, enabling them to step into customers’ shoes to better understand the value chain from beginning to end. And, at AXA Business Insurance’s UK contact centre, real life customers shared their experiences as part of a blended learning CX campaign.

5. Multi-generational workforces
With increasing life expectancies, organisations face training a workforce that spans several decades. This presents both a challenge and an opportunity. While a mix of experiences brings benefits, a multi-generational workforce does have implications for onboarding programmes; older generations are more familiar with the ‘push’ learning of classrooms than the ‘pull’ learning of digital favoured by younger workers. A blended learning approach that offers a range of methods ensures that there is something for everyone.

6. Deskless workers
Deskless workers are often frontline, customer-facing people doing work that’s critical for the business, particularly in sectors such as retail and logistics. At Sponge, we recommend adaptive microlearning that enables access to preboarding and onboarding learning on their mobiles or at elearning kiosks. The learning fits any location and work pattern and is personalised for every employee’s needs and working environment.

Conclusion
Businesses can’t afford to use the ‘same old, same old’ onboarding strategies; the bar must be set much higher. The key message for HR and L&D professionals is innovate or pay the price in talent and skills.