When a person begins a new job, the onboarding process is one of the first things they experience as a new employee. What is onboarding? It is how new employees acquire the necessary knowledge, skills, and behaviors to become effective organizational members and insiders.
The actual onboarding process varies from company to company. However, onboarding an employee generally involves explaining what your business is about and preparing the new hire for their specific role. Onboarding typically includes what day-to-day experience the employee can expect, but it can also be much more in-depth.
With the ongoing global shift to remote and hybrid working conditions, many companies have started utilizing video for some (or all) of their onboarding process. As you learn more about what is onboarding, you’ll also likely discover why video is the ideal medium to aid in the process.
What Is Onboarding and Is It Really Necessary?
Onboarding can be an involved process, so many companies tend to overlook it. But when you don't dedicate proper resources to onboarding, you are doing your company and your new hires a disservice. Onboarding is essential to building a strong, productive team for the company’s betterment. According to research by the Society for Human Resource Management, nearly 70% of new hires stay at a business longer than one year if they have a great onboarding experience.
If you want to provide the best onboarding experience possible, the following tips can ensure you make a good impression on your new hires and teach them everything they need to know to find success and satisfaction at your company. You can then continue to utilize video to foster a culture of continual learning and develop more high-performing teams.
Start Before They Begin
Now that you’ve addressed what is onboarding, the next question is when to start the process. Most employees spend up to the first week at a new job in the onboarding process. Ideally, however, you want to give them the option to complete their onboarding tasks in the days leading up to their first day of work.
There is usually some lag time between when an employee accepts the job offer and when they start. Take advantage of this time to communicate more about your company culture and the team they will be joining. For example, if you use Viostream for video onboarding, you can send them a secure link to a welcome video that explains more about the company culture and structure, and where they fit into it. Covering this information before their start date will maximize the amount of time your new employee will be able to work once they arrive at the office.
And if, for any reason, the new employee quits before they begin, you don't have to worry--Viostream's advanced security settings ensure your proprietary information will not go with them.
Assign an Onboarding Partner
Remember when you went to a new elementary school, and the school provided you with a “buddy” or partner to help you get acquainted? You should do the same thing for new team members during your company’s onboarding process. Pair any new hire with an onboarding partner — someone who performs a similar function, knows the ins and outs of the daily routine, and can provide guidance and support on a peer level. They can also be a social liaison for the hire, connecting them to other people at the company and helping them build a new network of friends and colleagues. This way, if the new employee asks what is onboarding, their onboarding partner will be available to assist.
Provide a Mentor
In addition to providing an onboarding partner to all new hires, consider providing a mentor as well. Typically, a good mentor is a more senior employee who has either held the new hire’s position previously or is otherwise familiar with the needs of the role. This person can answer any questions a new hire might have regarding what is onboarding, and they can also provide valuable wisdom from someone who has advanced further than a peer. A mentor can also serve as an ally in the more senior level of the company, so hires don’t feel intimidated by those at the “boss” level.
Utilize Self-Paced E-Learning
Rather than use another employee to teach lessons for onboarding, consider doing it all digitally and letting the new hire learn what they need to at their own pace. You can even start with a video entitled “What is Onboarding?” so that the new employee understands that they will be receiving future video content to learn from.
Utilizing videos and online courses saves everyone time and lessens the pressures on a new employee, which can help them avoid feeling overwhelmed in their first days. Allowing them to complete training at their own pace ensures that they can learn at a speed that allows for retention and true learning. Plus, they can always go back and revisit something they didn’t understand if they missed it the first time.
Take Advantage of Video
Incorporate video into your training modules to further make your onboarding experience as effective and manageable as possible. Videos can help you make introductions that feel personalized, teach lessons without having to continuously hold live courses, and even live stream events to a remote employee or workforce. By using videos in your onboarding, you can ensure you still have the personalized touch that makes your hire feel cared for, without having to step away from your work every time someone new is brought onto the team.
Developing your video training program can be further facilitated by a business-oriented video management platform like Viostream. To see how, start your 14-day free trial now.
Give Feedback
When asking yourself what is onboarding, you should also realize that the answer is to ensure that the employees don’t go through the process alone. Be sure to speak to them and gauge how they’re doing throughout the process, whether via regular check-ins, testing, or direct supervision. If an employee is doing exceptionally well at something, let them know to boost their confidence and help them find their interests and passions at work. If they’re struggling, offer support and guidance so they can improve and get better. Onboarding should be a long and engaged process where new employees learn the ropes at their new workplace, and their supervisors and managers ensure they are welcomed into the company smoothly and effectively.
How Viostream Can Help in Your Onboarding Process
When it comes to onboarding employees, there are many steps you should take to ensure that everyone feels like part of the team. One of the most effective ways to improve the onboarding process is through video, an essential tool for communicating within any organization.
If you want to utilize video as part of your onboarding process, Viostream can help. Viostream is a complete online video solution that allows you to share video easily, live stream events, and provide customized, branded content to help ensure new employees are adequately educated. To see for yourself how Viostream can support and strengthen your onboarding process, start your free trial and try Viostream free for 14 days.
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