Induction: create effective eLearning courses to induct new employees in 5 steps

The new employee induction eLearning courses are very important for companies, since they are an effective and quick way to train new employees on all aspects of an organisation and, moreover, can be extended to the entire workforce, both senior and junior. Their effectiveness is also due to the ability to reach people with different learning styles, thanks to a wide range of multimedia languages, such as cartoons, audio-video tutorials, fiction, PDF and others that you can use. Apart from the contents of the courses and the specific company aspect you wish to train people on, there are 5 fundamental STEPS to follow when creating onboarding training courses.

1. REUSE. It is important to check what has already been developed by the company, so that it will not be lost and will instead become a collective asset. If there is paper material, it is useful to turn it into multimedia material so that it is possible to continue use it.
2. TRACKING. It is important to decide whether you wish to make courses mandatory in relation all the topics or only security rules and procedures. In addition, it is possible to differentiate the prerequisites, deciding to make programmes freely usable by the senior employees.
3. CERTIFICATION. including a certificate for those who complete a programme allows not only monitoring the completion status at the corporate level, but also to motivate employees to finish the courses.
4. INVOLVEMENT. Making training courses varied and engaging stimulates employees to get involved, while improving learning. It doesn’t have to be something complicated: just a quiz or simple games to lighten up the courses and make even the most challenging topics entertaining.
5. DETAIL. It is vital to remember that the purpose of the induction courses, as well as training new employees on certain aspects of an organisation, is to facilitate their orientation and insertion. Therefore, it is important to carefully develop an overview, in order to be consistent in relation to your objective.

Why, then, should induction courses be held? Certainly because they train employees on the company’s activities, but that’s not all: they create belonging, motivate and give practical guidance to those who are getting involved in the organisation’s activities for the first time, as well as those who are already involved. This topic was addressed in posterLab n. 11: “eLearning for the induction of newly recruited staff” Valeria Scarlato