THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO

ONBOARDING PROGRAMS
All You Need to Know About Onboarding
 1. Problem 03
2. Solution: Creating an Effective Onboarding Program 04
3. Common Onboarding Challenges 05-08
4. Designing Tips 09-10
5. Onboarding Tools 11
6. Goals 12
7. Measurement 13
8. Conclusion 14

CONTENTS
PROBLEM
Most organizations are not onboarding well. Recent studies have shown that nearly
“90% of employees think their organization onboard poorly.” It was also found that
about “50% of companies reported that their onboarding process is focused solely on
paperwork.”

Why does this matter?

Your onboarding process is how you help new hires transition into productive members of
your organization and it directly impacts your bottom line.

Effective onboarding programs:

Improve retention rates by as much as 80%

Increase productivity up to 70%

Reach full proficiency 34% faster

03
SOLUTION: CREATING AN EFFECTIVE ONBOARDING PROGRAM
In this e-book we will share with you all you need to know to get the most out of your onboardings process:

Common Onboarding Challenges

What kinds of obstacles today’s L&D managers face with onboarding new employees

Design Tips
6 easy things you can do to eliminate challenges when designing your onboarding program

Onboarding tools
The kinds of tools available to L&D professionals that help streamline the onboarding process

Setting Goals
5 tips on setting effective KPI’s and goals

Measuring Effectiveness
How to measure your onboarding program and identify areas for improvement

04
COMMON ONBOARDING CHALLENGES
The first step to creating a successful onboarding program is to get a deeper understanding of the obstacles that may be having a negative impact on your current
onboarding process. The way employees learn, and work is shifting, creating a new set of onboarding challenges for L&D professionals. Listed below are the top 4
challenges and how they are impacting most organizations.

Retaining New Talent

Retaining New Talent
“About 20% of new employees quit within the first 2 months.”
This means organizations are losing nearly a quarter of their employees before they even have time
Increasing Engagement
to become proficient in their roles. Retention rates have been rising because of 2 major employment
trends.

Onboarding distributed teams As technology has been advancing new industries and jobs are being developed all the time making
the job market more competitive for employers. New tech has also made it easier and faster to look
for new jobs. Anyone with a smartphone can look up and apply for a job in minutes.
There has also been a shift in employee needs and expectations as millennials become the largest
Finding time for training
group of employed adults. They are more open to alternative income sources and don’t mind
job-hopping as much as older generations.

These 2 shifts have made improving retention rates one of the most popular onboarding goals.

05
COMMON ONBOARDING CHALLENGES
The first step to creating a successful onboarding program is to get a deeper understanding of the obstacles that may be having a negative impact on your current
onboarding process. The way employees learn, and work is shifting, creating a new set of onboarding challenges for L&D professionals. Listed below are the top 4
challenges and how they are impacting most organizations.

Retaining New Talent

Increasing Engagement
Keeping new employees engaged is one of the top challenges for today’s L&D managers. Traditional
training programs and styles are no longer holding the attention of new employees.
Increasing Engagement
Engagement is also closely tied to retention rates because engaged employees are more likely to
stay with the same company for a year or more. Engaged employees are also more productive and
Onboarding distributed teams take less time off.

Finding time for training

06
COMMON ONBOARDING CHALLENGES
The first step to creating a successful onboarding program is to get a deeper understanding of the obstacles that may be having a negative impact on your current
onboarding process. The way employees learn, and work is shifting, creating a new set of onboarding challenges for L&D professionals. Listed below are the top 4
challenges and how they are impacting most organizations.

Retaining New Talent

Onboarding distributed teams
Distributed teams are becoming more and more popular which means there has also been an
increase in the need to develop onboarding programs that can meet their needs. Forbes recently
Increasing Engagement
reported that 50% of the US workforce will soon be working remotely.

Onboarding programs that rely heavily on instructor-led and hands-on training do not support these
Onboarding distributed teams workers. In other words, half of your employees won’t be properly onboarded if you seek out other
methods and tools for training.

Finding time for training

07
COMMON ONBOARDING CHALLENGES
The first step to creating a successful onboarding program is to get a deeper understanding of the obstacles that may be having a negative impact on your current
onboarding process. The way employees learn, and work is shifting, creating a new set of onboarding challenges for L&D professionals. Listed below are the top 4
challenges and how they are impacting most organizations.

Retaining New Talent

Finding time for training
“Employees are only able to dedicate about 1% of their working hours to training and professional
development.”
Increasing Engagement
Although new hires usually get a little more time to learn about their job in the first week this still
doesn’t leave a lot of time for them to get up to speed so they can reach full proficiency.
Onboarding distributed teams
This means that every second counts when it comes to training and L&D professionals have to find
solutions and tools to work around time constraints.

Finding time for training

08
DESIGNING TIPS
Using these 6 tips when designing your onboarding program will help you address onboarding challenges and improve your program’s effectiveness.

1 2 3

Getting a start with pre-boarding Lengthen your onboarding process Using a checklist
Pre-boarding is when you take some of the New hires who experience longer onboarding Onboarding checklists show a detailed list of what
onboarding activities and start them before the programs become proficient 30% faster than those tasks and check-ins need to be completed. Having a
employees first day. who don’t. The most successful programs last an checklist keeps everyone on the same page and lets
Some common preboarding activities are entire year and have frequent check-ins to ensure new hires know what to expect. Supervisors can
Sending welcome/introduction emails new employees stay on track. track the progress of their employees easily to see if
Providing items like employee handbook and they are completing the necessary tasks.
company swag
Emailing an onboarding checklist so employees
know what to expect

09
DESIGNING TIPS

4 5 6

Plan for social media integration Schedule regular check-ins Blended learning
70% of employees say that having friends at work is More than half of new employees want more direct Onboarding checklists show a detailed list of what
one of the most important factors of a happy work one-on-one time with their direct supervisor. Having tasks and check-ins need to be completed. Having a
life. More than half of employees say they would turn regular check-ins with a manager or mentor gives checklist keeps everyone on the same page and lets
down a job if they didn’t get along with their employees time to ask questions and gives new hires know what to expect. Supervisors can
co-workers. This is why it is important to plan social managers a chance to make sure employees are on track the progress of their employees easily to see if
integration activities into your onboarding program. track. This is why the best onboarding programs they are completing the necessary tasks.
Programs that use buddy or mentor programs tend schedule have regular check-ins spaced throughout
to be the most successful. the entire process.

10
ONBOARDING TOOLS
Using the right tools will help you streamline the onboarding process. Below are 4 types of onboarding tools you can use.

Chatbots Checklists Integrated tools Specialized tools

HR chatbots are automated systems Checklists improve the onboarding Integrated tools are the all-purpose These tools also aim to be all in one
that communicate by using text in a process by providing clear guidelines tool for HR managers. They help tools, but specifically for onboarding.
chat-like format. Chatbots can be used for both the employee and employer to manage everything HR-related from They offer features such as quiz
to assist new hires in training, filling follow ensuring that it is implemented training to benefits all in one place. builders, communication tools and
out paperwork and by answering any consistently. This helps alleviates new They offer tools specific to onboarding digitization of paperwork. Keeping
questions they may have almost hire stress by letting them know like checklists and digitization of everything related to onboarding
instantly. Chatbots are a resource new exactly how the onboarding process paperwork, but they also go a step makes is quick and easy to use
hires can use 24/7. The use of HR works, the tasks they need to complete further by assisting in other tasks such improving speed and efficiency.
chatbots has been proven to increase and what benchmarks they will be as payroll and performance
the speed of time to competency. expected to meet. Checklists also evaluations. Integrated tools
make it easier for managers to track streamline the onboarding process
the progress of new employees. and improve efficiency.

11
GOALS
Helping your new hires set the right kinds of goals and KPI’s will help you set clear expectations and show employees how their work is valuable to the
organization.

All KPIs and goals should support the organizations larger goals
Individual employees’ goals look very different depending on a number of factors, but they should all support the organizations larger goals
in one way or another.

Set SMART goals

Setting goals that encourage you to think about time and measurement will help you quickly determine and set the right KPIs.

Using LMS insights

Training managers can use insights from their LMS to help employees set more effective goals and KPIs.

Take an inclusive approach

When employees are involved in the creation of their KPIs and goals they are more motivated to achieve them.

Use both hard and soft metrics

Both hard and soft metrics are both important and measurable.

12
MEASUREMENT
Measuring the effectiveness of your onboarding program will show you what you are
doing well and more importantly any areas that you need to improve.

There are two types of data you will need to collect to gain a better understanding of how
well your onboarding program is working. The first is quantitative and the second is
qualitative.

Quantitative data is numeric information that can easily be tracked and measured. This
information will show you changes in retention rates, productivity and number of trainings
completed. This will give you insights as to what is working and what is not.

Qualitative data is information that can be observed rather than counted. This information
can be gathered by conducting interviews and surveys. Asking employees about their
thoughts and feelings about their onboarding experience will help you better understand
the why behind the numbers.

Together this information can give you a full picture of how effective your onboarding
program is currently and what if any areas need to be improved.

13
CONCLUSION ABOUT INFOPRO LEARNING
Creating an effective onboarding program will help your transform new Infopro Learning, a leading provider in corporate training and human
hires into productive members of your organization. capital transformation, helps organizations create an exceptional
employee and customer experience through custom training solutions.
Key points For more than 25 years, the company has designed and implemented
Longer onboarding programs that focus on getting started as soon as engaging learning experiences that attract, develop and retain talent
possible, planning activities that promote social integration, using the across the entire employee lifecycle. With offices around the world, Infopro
correct tools and train with a blended approach tend to be the most Learning’s technology platforms and governance models support
successful. organizations to improve business performance, at a reduced cost.

Using the right tools will help you streamline your onboarding process
and eliminate onboarding frustrations.
ABOUT AUTHOR
Arun Prakash is a seasoned learning specialist with more than 25 years of
Measuring the effectiveness of your onboarding program will help you
experience, and an expert in envisaging and implementing out-of-the-box
determine what is working and what needs improvement.
training solutions, collaborative learning networks, and knowledge
management systems. He is responsible for understanding the business
goals of clients, and subsequently aligning the goals with measurable
learning outcomes and learning solutions.

Infopro
Learning

103 Morgan Lane, Suite 102, Plainsboro, NJ 08536

info@infoprolearning.com
www.infoprolearning.com

Infopro Learning
609-606-9984