DEVELOPING AN EFFECTIVE

EMPLOYEE ONBOARDING PROCESS

IN THE MODERN WORKPLACE

1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Six Reasons to Invest in Employee Onboarding in Your Organization 4
Dos and Don’ts When Planning Effective Employee Onboarding 6
5 Design Tips for an Interactive Onboarding Experience  7
The Impact of Employee Onboarding on the Corporate Training ROI 9
5 Ways to Evaluate and Optimize Your Onboarding Process 11
Budget Factors to Consider When Building Your Employee Onboarding Training 12
In-house vs. Outsourcing Employee Onboarding: What’s the Right Solution for Your Needs? 13
Conclusion 14

2
DEVELOPING AN EFFECTIVE EMPLOYEE ONBOARDING
PROCESS IN THE MODERN WORKPLACE

We hire new employees because they have a much- Employee onboarding 2 is an ever-evolving process
needed expertise in their field, but we still need new that doesn’t have a specific cut-and-dry formula.
hires to become experts in our company culture, Despite these challenges, one thing is clear: a careful
policies, and processes. As systems and processes design strategy is integral to getting new hires up to
continue to change, it’s becoming more difficult to speed and fostering knowledge and confidence in the
expect new hires to have the skills and knowledge modern workplace.
needed to navigate those processes. The Brandon Hall
Group found that strong onboarding not only improves This eBook explores the role of employee onboarding
retention by 82% but improves productivity by 70%. In
1
for the modern workforce, and best practices for
addition to these challenges, workforce demographics designing, developing, and deploying onboarding
are changing – and learning styles change accordingly. initiatives. You’ll learn about strategies, technologies,
The benefits of well-designed onboarding are obvious, and approaches you can use to develop effective
but what happens to our design strategy when employee onboarding programs that make a long-term
workplace technologies and processes quickly change? impact on employee performance.
Arguably, our onboarding practices must proactively
change to keep pace.

“Strong onboarding improves retention by 82% and improves

productivity by 70%.”
BRANDON HALL GROUP

3
SIX REASONS TO INVEST IN EMPLOYEE ONBOARDING IN YOUR
ORGANIZATION

The right kind of training can lead to success, so it’s important to embrace new onboarding and training techniques
from the very beginning to ensure employee engagement. Social learning and other techniques for employee
engagement can increase accessibility to information within a team. For example, a salesperson might send helpful
demo videos or a presentation to their team through their training content platform.

Here are six key benefits effective of onboarding for international study of food service employees also
employee engagement: found a significant relationship between providing
effective training and reducing turnover 4. Employees
1. Employee Satisfaction become happier and more productive rather than
Good training doesn’t result in employees shaking their looking for a new job as soon as they get the
heads and wondering what the point was. Before you professional development they need. Knowing how to
produce a new course, discover your learners’ needs. do your job is a great feeling. So, as job satisfaction
Designing your course around this kind of analysis improves and motivation increases, employees will feel
lets you focus on developing relevant skills without like staying.
unnecessary information. In turn, employees will see
improvements to their ability to work. They won’t see 3. Increased Performance
training as a timewaster, and they will walk away feeling Your employees want training tailored to the tasks
much more satisfied. they do 5 every day, not a generic, one-size-fits-all
course. If you want to see performance improve, then
2. Reduced Turnover your training design will have to target the knowledge
LinkedIn’s 2019 Workforce Learning Report 3 found base, motivations, skills, and competencies that are
that 94% of employees would stay at a company longer critical to individual positions. You can accomplish this
if the company invested in helping them learn. 2 An by building personalized learning paths, but effective

4
personalization has a few requirements:
• Training goals and objectives are role-specific
“94% of employees would stay at
• Content targets well-defined knowledge and a company longer if the company
performance gaps invested in helping them learn.”
• LMS/Learning portal technology enables complex
LINKEDIN
learner paths

their corporate peers. A report by Gallup found that

4. Increased Knowledge Retention
59% of Millennials assign the most importance 8 to
People lose around 90% of what they learn by the time
4
training when applying for jobs, compared to 44% for
they get back to work, and unfortunately many training
Gen X and 41% for baby boomers. So, whether or not
courses don’t take this into account. Developing
it’s intentional, training will become a key part of your
your employees’ skills isn’t a one-and-done activity.
company’s recruitment strategy.
Employees should repeat key parts of the training 6
at regular intervals to keep their knowledge sharp. By
6. Keeping Pace with Changing Technology
engaging learners during training, you can prevent
The recent growth of new technology-enabled
their new expertise from decaying. To help them
business processes is unprecedented, and companies
retain what they’ve learned, you need to make the
are adopting these new processes just as quickly
training relevant, review content regularly, and provide
as they are being created. A recent report by IDG
opportunities to apply their knowledge and critical
suggests that roughly 40% of all technology spending
thinking skills.
in 2019 was for digital transformation initiatives. What’s
more, the half-life of skills is decreasing. A report by
5. Acquiring Fresh Talent
the World Economic Forum suggests that 54% of all
This may come as a surprise, but when you focus on
employee will need significant reskilling 9 in the next
developing your employees’ skills and knowledge
three years. Chances are your employees are going to
base, word gets around. You’ll find people clamoring
need to be trained on some new tech-driven processes
for a position at your company. The potential for
soon. Maintaining a dynamic onboarding program will
professional growth 7 is key to finding and keeping
go a long way to prevent future performance gaps in
talented new personnel. Moreover, Millennials care
your workforce.
more about opportunities to learn and grow than

5
DOS AND DON’TS WHEN PLANNING EFFECTIVE EMPLOYEE
ONBOARDING

What To Do
Keep it simple
New employees are already overwhelmed with their new responsibilities, company culture, and expectations.
The last thing they want to do is navigate complicated operational systems and processes. According to statistics
provided by relocation management software developer, UrbanBound 10, companies lose an average of 25% of all

“54% of all employee will need significant

reskilling in the next three years”
WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM

new hires in the first year. Of those employees, 20% like quizzes, simulation, video, and gamification will
leave within the first 45 days of employment. So, how keep new hires excited and engaged in the onboarding
can we design an employee onboarding program to process. Essentially, the adoption of these new training
reduce the burden on new hires? One strategy is to technologies is a form of digital transformation within
use a phased approach to learning – what do your the learning and development industry. Companies
employees need to know at one day, one week, one are more frequently using technology to make the
month, or one year on the job? Making phased learning process of learning more effective. Kentucky Fried
goals can do wonders to simplify the employee Chicken’s Virtual Reality onboarding 12 experience is
onboarding experience, taking unneeded pressure of a great example. They designed a spooky onboarding
your new hires. experience using the latest in graphics and interactive
learning to create an immersive learning environment.
Make it modern
One way to practically guarantee failure is to hand Show your interest
the employee a pile of forms and manuals, start an Traditional onboarding has a company focus – it’s
orientation video in the break room, and then leave about introducing the employee to the company,
them to fend for themselves. When you return, you sharing the history, introducing executives, and urging
might find them fast asleep, surrounded by donut employees to commit to company values. While this
crumbs and incomplete worksheets. sort of indoctrination has been seen as a way to retain
employees, it can actually create tension 13. Instead,
A Harvard professor 11 found that adding something emphasize the individual strengths new hires can apply
as simple as a poll to learning activities can double to their job. Accepting the organizational culture may
learning gains and retention. Using eLearning tools not be as important as making the new hire feel valued.

6
Wipro, an international IT and consulting company, As for having clear objectives, map out what
capitalized on this notion in the socialization stage of employees should accomplish and understand as they
their employee onboarding program. New hires were go through the new-hire training.
led through critical thinking exercises that identified
items to help in their survival on a hypothetical island. Don’t forget who you’re training
Then those choices were used to reflect on their Employee onboarding has evolved and will continue
unique skills and how those skills would help them to grow as a result of changes in technology. Lengthy
in their roles at Wipro. New hires were also given formal introductions, training videos, and written tests
company swag with their respective names, rather than are being replaced with a more responsive, user driven
the company name, to reinforce their individuality. As experience. We see the need for onboarding programs
a result, new hires were as much as 32% less likely designed with the learner in mind, and our learners
to quit than those who had participated in company-
14
are agile and exploratory people. It only makes sense
focused onboarding. that our learning program design should reflect that.
By being as flexible as our learners, we foster better
What Not to Do comprehension and development.

Don’t forget objectives

Any successful program is armed with knowledge
5 DESIGN TIPS FOR AN
and behavioral objectives for both the employee and
employer, as well as a schedule for these objectives. INTERACTIVE ONBOARDING
Here are some common employee onboarding EXPERIENCE
objectives:
• Employees have a clear first impression of the We think of innovation as seismic shifts, because we
culture and work environment, including key still remember when email was created, when the
elements identified by program stakeholders iPhone hit the market, or Augmented Reality became
• Employees meet and understand the role of HR, a…well, reality. But it’s easy to forget that one of
direct managers, and key co-workers the most common innovations in a company is the
• Employees understand their job duties, policies, introduction of new employees to your workforce. It
and team dynamics happens weekly (if not daily) at most companies, but if
• Employees develop skills that are immediately put you’re not training them in a way that harnesses their
to use with relatable job tasks and practice excitement, then you’re missing a chance to innovate.
7
Companies are beginning to use innovations like gamification and immersive training in their onboarding
processes. However, a recent study by The Brandon Hall Group 15 found that nearly 50% of the companies
surveyed were using very few games in their overall learning content. We know the method works, so why aren’t
companies using them?

Let’s take a look at the onboarding gamification 16 AllenComm built with the LEGO 17. The previous training program
needed a redesign because technical requirements shifted from Adobe Flash to HTML5. Instead of continuing to
use outdated software, LEGO saw the redesign as an opportunity to embrace the newest technology. The result

became an award-winning training 18 success for their 2. Think Strategically About Empty Space
employees. The use of new tools made the training One common misconception when
easier on the employees and leadership alike, and it designing any instructional course is that
also created a more memorable experience. white space is wasted space. Designers
often feel that every section needs to have some piece
Here are five design tips that made a of relevant content—otherwise they’re not getting the
difference in LEGO’s transformation: most of their instructional real estate. The truth is that,
when used thoughtfully, white space can help guide the
1. Consider the Layout learner to the most relevant parts of the course. The
The presentation of information is the general rule is that each course section needs the right
biggest factor in an employee’s ability to balance. Too much white space, and the learner gets
comprehend and navigate through a given course. lost. Too little, and the learner is overwhelmed.
Before placing content within a course itself, take the
time to make a visual representation of each piece 3. Use Colors to Enhance the Learning
of information. Organizing content in a way that feels Experience
natural and fluid to your learners will help increase their People are highly visual when it comes to
ability to comprehend and retain information. learning. Though it’s not necessary for onboarding
programs to be as visually entertaining as a cat video
on YouTube, using a complementary color palette

8
to enhance your onboarding program is a subtle
way to hold the attention of your learners. There
are many ways that complementary and contrasting
color schemes can be used in a course, but the most
straightforward is to simply match a color to a concept.
When the color changes along with the concept, it acts as
a visual cue for the learner to refocus his or her attention.

4. Keep Icons Universal

Icons like next buttons, start and stop
buttons, and home page buttons should
maintain a design that is like those that
the learner has already encountered. This makes the
program easier for the learner to navigate and gives
the learner a sense of orientation—it will help them
realize where they’ve been, where they are, and where
they need to go next.

5. Manage Your Text

The most important thing to consider with
text management is overall readability, which
THE IMPACT OF EMPLOYEE
can be broken down into two components: font and ONBOARDING ON THE
organization. CORPORATE TRAINING ROI
Fonts are typically found in one of two camps: Serif When done right, employee onboarding is an incredibly
and sans serif. Sans serif fonts are preferred for online impactful process that can improve retention 19, shorten
reading, and serif fonts are preferred for reading in print. time to competency 20, and increase performance 21.
As employees become better equipped to excel
Once you’ve chosen a font that will be easy on the in their new role through engaging training and
learner’s eyes, it’s time to make sure it’s organized internalizing your training narrative, it will show in all
efficiently. If your onboarding program requires a lot their interactions, and not just those directly related to
of reading, breaking the text into concept-specific their job. They internalize your narrative and pass it on
sections or creating bulleted lists will make your through social modeling. And, while great corporate
content easier for learners to read. training is certainly much more than a Net Promotor
Score campaign, the word-of-mouth effect is a notable
bonus.

So, how can you redesign an employee onboarding

program to have greater impact? One way is to reframe

9
and expand upon our idea of onboarding. New hire onboarding should start earlier and continue later into the
employee experience. For example, our onboarding model describes a phased approach:
1. Preboarding – Forming Connections
2. Onboarding – Building Confidence
3. Continuous – Making Contributions

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION ADOPTION

ION E ION
CT NC UT
DE IB
NE

TR
FI

CON
CON

CON
PREBOARDING ONBOARDING CONTINUOUS LEARNING

CATCH THE VISION LEARN THE ROPES MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Instead of focusing solely on the initial training event, A 2019 study by The Brandon Hall Group found
start building professional and social connections that only 33% of L&D teams can measure all of their
as soon as an employee accepts their employment learning programs at Level 1, and only 3% measure
offer. Provide continuous support as employees at Level 4. This presents some startling challenges,
apply training to their new roles. Ultimately, speed to when the success of corporate training is grounded
competency, engagement, and employee performance more so in enjoyment than behavioral change. How
will improve as we provide more effective employee can we accurately measure ROI, and are the standard
integration and support. measurements truly informative?
However, learning and development teams often
struggle to accurately measure the effectiveness of Measurement is difficult, but it’s possible. So, what
their onboarding programs. The Kirkpatrick Model is that 3% doing differently? Measuring the impact of
describes four levels of measurement: corporate training is much more manageable when:
1. Participants react favorably to the training • Content management systems (i.e., Learning Portals
2. Participants acquire the intended knowledge, skills, or LMS) integrate with performance management
attitudes, confidence, and commitment based on and business intelligence platforms
their participation in the training • Knowledge base and behavioral outcomes are tied to
3. Participants apply what they learned during training well-establish Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
when they are back on the job • Time and resources dedicated to follow up training
4. Targeted outcomes occur as a result of the training with data analysis
event and subsequent reinforcement

10
 1. Plan for New Technology and Processes
We’ve seen an unprecedented growth in technology
adoption, and the corresponding business processes
are changing faster than most L&D groups’ training
production—and in some sad cases, new training
development takes so long that systems have been
deployed without preparing employees beforehand.
This creates an obvious problem: if employees aren’t

If you can manage to design your employee well-equipped to use their new business technology,

onboarding with those KPIs in mind, then you can begin then, employee behavior is likely noncompliant to new

to address some of these challenges and measure processes.

ROI. At the very least, it will be easier to measure

performance pre and post-training. Depending on the complexity of your training, a
quick review might suffice, or a thorough audit may
be required. Either way, your subject matter experts
5 WAYS TO EVALUATE AND should evaluate the training’s accuracy on a regular

OPTIMIZE YOUR ONBOARDING schedule. And, to future-proof your training, make sure

PROCESS
it’s easy to update in-house, or verify that your vendor
is responsive to ongoing maintenance requests.

Corporate training comes in a variety of flavors.

2. Follow up with Employees after Training
Systems training is essential for improving employee
If you have plenty of confidence in your training and
performance, sales training is key to boosting revenue
in your employees, then a comprehensive mock audit
to the next level; and in highly-regulated industries,
might be more trouble than it’s worth. But, for a low
compliance training 22 protects a company from the
investment in time and effort, brief quizzes on critical
existential threats posed by legal restrictions and
subject matter can indicate how well the program is
massive fines.
working.

Here are a couple ways to ensure your onboarding

Though quizzes can verify that the training is
process is making the biggest impact for your employees:
understood, that’s not nearly enough. Consider

“Only 33% of L&D teams can measure all of

their learning programs at Kirkpatrick Level
1 and only 3% measure at Level 4.”
BRANDON HALL GROUP

11
surveying employees to make sure their job duties are impact on training engagement. Relevance goes
aligned with the training content. Then, you can ensure beyond content and includes presentation of material,
employees are training on the regulations they need training methodology, and modalities.
rather than wasting time learning things they don’t
need to know.
BUDGET FACTORS TO
3. Personalize Training for Your
CONSIDER WHEN BUILDING
Multigenerational Audience YOUR EMPLOYEE ONBOARDING
Though the demographics of the modern workforce
TRAINING
is shifting to be predominantly Millennial, there are
currently four generations in the workplace. With this
There’s never enough money, is there? Would it help
age diversity comes differences in leadership styles
to know that you’re likely not the only one trying to
and learning styles. So, designing training that will
balance red and black? In 2016, half of U.S. companies’
resonate with each generation may prove difficult. But
training budgets remained the same as the previous
that is essentially the goal of personalization: to match
year’s, according to Training Magazine’s 2016 Training
training content, method, and modality to your learners.
Industry Report. Meanwhile, 37 percent of companies
said their budgets increased, and 13 percent reported
Research in education shows that personalized
a decrease 24.
learning significantly improves educational
outcomes 23.
The same report showed that training expenses have
essentially stayed flat. Last year, expenses were about
Consider taking audience data before making
$70.65 billion 25. Those figures include internal design
generalizations about your workforce.
and delivery costs, salaries for talent development staff,
• What devices do your employees use?
and spending on external products and services.
• How and when do they access training content?
So, how do you get that larger onboarding and training
• Which motivational factors are most impactful?
budget approved? Start by explaining the problem
• Which recreational platforms do they use most
and the solution in numbers. Present the percentage
frequently?
of employees lost in the past years and the costs to
replace those employees, compared to your target
Asking these kinds of questions can help determine
retention rate and the potential savings should you hit
user interface preferences, course length preferences
it; don’t forget to subtract the difference between your
and motivational factors – all of which will have an
current and proposed training budgets. Share some
research around the impact of onboarding on retention.
“Employees with a solid For example, a study by SHRM found employees with
onboarding experience are 69% a solid onboarding experience are 69% more likely

more likely to stay for at least to stay for at least three years 26. Then, give your
company’s executive team a recap of what’s in it for the
three years.” organization by reminding them of the benefits of training
SHRM – like employee satisfaction, reduced turnover, increased
performance, knowledge retention, and better talent. 12
By looking carefully at your company’s needs, you can revise your budget to create more effective training and
reap the rewards of happy and well-trained employees.

Percentage of Direct Expenditure for Learning Suppliers by Industry

40%

35%

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

5%

0%
Finance, Healthcare & Manufacturing Software, Information
Insurance, & Pharmaceutical Broadcasting, &
Real Estate Telecommunications

Percentage of Expenditure for Learning Suppliers

IN-HOUSE VS. OUTSOURCING Things to consider when deciding if you should hire a
learning supplier:
EMPLOYEE ONBOARDING: 1. Do you have the internal expertise required to
WHAT’S THE RIGHT SOLUTION make the training effective and innovative?

FOR YOUR NEEDS? 2. What are the desired outcomes of the effort for you,
the business unit, the company, or the audience?
3. Is the effort highly visible or is it helping support a
You’re busy managing employee training, and it’s up to
major change effort?
you to determine how to best create effective training.
4. Is there a tight timeline that needs to be met that
The 2019 ATD State of the Industry Report shows that
your current resources cannot accommodate?
an average of 26.61% of Direct Learning Expenditures
are used for hiring learning suppliers, but it varies by
industry.

13
CONCLUSION Design and Development
The training at your company needs to have an impact.
Our approach to building a learning experience starts
Creating engaging and impactful training for your
with a detailed performance mapping process to make
new hires is crucial for employee development and
sure our design precisely matches your business
employee retention. By investing in onboarding
objectives and fits your learners’ needs. This sets the
training that is innovative, up-to-date, and engaging,
tone for the entire project and results in an impactful
you’re investing in the future of your company. Making
training experience.
sure learners can apply new skills—exactly when and
where they need it—is an integral part of any business
Learning Technologies
transformation, and we’re happy to help guide you
Your company’s training needs to be innovative.
through that process.
Our focus on using the right technology for your
organization’s unique training needs means we will
How AllenComm Can Help:
explore the best methods to get the job done. Whether
Consulting and Analysis
we develop a training solution with gamification
Our training consultants utilize a variety of assessment
and AR/VR, or we combine motion graphics and
methodologies to ensure your training initiatives meet
microlearning in a blended learning solution, the result
your business objectives. The AllenComm Rapid Needs
will be innovative, engaging, and scalable.
Analysis helps you get to the bottom of your training
challenges quickly and effectively. Or we can work with
you through an Extensive Needs Analysis to determine VISIT WWW.ALLENCOMM.COM FOR
the best plan of action based on data we gather together. MORE INFORMATION.

14
ENDNOTES
1. https://b2b-assets.glassdoor.com/the-true-cost-of-a-bad-hire.pdf
2. https://www.allencomm.com/solutions/employee-onboarding/
3. https://learning.linkedin.com/resources/workplace-learning-report
4. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Anwar_Rasheed/publication/274137067_What_Is_the_Role_of_Training_and_Job_Satisfaction_on_Turnover_
Intentions/links/5516ade90cf2d70ee275a49f.pdf
5. http://resources.allencomm.com/personalization-portal
6. https://www.allencomm.com/blog/2015/09/fight-the-forgetting-curve/
7. http://www.forbes.com/sites/sungardas/2014/12/09/millennial-speak-how-to-attract-new-talent-to-your-company/#4d914d601cae
8. https://www.gallup.com/workplace/238073/millennials-work-live.aspx
9. https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-future-of-jobs-report-2018
10. http://www.urbanbound.com/blog/onboarding-infographic-statistics
11. http://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/14/11/benefit-interactive-learning
12. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAlD0h9vCEc
13. https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/reinventing-employee-onboarding/
14. http://static1.squarespace.com/static/55dcde36e4b0df55a96ab220/t/55e5f041e4b06f3c4b89a71b/1441132609616/Cable+Gino+Staats+ASQ+2013.pdf
15. https://resources.allencomm.com/hubfs/brandon%20hall%20gamification%20statistics.pdf
16. https://www.allencomm.com/training-technology-2/gamification/
17. https://www.allencomm.com/portfolio/lego-onboarding-training/
18. https://www.allencomm.com/about-allen-communication/award-winning-training/
19. https://resources.allencomm.com/hubfs/HCI%20Onboarding%20Outcomes.pdf
20. https://www.shrm.org/about/foundation/products/documents/onboarding%20epg-%20final.pdf
21. https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/talent-acquisition/pages/onboarding-key-retaining-engaging-talent.aspx
22. https://www.allencomm.com/solutions/risk-regulatory-compliance-training/
23. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR2042.html
24. https://trainingmag.com/sites/default/files/images/Training_Industry_Report_2016.pdf
25. https://trainingmag.com/sites/default/files/images/Training_Industry_Report_2016.pdf
26. https://www.shrm.org/foundation/ourwork/initiatives/resources-from-past-initiatives/Documents/Onboarding%20New%20Employees.pdf

15