| Blog
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
MPS Interactive
  • Learning Solutions
    • Custom eLearning
    • Gamification and Serious Games
    • Learning Websites
    • Microlearning
    • Mobile Learning
    • Simulations
    • VR, AR, and Animation
  • Consulting Services
    • Learning Consulting
    • Managed Learning Services
    • Publishing Services
    • User Experience Design
  • Platforms
    • CyberTest
    • LMS
    • QuizBiz
    • TOPSIM®
  • Resources
    • Customer Testimonials
    • Press Releases
    • Whitepapers
    • Webinars
    • Higher Education
    • Flash Conversion Services
    • Blog
  • About Us
    • Company History
    • Awards
    • Our Certifications
    • Locations
  • Contact Us

Why Virtual Onboarding should be the New Normal

May 25, 2020MPS Interactive

Why Virtual Onboarding training should be the New Normal

Home > Blog >

The Pandemic has forever changed the way we think and function as a society. As most of us juggled our personal lives with a largely digital workplace, the need for empathy, good leadership, and communication has never been more pronounced.

This crisis has made us, as individuals and organizations to think, feel, and do things in a different way which we might not have considered otherwise. Businesses have been made to ensure that their workforce is equipped with all that they need, and it is business as usual.

For most organizations, onboarding, which has always been a critical function, turned into a serious challenge. Companies would need to transform the way their people were welcomed on board and trained virtually. And only a few organizations, that had adapted to the concept of the gig economy and remote teams, were prepared for the challenges posed by digital onboarding. For a majority of companies expecting new hires to join in shortly, the new onboarding format remained uncharted territory. This presented the eLearning industry with a unique opportunity and responsibility. We, as eLearning professionals, were called to rise to the occasion and come up with new approaches to facilitate onboarding training that would ensure the smooth transition of an employee into their daily tasks.

A good digital onboarding process is one that ensures that new hires are oriented and equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary in order to get work done. Human touch has always played a crucial role in onboarding and the traditional face-to-face approach is a large part of making an employee feel welcome in the organization. In general, onboarding training spans across days and might be conducted at a separate location or dedicated training center. Our industry expertise tells us that robust digitized solutions for onboarding will continue to remain relevant even beyond the Pandemic. It provides the organization and its new hires ample flexibility for undergoing onboarding training, especially in cases where new hires are suddenly called onto urgent projects and do not have time to go through the specialized training.

Here are a few challenges that could be posed by a traditional approach to onboarding:

  • There could be inconsistencies in the messaging given out by individual trainers
  • It can be time-consuming, stressful, and monotonous for both, the facilitator and the new hire
  • Too much within a short span of time turns to cognitive overload
  • Trying to assess the learner’s level of understanding can be a challenge
  • It’s almost entirely influenced by the individual’s involvement in the process
  • There is difficulty in tracking the employee’s progress

Some companies follow the blended approach, but a digital onboarding system is a way to go. The key learning strategies we could use are micro-learning, gamification, and video-based learning. These can be delivered through learning portals or LMS, and the digital onboarding system can be personalized to fit organizational roles and responsibilities. Simulations can be altered to drive a deeper understanding of organizational processes and functional roles; these can be ideal for delivering onboarding training even to people set to occupy higher-level positions. Social platforms can be leveraged to drive a community vibe through the use of welcome messages, introductions, interactions, queries, and sharing of ideas. For a lot of new hires, it might even be easier to start up an online conversation with ease, as opposed to a face-to-face conversation that might be intimidating for someone new to the organization.

Other innovative ideas you could incorporate into virtual onboarding programs:

  • A virtual tour of the office premises using 360-degree videos with hotspots to interact within specific areas
  • All the relevant and crucial information about the company and the projects can be conveyed through a game-based immersive approach
  • The learning journey can be broken down into nuggets, infographics, activities, and games
  • The whole experience can be customized by allowing the new hire to choose an avatar, upload their photo, and share a description of themselves.

The advantages of the digitized solution are:

  • Easily accessible through various devices/platforms at any time and at any place
  • Highly economical and cost-effective solution that is centralized and uniform
  • Helpful in evaluating the learner’s understanding
  • Quickly adaptable to changing business dynamics

As a managed learning services company, our digital solutions help make onboarding training a success. To know more about the onboarding training challenges we help solve, view our onboarding solution infographic.

– By Judy Gnanamuthu, Senior Manager – Instructional Design at MPS Interactive Systems

Top Trending

  • Reimagine How Business Lessons are Taught with VR
    October 4, 2021
  • 5 Ways Interactive Learning Solutions Can Engage Employees
    November 16, 2021
  • E Learning SolutionsDigitally Yours!
    May 27, 2020
  • hybrid learningWhy Hybrid Learning is the Future of Corporate Training
    April 1, 2021
  • Learning And Development ElearningCreating Effective and Interactive Sales Training Programs
    September 17, 2020
  • How Employee Onboarding Will Look in 2022
    November 23, 2021
  • onboarding from homeMind Over Matter: Keeping Learners Front and Center
    May 14, 2020
  • Virtual OnboardingDesigning Onboarding Programs for a Remote Workforce
    June 3, 2020
  • Learning and DevelopmentLearning and Development Challenge: Scale Versus Stickiness
    July 10, 2018
  • Game Based Learning CompaniesLearning and Development – Transformation and Evolution in Times of Disruption
    April 11, 2020
Learning Solutions
  • Custom eLearning
  • Gamification and Serious Games
  • Learning Websites
  • Micro Learning
  • Mobile Learning and Apps
  • Simulations
  • VR, AR, and Animation
Consulting Services
  • Learning Consulting
  • Managed Learning Services
  • Publishing Services
  • User Experience Design
Platforms
  • CyberTest
  • LMS
  • QuizBiz
  • TOPSIM®
Resources
  • Customer Testimonials
  • Press Releases
  • Whitepapers
  • Webinars
  • Higher Education
About Us
  • Company History
  • Awards
  • Our Certifications
  • Locations

© 2022, MPS Interactive Systems Limited - All rights reserved
Privacy Notice | Cookie Policy

This website uses cookies to enhance your digital experience. For additional details please visit Privacy Notice and Cookie Policy

Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. This information might be about you, your preferences or your device and is mostly used to make the website work as you expect it to and give you a more personalized web experience. We respect your right to privacy, so you can choose not to allow some types of cookies. Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can accept or refuse our use of cookies, by moving the selector switch in each category to change our default settings. However, blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer you.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.

Performance Cookies

These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.

Please enable Strictly Necessary Cookies first so that we can save your preferences!

Social Media Cookies

These cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

Please enable Strictly Necessary Cookies first so that we can save your preferences!

Registration cookies

There are several ways you may register with a MPS’ site, for example you may register our forms for requesting a demo, contact us, subscribe to a newsletter, or register for an event.

While you have registered one of our contact forms in our sites, we combine information from your registration cookies with analytics cookies, which we could use to identify which pages you have seen on our sites.

Request Demo Contact Us