New Employee Training Importance Process And Issues That Arise

New employee training is the detailed process of guiding, educating, and instructing new hires. It helps equip new and become an asset to the company. Achieving recruiters' targeted training goals requires designing a practical training module that effectively facilitates employee onboarding. 

Moreover, training new hires is crucial to boosting employee retention rates and ensuring compliance with organizational demands. A survey by Wyndhurst Group – a consulting company, showed that new employees are 58% more inclined to stay with a business for at least three years when the business has an effective onboarding and new employee training program. 

This also suggests that high employee retention means a firm doesn't have to invest resources in hiring new employees frequently.

Are you embarking on a journey of training new hires for the first time and need practical advice? If so, keep reading the following article and find the best software to help you achieve your goal.

What Is New Employee Training?

What Is New Employee Training

Employee onboarding and training are two distinct yet crucial aspects of the recruitment process, as one ensures the successful joining of new hires, and the other promises their development and progress. They can be further distinguished as follows: 

Onboarding 

Onboarding is the preliminary process of introducing a new hire to the organization and its values, culture, and objectives. It builds the framework for the employee's progress within the firm. The new employee training examples include administrative duties, completing necessary paperwork, and setting up payroll information. Additionally, during the onboarding phase, recruiters and managers introduce new employees to the people they will be working with, as well as management and organizational objectives, helping them get accustomed to their new roles more easily. 

Employee Training 

Contrary to onboarding, the employee training process is more job-oriented and continues for more extended periods throughout the employee's tenure at a workplace. This process involves inculcating useful, relevant skills in new employees that help them excel at their jobs. These skills include soft skills, such as team building and coordination, and technical skills, including data analysis and project management.

Importance Of Training New Employees

Importance Of Training New Employees

The significance of training new hires cannot be denied, as many studies have underscored its value. For instance, a recent survey by Indeed.com showed that around 39% of new employees who quit their jobs within the first six months believed that effective onboarding and employee training programs would have been helpful and might have encouraged them to stay. This highlights the benefit of training new employees and how it helps them get accustomed to their new roles and duties, which they can execute efficiently. 

Well-trained employees are more likely to stay with the company, reducing turnover and fostering loyalty. Various types of employee training ensure consistent performance, make employees more adaptable to changes, and minimize the need for constant supervision. Also, it promotes team collaboration and ensures safety and compliance, all contributing to the success and stability of the organization.

How To Train New Employees

How To Train New Employees

Different organizations have different strategies when it comes to training new employees. Some adopt the cooperative learning approach, while others develop a detailed new-hire training program. The latter, however, is considered more fruitful as it eases the candidates into the latest workplace while helping them attain the requisite knowledge and skills to excel at their jobs. It is also advantageous for increasing employee retention rate, happiness, and engagement.

Lay Out The Learning Objectives 

One of the most ideal approaches for training new hires is to identify your organization's core objectives and lay out a detailed plan. The primary goal is to align new employees with the company's goals and values. This strategy helps employees study the job they are assigned to perform and how to execute it efficiently. First and foremost, outline the organizational goals, including the client expectations, revenue targets, and role-specific responsibilities, and then build your training plan around these objectives. 

Map Out A Comprehensive Onboarding Plan 

Another way to help new employees get accustomed to their duties is to incorporate the requisite skills and responsibilities into an onboarding plan. Creating a checklist of training programs and tasks that supplement the new hire's role helps track their learning progress and adaptation to the new work environment. 

Delegating a mentor or a senior employee to walk new hires through the entire training process and provide crucial support is another way to ensure the effectiveness of the onboarding and training process. Regular feedback discussions are also helpful in maintaining the quality of learning. 

Strategize Everything 

To execute new employee training flawlessly, it is essential to map out the entire process in detail in advance to eliminate any ambiguity. On the first day, introduce them to the company policies, culture, work ethics, job responsibilities, and expectations.

Design a comprehensive training plan outlining the first week's core skills and duties. Senior employees should also be instructed to help new hires adjust to the new workplace environment. Schedule regular feedback sessions to encourage further growth and development. 

Adopt The SMART Objective Strategy 

The primary purpose of a training program is to ensure that the new employees can learn the skills they need to perform their required jobs. The core target should be to train employees for 'today,' as the skills that are not an immediate requirement can also be taught in the future.

Furthermore, recruiters should ensure their employee training and onboarding programs comply with the SMART objectives model. Review the topics once you have finalized the list to ensure no extra learning content burdens the new hires. This approach helps employees retain information effectively. 

The SMART objective approach is given below:
  • Specific: The learning content should be precise and non-ambiguous so the learners can comprehend it easily
  • Measurable: The employees' learning progress must be traced and assessed to ensure whether they are fulfilling the learning criteria
  • Achievable: The training goals must be achievable for the new hires so they can quickly succeed
  • Relevant: The targeted learning content must be relevant to the assigned duties and responsibilities of the new employees
  • Time-Bound: Since the training is for a limited time slot, it should be assessed whether the employees can meet their targets and adhere to the guidelines

Issues To Avoid In New Employee Training Programs

Issues To Avoid In New Employee Training Programs
Training new employees can be overwhelming, particularly for start-ups and organizations venturing into new hiring programs. Some of the common problems firms should watch out for while training new employees can be summarized as follows:
  • overload: New employees can get overwhelmed by the flux of new information, at least for the first few weeks. Recruiters can help them ease into the learning process by spreading the training over the course of a few weeks or three months
  • Favoritism: Often caused by nepotism or other relevant factors, should be discouraged as new employees can feel alienated, which can reflect negatively on their performance
  • Overlooking Soft Skills: Failing to include training regarding soft skills like teamwork and communication can be a missed opportunity, as these are essential for overall job performance.
  • Failure to Use Technology: Firms should leverage modern training tools and technology (some options have been mentioned above) to enhance the training experience and make it more efficient.

Regardless of the size and type of industry or sector your firm belongs to, facilitating new hires is mandatory. To address this challenge, different tips for training new employees can be personalized to varying company requirements. The primary purpose of such training and onboarding programs is to enable new employees to better understand their duties and company policies. Encourage smooth communication with recruits and do not dismiss them for their lack of experience so that they can grow in their professional careers and become valuable additions to the teams they work with.

Various learning management software are also available that are designed specifically to facilitate new employee training. Examples include:

Contact us at (661) 384-7070, and let us help you choose the right platform for training your recruits.