New Hires Can Learn Quickly, If You Train Them Right

If you plan to boost your organization by onboarding extra manpower during this critical time, you’re not alone. 

Thousands of healthcare organizations are now focused on shoring up their frontlines as employees call out due to a myriad of reasons including: personal health, child care challenges, personal risk and quarantine. Nevertheless, frontline workers are desperately needed, this is not a time where we can afford to be short staffed. Clients are relying on healthcare organizations to provide services. 

Though it’s exciting to add new members to the team, the onboarding process can be a little cumbersome as new hires navigate their way through their new job and this unprecedented pandemic, especially now with most onboarding happening remotely. You want to ensure these new hires learn the industry and healthcare ropes quickly so they can feel like a valuable part of your organization as soon as possible.

Here are a few things you can do to help your new employees get up to speed with the rest of the company:

1. Assign a buddy.
The best way to help new employees learn the ropes fast and ensure smooth onboarding is to assign them training buddies. Identify current employees with specific skill sets and assign them to help train each new hire who needs to learn the related skills. 

Use one-on-one training rather than only self-paced or classroom training so a dialogue can take place. A new hire will feel more comfortable asking questions when training is more like a personal conversation.

2. Demonstrate your company culture.
This is crucial from the very beginning. If new employees don’t understand your company culture, they will have trouble making difficult decisions and handling situations without a set of black and white rules. 

Clearly communicate your company’s values and social norms. Tell stories of both successes and failures in a way that demonstrates why your employees do things the way they do. Implement an instant messaging system so new employees can ask questions and receive real time answers in tough situations.

3. Help them get socially integrated.
A new organization can be disorienting to new hires at first, but the best way to make them feel like a part of the team is to help them become socially integrated. You can implement learning strategies into training such as online communication, instant messaging and Q&A forums to facilitate communication between current employees and new ones.

4. Ensure resources are easy to access for reference later.
Use a learning platform, such as ours, to store important training and onboarding documents so new hires always have access to them when needed. A new hire can’t be expected to retain all training information the first time through, so having access to supplemental training documents and notes to reference will be essential to success.

5. Give them teamwide access.
Instead of only having one or a couple of people employees can go to with questions, why not enable them to ask the whole team? Not only will this likely help return an answer faster, but also new hires can get opinions and advice from employees who are subject experts. Use an online Q&A forum that notifies everyone when questions are posed and resolved.

6. Use technology.
Since we’re no longer in the stone age, we’ve got powerful tech tools that streamline communication and learning. All we need to do is use them in the workplace. 

Use tools like video chat and file sharing to help employees learn quickly. Give new employees access to a library of content from previous training sessions they can learn from. Platforms like Showd.me allow employees to request training or information in specific areas, if current content doesn’t suffice.

You’ll want to ensure your new employees settle into your company quickly so you can see the best return on your investment. Have the right tools in place and harness the collective knowledge of your existing team, and your new hires will reach full productivity in little time.

What are some methods you’ve used to get new employees up to speed and streamline onboarding? Share with us in the comments below!