The fast-moving business environment of today means that it's crucial that new hires are up to speed and working productively as soon as possible. This is especially true for large or rapidly growing companies that take on a number of new employees on a regular basis, as there is important ROI for anything that cuts down the process of getting on board. However, many companies fail to achieve this goal with their orientation programs, as often, the necessary information is presented in a long, drawn-out slide that uses a lot of text and serves only to increase the boredom of the new recruits. In order to overcome this challenge, human resources need to come up with a better method of communication.
Engaging
It is important that new hires are engaged by the information that they are being given. Boring and text-heavy slides simply won't cut it, and HR departments must work on orientation programs that are interesting and inspire the audience to want to know more. Often, the best approach for this is in the form of visual presentations with minimal text, which are more compelling and appealing to their viewers.
Holistic
In order for your audience to better understand the material that they are being presented with, it is crucial that the dots are connected. Creating a comprehensive overview or map which clarifies the interrelationship of all relevant HR material is an effective way in which to do this.
Collaborative
Information provided by HR is most usually an aggregation of different material from a variety of sources. Therefore, HR professionals must collaborate with their partners and colleagues within the company in order to best pull this information together and make it easier for new hires to take in and understand. Since HR collaboration often involves getting in touch with other employees from different areas of the country or even the globe, an effective way in which to do this is through the use of HR cloud computing solutions such as XCD HR.
Contextual and Cross Platform
New employees should be given the ability to find the information that they need as and when they need it. Achieve this by creating a fully accessible repository on your intranet or by setting up a document sharing service such as DropBox or Google Drive which new hires can access, with each file clearly labelled in order for them to easily locate and view what they are looking for.
Maintainable
Since HR information is constantly subject to change, it is critical that the communication media used to present information to new employees is easily and cost-effectively maintainable. This can be achieved by finding the right platform which allows information to be easily updated on an ongoing basis by the owner, whilst still leaving important files and documents accessible to those who need them.
How does your HR department ensure that new hires are up to speed as quickly as possible? What would you change about the way information was presented to you as a new recruit in the past? We'd love to hear from you in the comments.
