An induction process, or onboarding, is the introduction of new employees to the company, its culture, and their specific roles. This blog will help you identify ways to improve your induction process, ensuring that new hires feel welcomed, informed, and ready to contribute from minute one of day one.
Here our founder and former Group HR Director, Jovan Maric, explains why induction is so important and how video inductions can revolutionise your onboarding process.
Why is an Induction Process Important?
Benefits of an Induction Process
A well-structured induction process offers numerous benefits:
- Culture Integration: Helps new employees understand the company’s values, mission, and culture, fostering a sense of belonging.
- Professionalism: Sets a professional tone, demonstrating that the company is organised and values its employees.
- Employee Value: Makes new hires feel valued and welcomed, improving morale and engagement.
- Safety and Compliance: Ensures that new employees are aware of health and safety protocols, which is crucial for their well-being and legal compliance.
- Key Business Knowledge: Provides essential information about the business, its goals, and key people within the organisation, aiding in smoother integration.
- Role Clarity: Helps new employees understand their roles, responsibilities, and expectations clearly, reducing confusion and increasing productivity.
- Networking: Introduces new hires to their colleagues and key personnel, facilitating relationship-building and teamwork.
Consequences of a Poor or No Induction Process
Failing to provide a proper induction process can lead to several negative outcomes:
- Increased Turnover: New employees who feel unsupported or unprepared are more likely to leave the company.
- Lower Productivity: Without clear guidance and information, new hires may struggle to perform effectively.
- Safety Risks: Lack of proper health and safety training can lead to accidents and legal issues.
- Poor Engagement: Employees who do not feel valued or integrated into the company culture are less likely to be engaged and motivated.
What are the statistics to back this up?
- High Early Attrition Rates: According to Personio, the early attrition rate (employees leaving within their first six months) can be as high as 25% when induction processes are inadequate. This rate significantly impacts organisational stability and incurs high recruitment and training costs? (Personio)?.
- Lack of Training and Development: A study highlighted by WorldMetrics reveals that 40% of employees who leave within the first year cite a lack of skills training and development as the principal reason for moving on. This underlines the importance of a thorough induction process that includes comprehensive training and development opportunities? (WorldMetrics)?.
- Impact of Poor Onboarding: Korn Ferry reports that attrition rates can be around 20% higher than pre-pandemic levels, with many employees leaving within the first six months due to unclear job expectations, tasks not meeting their expectations, lack of friendly coworkers, and insufficient attention from managers. Improving onboarding processes can address these issues effectively? (Korn Ferry | Organizational Consulting)?.
- Organisational Costs: Formplus notes that high turnover rates, often exacerbated by poor onboarding, lead to increased training expenses and loss of productivity. The cost of replacing an employee can range from 33% of their salary for less skilled positions to up to 213% for highly educated executive positions? (Form Builder)?.
What are the Challenges with Induction?
Delivering an effective induction process can be challenging due to various factors:
- Availability of HR Personnel: Ensuring that HR staff are available to conduct inductions can be difficult, especially in busy periods.
- Travel Costs: Bringing new hires to a central location can incur significant time and monetary costs.
- Consistency Issues: Different HR personnel delivering the induction can lead to varying quality and content.
- Engagement Levels: Traditional methods, such as PowerPoint presentations, can be dull and fail to engage new employees.
- Scheduling Conflicts: Induction may not always be possible on the employee’s first day, causing delays in their integration.
- Access to Key People: New hires may not have the opportunity to meet important team members immediately.
- Health and Safety Compliance: Ensuring health and safety training is delivered by competent personnel can be challenging.
Additional challenges include adapting the induction process to suit remote or hybrid workers and ensuring all new hires receive the same information and experience.
Induction videos can include some Health & Safety content, but is always best when separate videos for specific training are created with this video explaining why
How a Video Induction Can Improve Your Process
While a video induction cannot replace the in-person experience entirely, it can significantly enhance the onboarding process. Here are the main benefits:
- Consistency: Every new hire receives the same information, ensuring a uniform onboarding experience.
- Quality: Professionally produced videos maintain high standards of delivery.
- On-Demand Access: Videos can be accessed at any time, making them ideal for remote or hybrid workers and ensuring no delay in the induction process.
- Engagement: High-quality videos with engaging presenters and graphics can captivate new hires more effectively than traditional methods.
- Adaptability: Videos can be updated to reflect changes in company policy or structure.
- Professionalism: A polished video induction presents the company as organised and forward-thinking.
- Increased Productivity: Enthused and well-informed employees are more productive from the start.
- Proof of Instruction: Video inductions can serve as proof that certain training, such as health and safety, have been completed, which is crucial in case of litigation.
- Reduced Attrition: A positive and thorough induction process helps in retaining employees.
Additional Benefits of Video Induction
- Flexibility: New hires can watch the induction videos at their own pace, ensuring they understand all the content.
- Cost Efficiency: Reduces the need for repeated in-person sessions, saving on travel, accommodation, and staff time.
- Environmental Impact: Minimises the carbon footprint associated with travel for induction sessions.
What is the ROI on Induction Videos?
The return on investment (ROI) for induction videos can be substantial:
- Travel Cost Savings: Reduces expenses for hybrid workers and those at multiple sites, as well as the cost of HR personnel travelling for inductions.
- Environmental Savings: Lower carbon emissions due to reduced travel.
- Productivity Boost: A well-structured induction ensures new hires are productive sooner.
- Lower Turnover: A positive onboarding experience increases employee retention, saving on recruitment and training costs.
- Time Efficiency: Frees up HR and other staff to focus on more strategic tasks.
- Empowers Departments: Allows department heads to manage onboarding without relying heavily on HR.
Depending on your existing induction process, you can easily create a formula that establishes the pay-back period, the point at which your investment in video inductions has paid for itself and now is generating significant savings for you which go right onto the bottom line. And that is excluding a measurement for the intangible returns, such as morale and productivity.
Additional ROI Considerations
- Long-Term Savings: Once created, video inductions can be used repeatedly, reducing ongoing costs.
- Enhanced Reputation: Demonstrating a modern and professional onboarding process can enhance the company’s reputation, attracting top talent.
A showreel of many videos we have created for recruitment and talent acquisition purposes across multiple industries and clients
Summary
A robust induction process is crucial for integrating new employees, enhancing engagement, and reducing turnover. While in-person experiences are irreplaceable for certain aspects, a video induction can handle many essential elements, ensuring consistency, quality, and accessibility. The benefits are numerous, from increased productivity and lower attrition to cost and time savings. The ROI of induction videos is clear, making them a valuable tool for any organisation.
Our founder, Jovan Mari?, a former Group HR manager in the hospitality industry, understands the challenges of onboarding firsthand. Contact us to revolutionise your induction programme with our expertise in marketing, communications, and HR. Let’s make your onboarding process seamless, professional, and impactful.
