United Communications Tool – Enterprise Collaboration Technology

Efficient and Effective Ways to Train New Employees

The matter of effectively training new employees can be achieved by commencing with an equally successful onboard orientation program. Part of the orientation’s objectives, includes giving new hires clear impressions of what the company can provide, in return for their valuable services and contributions. To motivate them into performing productively and efficiently, they’ll be given a list of all the perks, privileges and benefits they will enjoy, in helping the organization meet its goals.

Here, company employment policies should also be discussed, instead of simply distributing the employee handbooks. Thus, the incoming recruits will have proper guidance on how to conduct themselves within the workplace premises, and in dealing with external parties. For this purpose, comprehensible overviews about the following should be provided:

• The federal, state and local laws and regulations, which the company should observe and comply with, through the vigilance and dedication of its employees.
• The policies regarding the use of company assets, including intellectual properties and information.
• The company’s definition of conflict of interest and the actions that shall be taken in case an employee has been found accountable for such misdemeanor.
• The organization’s commitment to uphold the laws against discrimination and harassment.
• The company’s guiding principles regarding fair deals and competitions.
• The assurance of providing a healthy and safe workplace environment, as well as the responsibilities which every employee should be aware of; so as not to jeopardize the measures, equipment and efforts instituted to keep the workplaces safe and secure.
• The policies that govern record keeping functions, procedures, storage and confidentiality regarding the business’ financial information.
• The organizational policies and procedures for “whistle-blowing”, or reporting on illegal and fraudulent behaviors that can directly impact the company’s reputation, profitability and overall stability.
• The procedures and steps that will be taken by the organization and the employee, in case one finds himself under investigation for violating the aforementioned policies.

  By having a clear grasp of the underlying rules that govern the employees of a company, the incoming new hires are expected to know what it takes to keep, maintain and optimize their relationship with their current employer. Henceforth, as they transition from the introductory phase to their actual training regarding their job responsibilities, their mindset should now be aligned with the company’s views and ethical standards.

  Job Shadowing as an Onboard Training Phase

  Job shadowing, is traditionally, a method used to give on-the-job-training to students, in which they observe the actual work being performed by a well-rounded employee of a real company. In today’s office environments, the concept of job shadowing has been modified and adopted as an onboard training phase. The objective of which, is to help the new employee gain knowledge and be acclimatized to the workplace in terms of culture, practices and norms being observed by his co-workers.

  Generally, the most effective and efficient ways to train new employees are through collaborative e-learning in the company’s work environment. The presumption here is that the new hire was chosen from among other applicants, because he has shown sufficient competencies in applying the most basic skills and experience for a particular job. Hence, it is expected that he is capable of learning task-specializations by observing how the veteran employees work. That way, he can elevate his basic skills to a level that can be most productive to the company.

  What Makes Job Shadowing an Efficient Training Method?

  The job shadowing procedure does not require the veteran employee to take time-off from his current work schedule, just to train new staff members. He can proceed with his work as he usually does, while trainees can view the document being worked on, even while in another room and in front of another PC. If the workspace is using an enterprise collaboration technology, its “unified communications tools” will permit the veteran employee to give verbal instructions and explanations, as he goes about performing actions on a task.

  A reference to “unified communications tools” means there is a wide array of communication medium provided by the system; and it uses an independent channel solely for the company’s business purposes. These features allow the trainees to view the veteran trainer while at work. If in case a trainee has a question to ask, the latter can simply bring forward his clarification questions by way of instant messaging. On the mentor’s part, all questions will be addressed after the lecture and hands-on demonstration, so that the collaborative learning process will flow smoothly for the benefit of the other trainees in attendance.

  Job shadowing that makes use of collaborative technologies, is likewise effective for training new employees in businesses like restaurants and catering services, medical professions, manufacturing jobs and other forms of skills. A new hire’s initial step at learning will be conducted by way of observation processes. They will observe how the old hands perform the routine activities being carried out in the daily operations, before actually manning a post or work station as an apprentice.

  The multimedia services available in a “unified communications tool”, allow the use of video, still images and audio clips. Thus, making it possible for the new employees to watch and learn real-time business operations from a distance and in another location. That way, the key employees acting as trainers, can accomplish the training exercises and still manage to attend to their daily chores. Questions and concerns may be sent via short service messages (SMS), if in case such employees have no access to the office computers.

  Determining the Most Efficient Method of Knowledge Transfer

  In a large company, a pre-planned schedule of the knowledge transfer procedure between the mentor and the trainees will be used as guide, as a way to strategize the onboard training process. The sequencing of knowledge to be imparted may be based on what is most relevant to the present needs of the company, or what is most critical in addressing a particular problem or tight situation. The value of the information and skills to be imparted may vary; hence, creating a schedule based on priorities will make the training process more effective.

  However, in small to medium scale business organizations, knowledge transfer may be done on a job-to-job basis, and as it happens organically in the daily operations of the business. That way, the new employees will know how to effectively interact with the other employees, with the customers and/or with the vendors. The training therefore gets to include not only the enhancements of technical skills, but also the development of people skills.

  Monitoring the Trainee’s Progress and Development

  In collaborative e-learning, the documents created by the mentor are stored in the workspace. Hence, the trainees can simply review the documents after the knowledge transfer session is over. They self-direct their training by recreating the documents on their own. This is in order to gain the confidence they need in performing similar tasks

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  Once a particular phase of the knowledge transfer has been completed, the veteran employee will give the trainees several tasks to work on. This is the stage where the trainer will be the observer, and the trainee is the task performer; but for the purpose of evaluating and assessing the skills development of the trainee. The documents being processed by the new employee can be edited by the veteran employee, if necessary. That way, the creative document will become useful without going through repetitive revisions and re-processing.

  The best thing about using job shadowing through collaborative e-learning for the onboard training of new employees is that the business operations will not be disrupted while the training process is ongoing.