Apart from that, onboarding and induction programs also help to provide new employees with the necessary support and confidence needed to become very productive in their new role.

Unfortunately, many organizations still struggle to deliver engaging induction and onboarding programs. According to a study by Gallup, about 51% of the workforce in the US is not engaged in their workplace.

Well, one factor that has contributed to this statistic is weak induction and onboarding programs.

For an organization to provide its employees with the right engagement, it needs first to identify the challenges attached to onboarding and induction programs.

By knowing that, it can be able to provide solutions that matter, to get the plan done the right way.

The often faced challenges with induction and onboarding programs

In case you’re still struggling to deliver the right onboarding and induction programs in your company, here are some of the challenges that you need to address.

Role clarity

One of the biggest challenges of induction and onboarding programs is role clarity. When your employees don’t have a clear understanding of their job role, they tend to get discouraged.

So, in a way to prevent this from happening, you need to center your program on individual employee roles and make them understand their job functions.

You’ll be able to clearly state your employee’s role when you incorporate both formal and informal training in your onboarding program.

Apart from that, the approach also helps to boost the confidence level of the new hires, making them more productive in the organization.

Giving too much information at a time

While it’s essential to provide your employees with relevant information during the induction and onboarding programs, it can become a big challenge when the information becomes too much.

Admittedly, it’s an excellent idea to want your new hires to become productive as quickly as possible.

However, when you bombard them with too much information regarding their job roles on day one, they tend to become overwhelmed.

First, employee induction and onboarding programs aren’t supposed to be a one-day process. Instead, you should schedule it, such that employees won’t get overwhelmed while you’re disseminating information to them.

Instead of just providing them with generic induction materials, you can focus on offering them context-rich resources.

Lack of digital support

Gone are the days when organizations can perform induction and onboarding programs without digital support.

Since we are in the digital age, if you want to get your program right, you need to utilize relevant technologies to provide your employees with on-demand support.

One of the benefits of using technology is that it’ll help you to address the day-to-day problems, often faced by the new hires.

Apart from that, it also builds their confidence, letting them have the idea that they fully have the support of the company.

Wanting to do everything on the first day

Don’t be deceived; trying to do everything at a time is a wrong step when it comes to induction and onboarding.

And most times, that happens when an organization doesn’t have a clear sense of direction.

So, in a way to tackle this challenge, you need to plan an onboarding journey, focusing more on the long term goals of new hires.

You can conduct experiments and seek feedback from existing employees to identify the areas that need improvement.

Time management

Indeed, you’ll agree that time management is essential in an organization. However, this will be a challenge for most new hires.

That’s because the way they managed time in their previous work will be different from yours.

So, in a way to provide a solution to this challenge, you need to show the new employees the essence of time management to their managers and the company at large.

Apart from that, you also need to show them how they can go about managing their time.

Impersonal experience

Another often faced challenge of onboarding new hires is providing them with impersonal experience.

Since your new hires have expectations of their role, it’ll be best if you can offer them personalized and relevant information.

Up till now, a lot of companies still make use of the one-size-fits-all approach to deliver their onboarding program.

However, this isn’t a practical approach, as individual employees are only interested in what will make them productive for the organization.

As such, you must provide each of them with personalized training that will help them blend quickly with their job roles.