While many discussions in the learning and development (L&D) field swirl around artificial intelligence (AI) and rapid advancements in technology, these aren’t the only — or even the biggest — opportunities for L&D leaders. Don’t overlook two major drivers of business impact and retention: onboarding and enhanced skills development opportunities.

Onboarding and skills development aren’t new concepts, but the way organizations approach them changes all the time — or at least it should keep up with the competition and the evolving world.

Think about your own onboarding and skills development programs.

• How well are they currently meeting goals?
• What does your retention look like?
• How often do new team members stay after their first 30 days? Their first three months?
• Do employees feel as though their career path is clear and their development is a priority?

If you’re unsure about any of these or if your answers aren’t as good as you’d hope, keep reading. If you feel pretty good about your answers, remember that stakeholder expectations are constantly evolving. If you want to continually improve your onboarding and skill development strategies, this article is for you.

How Great Employee Onboarding and Skills Development Programs Contribute to Better Retention

Research by Glassdoor and Brandon Hall Group found that strong onboarding not only improves retention by 82% but also exponentially improves productivity. Another study done by BambooHR shows that 70% of new hires know if their job is the right fit within the first month, and 44% say they’ve had regrets about starting a job within the first week.

Time is of the essence when it comes to making an impact with onboarding. But the truth is, there is no “best” approach to onboarding that will work for every organization. There are some common factors that can make the new hire experience meaningful, such as:

• Opportunities to connect with and engage with peers (not just executive leaders in a series of meetings or town halls)
• Clearly defined growth paths that establish expectations and help new employees envision what their future at the organization can look like
• Structured support so they don’t feel like they have to handle everything alone and so they know where to go or who to ask for help as they get up to speed
• Training on the tools, technology and processes required to succeed in their role as needed (especially for anything unique to your organization or industry)

Organizational needs are just as important as learner needs. To truly be effective, you may need to take a personalized approach to employee onboarding that strategically aligns new hires’ needs and wants with your organizational goals over the next few years.

A well-designed, well-implemented onboarding program has the greatest potential to enhance employee retention and performance from the outset compared to any other form of training or interaction. Paired with high-impact skills development and continuous learning over time, new hires will feel equipped and inspired to become full-fledged team members — even future leaders — as they find their place, become part of the culture and shape their future alongside the organization. This also benefits the business by reducing (or even eliminating) the costs to replace and reskill new team members. Ultimately, this helps companies retain top talent that gets work done faster and with higher quality compared to someone with less experience.

Effective onboarding can be a lofty vision with big goals — but not always a big team or budget. Nevertheless, there are a few steps you can take to do more with less when bringing your vision to life. It starts with designing a personalized, strategic approach unique to your organization.

Finding Your Personalized, Strategic Approach

As mentioned, there are two main aspects to consider: organizational objectives and learner needs. Instead of designing to one or the other, the most impactful strategies blend them both in one cohesive solution. This may involve completing an up-front analysis of your organization’s current state to better understand the highest-priority needs.

When defining what’s most important to your business, consider:

• Organizational priorities: Upcoming organizational goals, stakeholder expectations and team needs from an overall business standpoint
• Onboarding impact on success metrics: Key performance indicators (KPIs) that your onboarding program should influence and metrics that will help determine success in these areas
• Individual role expectations: Role-specific performance metrics that contribute to KPIs
• Return on investment: Measurement and evaluation opportunities to assess how the training impacts performance, where it can be improved for better results, and to prove the return on investment (ROI)

When defining what’s most important for your learners, consider:

• Day-one connection: How the learner will integrate into their new environment and feel welcomed from their first day (or even before, during the interview and job offer stage)
• The audience: Demographics, backgrounds, reading levels, learning needs and how to engage and accommodate beyond in-person training for hybrid and remote employees — while looking for new ways to personalize the experience
• Culture and social engagement: How learners are encouraged to interact with their peers and organizational culture to build connections and feel like part of the team
• Critical skills to success: What learners should be able to do (and feel confident in doing) to get a job done well, including in-demand hard and soft skills
• Learning infrastructure: How onboarding incorporates story-based learning, case studies and other real-world scenarios and decision-making opportunities to allow learners to explore examples and practice critical skills
• Extended learning options: How onboarding integrates with an overall training curriculum to encourage learners to continue their journey into more targeted development opportunities
• Mentorship programs: Ways to pair new employees with experienced mentors to guide them through their onboarding process, which not only helps them feel supported but also helps them build a relationship with someone else who has been where they are

Your employee onboarding program should ultimately cover as many of these bases as possible based on what your organization and learners need today. This will look different for every organization, so a one-size-fits-all approach is not the solution.

When your onboarding program provides an immediately relevant, meaningful and impactful experience, you establish a competitive talent differentiator that sets your organization apart. However, to implement this program effectively, your technology must be able to measure up.

Leveling Up Your Tech Strategy to Support Onboarding

From your LMS to your analytics tools and delivery methods, the technology you choose is what enables you to deliver a consistent, accessible and frustration-free experience to all team members.

As a learning leader, you may not always be involved in the technology conversation. However, it’s worth it to earn a seat at the table. And when you have that seat, use it to be an advocate for your learners and find new ways to improve the learner experience while introducing cost-saving strategies for the business.

For example, you may not always need to buy in to a new system or platform: there are several ways leaders can maximize the value of their existing tech stack to do more with less and get more out of their current investments. You can also learn more about practical L&D applications of AI in the workplace, either by doing additional research, listening to real-life success stories from other peers or experimenting with AI capabilities in your own time.

Establishing a High-Impact Measurement Strategy

As you explore what exists within your tech infrastructure today and where you want to expand, keep data gathering and measurement top of mind. The earlier you can establish a high-impact measurement strategy within your tech capabilities, the more you can set yourself up for success by reporting data on performance, making data-informed program improvements and proving ROI over time.

A common misconception is that testing and measurement are the same. The truth is: Testing evaluates how well learners remember what they’ve learned, while measurement shows how well they can apply concepts on the job. When looking at your measurement strategy for onboarding and skills development programs, consider how you can use testing and measurement together to paint a more complete picture of learner readiness.

Some leaders recommend focusing on three Ps — practice, proficiency and performance — to establish a baseline, gather the right data and apply measurement strategies to L&D initiatives.

When determining if a learning program is successful, it helps to analyze data related to time-to-competency (how fast new hires reach full productivity), retention rates, employee engagement and overall performance and behavioral assessment by leaders working with new hires throughout their first month.

Taking Action

Whether you’re starting from scratch or looking to refresh your employee onboarding and skills development strategies, getting the big-picture view of how your organization’s objectives align with learners’ needs is key. Making a positive impact on each new hire from day one (or earlier) can connect them with their peers and their job on a deeper level — making them more likely to get invested in their work and stay with the organization.

If you’re still not sure where to start or feel overwhelmed with onboarding, seek help from peers and experts in the space. There are many incredible custom corporate training partners that can help you hit the ground running and collaborate with you at every step of the upcoming onboarding transformation journey.