By Katy Grubbs, Manager of Employee Success at Echo360 Technologies

As anyone in human resources knows, it isn’t easy making new employees feel welcome and teaching them the basics of their new job all at once.

Here at Echo360 Technologies, every new hire has at least three weeks to get up and running. They also get to know me quite well since I lead many of the sessions that comprise their introduction to the company.

Because of my experiences, I wanted to share what I cover during these sessions, and explain how Echo360Point plays a role in making the new employee onboarding process as smooth as possible.

Company history and culture

From the very beginning, I like to make sure that new hires understand three main points about Echo360 Technologies:

  • Who we are
  • What we do
  • And, most importantly, why we do it.

These broad categories underpin everything else, so it’s a great way to introduce them to what it means to work here. This material is often interesting enough for them that a few interactive Echo360Point questions are all they need to stay engaged.

Policy overview

No one really wants to hear an endless monologue about company policies. However, whether or not they understand these policies can actually have a big impact on the quality of their work experience.

In this instance, Echo360Point provides an opportunity for them to test their knowledge, and also serves to break up the session and keep them engaged. Because their level of involvement is high, they tend to feel like they are getting valuable information, rather than just an info dump.

Anti-harassment and anti-discrimination

This technically falls under the policy section, but I devote a separate session just to these topics since they are so important in building an equitable workplace where everyone can thrive. The anonymous polling feature comes into play here as a way for everyone to weigh in on these sensitive subjects without feeling embarrassed or uncomfortable.

In fact, I feel so passionately about the importance of this type of training, that I have made my PowerPoint presentation – including Echo360Point slides, definitions of important terms and information about relevant laws – available here for you to download and customize as you see fit.

Product training

Every one of our employees needs to know Echo360Point inside and out. This means not only how to use every facet of the product, but also how and why clients in a variety of markets use it on a daily basis.

This can be a lot of information to process, so I make sure to intersperse Echo360Point questions throughout as a way to help them better retain the information, and as a tool for me to gauge when I need to spend more time on a certain topic, and when I can move on.

Because their level of involvement is high, they tend to feel like they are getting valuable information, rather than just an info dump.

Safety guidelines

Safety guidelines for most of our employees can be covered quickly, but other companies often require a much more extensive review. For anyone who works at a construction site or in a factory, effective safety and OSHA training can be simultaneously one of the most boring parts of orientation and the difference between life and death.

Check out our case studies to see how our clients Mary Kinnear and Skipper Kendrick use Echo360Point to prepare employees for exams, track compliance and make training fun with competitions.

30, 60, 90-day surveys

Once the initial training is over, that doesn’t mean my job is done. I make sure to give all new employees a Echo360Point survey at the 30, 60 and 90-day mark to check in on how they are doing and to evaluate if they need any additional training. These pulse surveys are incredibly valuable, since they provide insights into how I can best offer support and how I can make improvements to onboarding to ensure the process is even better next time.

Want to learn more about how you can use Echo360Point in new employee orientations? Just fill out our contact sales form and one of our experts will get back to you right away!

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