About 1,000 New Hires a Year, Fully Onboarded in Three Months

The challenge

A rapidly growing Massachusetts-based software and services firm had a new hire training program that was long, lacked interaction, and did not connect employees to their role, the company, or its culture. The material was delivered through prerecorded instructor-led modules, with no attendance tracking and no knowledge assessments.

The firm needed the program completely rebuilt within four months and within a set budget, and it did not have the internal capacity to do the work.

The approach

A senior AXIOM instructional designer led the project in partnership with the client. The goal was to shorten the training, move it online, make it interactive, and confirm that new hires understood and retained what they needed to do their jobs.

• Assessed the training need by working through the audience, business goals, and timeline with the client.
• Agreed on a design approach and learning objectives before development began.
• Distilled a large volume of static content to the essential points for each role.
• Built short, easy-to-navigate eLearning modules with knowledge checks, end-of-section assessments, clickable video, and pop-up tips and best practices, tracked through the client's LMS.
• Introduced a mentoring program that shortened time spent in formal training while building working relationships.

The results

• New modules ready in three months, within the four-month window
• A consistent message across all job functions, worldwide
• About 1,000 new hires a year fully onboarded by the end of their third month

Why it worked

Clear agreement on objectives up front, and a design that kept only what new hires need to do their jobs.