Virtual Onboarding for a Rapidly Growing Pharmaceutical Company

The challenge

AXIOM was already providing instructional design and development services to a pharmaceutical company when its hiring needs grew suddenly. Onboarding had been three days of hands-on, instructor-led training at a corporate location. Now the company needed to hire and onboard hundreds of people as quickly as possible, as a global, virtual workforce.

It needed engaging virtual onboarding content right away. Every new hire had to understand what the company does and who it helps, and be able to explain that mission in non-scientific terms. Leadership was also concerned that the company's values and culture could get lost in the pace of hiring.

The approach

AXIOM designed a virtual onboarding program in two parts and helped deliver it.

• Subject-specific toolkits covering topics such as Legal, Benefits, Contracts, Management, IT, and Values and Culture. Most included interactive online modules, built in the client's preferred rapid authoring tool, with video, reference materials, and job aids, completed by new hires as pre-work.
• Short live "ask the expert" virtual sessions after each toolkit, where new hires could put questions to subject matter experts and explore the topic further.
• A virtual instructor-led values and culture program with a common message about how the company would work and how employees would be supported, plus best practices for working, collaborating, meeting, and managing in a virtual environment.
• Throughout, AXIOM acted as a sounding board for the client's learning team and leadership, drawing on experience with other clients to confirm what was achievable.

The results

• Three days of in-person onboarding replaced with virtual toolkits and live expert sessions
• A consistent, plain-language explanation of the company's mission for every new hire
• Values and culture built into onboarding from day one
• Leadership and staff supported through an unfamiliar, high-pressure period

Why it worked

An existing partner who already knew the client, could design and deliver quickly, and could offer practical advice when it was needed most.