Achieving a successful new employee orientation is often anything but effortless for Human Resource leaders. Let’s examine the previous onboarding process for one institution that sought a better method and how they took advantage of a virtual orientation solution to simplify the experience, save time, and meet compliance requirements. As a result, more new hires completed orientation on time than ever before and employee retention is on the rise.

After implementing Advantage HR Engage™ and processing nearly 3,000 new hires, Augusta University reported a higher orientation completion rate of 96%. Additional metrics point to improved engagement with increases in employee speed to competency, more productivity on their teams, more “right person, right job” alignment, greater assimilation, fewer complaints, and fewer performance reviews. And yet, this is just the beginning of their story.

I Can Do It Myself

Augusta University is a large research institution with clinics, a continual hiring cycle, and a well-earned reputation for creating a legacy like no other.

Before the pandemic, Augusta held large-group, in-person onboarding sessions every other Monday, a method that worked fine—provided nothing uncontrollable occurred. Unfortunately, Augusta’s in-person orientations were fraught with unknowns, which only worsened during the pandemic with the transition to live, virtual presentations that came burdened with everyone’s favorite friend: technical issues.

Besides tussling with tech, Dena Pickett, Augusta’s Director of Employment Services, stated that HR staff sometimes encountered “very frustrated hires” at in-person orientations who had no time to grab a caffeine perk-up because they had trouble finding the orientation room or had just slogged across the wrong parking lot in a pop-up burst of frigid rain. Need we mention the over-under odds of scoring a parking ticket by day’s end? Yowzah! Encountering frazzled new hires imprinted with a less-than-favorable impression on their very first day is no picnic for an already stressed human resources staff.

Pickett said, “Just to get the morning started, took all of the recruitment staff plus more.” Augusta’s HR staff stood “in the middle of the heaviest traffic that floats through downtown.” They held up “orientation signs with our umbrellas and our coats and our boots,” trying to direct new employees to the proper parking area and meeting location. Sometimes staff had to splinter and corral wayward hires from the wrong location. Sometimes, HR had to coax orientation presenters from multiple departments who maybe weren’t feeling it this go-round: Didn’t we already do this two weeks ago? And two weeks before that? Does anyone remember if I told them about benefits? Is it Monday? Again?

For Augusta, unmanageable factors repeatedly yielded inconsistent orientation experiences and unreliable outcomes. With no shortage of future onboarding events ahead, Pickett’s team knew they “needed to do something different.”

The Advantage 

Augusta University had partnered with Advantage Design Group^® (ADG) to build an engaging, high-quality, video-rich online student orientation that delivered informative, interactive content and included unlimited live training and support to manage the platform and track data. The online student orientation was easily implemented, reliably consistent, and could be completed anytime, anywhere, on any device. Could ADG deliver that same capability to a new hire orientation? You betcha! 

The Flip Side

Advantage HR Engage™ opened a world of opportunity for Augusta. New hires no longer wait for a specific orientation day to onboard, and they can control their progress by backtracking for a second look, pausing to take notes, or leaving off and picking up directly in the same spot again after cooking dinner or helping the kids with homework.

Likewise, Augusta’s onboarding staff no longer dedicates every other Monday to the hustle, bustle, and fuss-el of putting on an orientation event. New employees start their first day feeling confident, informed, positive, and connected to an institution that is thoughtful, well-managed, and has their best interests at heart. 

Ronitia Henry, Augusta’s HR Orientation and Recognition Program Specialist, shared that new hires appreciate having time to review and absorb information in an attractive, user-friendly platform that is easy to navigate and requires no tech savvy. Further, technical difficulties are rare, with support calls mostly about forgotten logins. 

“It’s very simple for me to just go in, change the password, and make an update,” said Henry.

The standard administrative features of Advantage HR Engage™ empower Augusta’s platform administrators to easily track data and effortlessly make periodic updates using plug-in-and-go templates. According to Penny Benton, Assistant to the Vice President of Human Resources, the platform’s report generation is “hugely helpful” for verification of policy compliance and auditing. For quick pulse checks on user comprehension, Augusta uses their platform’s quiz and survey features, providing great feedback for keeping content fresh, fun, and on-trend.

With 6,489 current employees, Augusta University has experienced a 49.25% year-to-year reduction in turnover since implementing Advantage HR Engage™ and is looking to expand the platform to include additional hire types.

Great First Impressions Lead to So Much More

When one aspect carries so much weight, why go it alone? A million things outside your control could cement the wrong attitude in your new hires during onboarding.

With Advantage HR Engage™, your message is reliably consistent and comes in an attractive, interactive platform that is easy to use and does the work for you. Your onboarding platform is dependable, always ready to have a great day, and will deliver your message exactly as planned with no technical delays. What’s more, your supportive ADG team will be right there with you from start-up to any time beyond!

Advantage HR Engage™ expedites the onboarding process for your Human Resources staff while inspiring confidence and connection in your new hires. To ensure the best start, every time, take Advantage!

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