More and more companies are making the switch to using online systems to manage and onboard their contractors. They realize that there are significant financial and time savings to be made through using an online platform. Additionally, traditional onboarding relies on in-house presentations where the quality can vary, while online platforms like GoContractor give a consistent level of training across a workforce. However, getting workers to engage with training content is key to improving safety. Here are 5 tips to help you produce engaging online employee orientation material that improves safety and boosts productivity:
1 ) Filming Experienced teammates –
We can all agree that there is no substitute for experience. Workers who have been doing a job repeatedly over a period of time have a wealth of knowledge at their disposal that far exceeds their younger colleagues. This knowledge, which ranges from ‘tricks of the trade’ to an inherent awareness of hazards and the ability to assess risk, allows them to work safer and more productively. Young workers entering the workforce are not lucky enough to have this experience and therefore generally have a higher level of risk than their older counterparts.
Many of the heavy industries have higher than average rates of older workers. You usually only hear about this in relation to skill shortages and other potential issues but having an older workforce comes with its benefits too. You should bring your more experienced workers into the fold and involve them in the training and orientation process so that they can pass on their knowledge to younger workers. One great way to do this is to record knowledgeable workers and use this footage in online employee orientations so that younger workers can benefit
2) Driver Orientation
Struck-by object injuries are one of the ‘fatal four’ causes of injuries in construction and were responsible for 9.4% of fatalities in 2016. Of this percentage, approximately half are the result of workers being struck by vehicles, with highway maintenance workers, power line installers, and excavating or loading machine operators experiencing the most struck-by fatalities. The tragedy is that so many of these deaths are avoidable if workers received the proper training regarding correct practices around vehicle safety.
Research shows that the best online employee orientations include content that is site-specific because it is proven to be far more effective than generic material. A great way to do this for vehicle safety is to include a “tour of the site”. In the past, it wasn’t always possible to provide this tour because it was time-consuming for training staff and came with logistical difficulties. However, online contractor management software allows you to include virtual “tours of the site” in an online employee orientation, giving workers the same learning experience without using up valuable time of on-site workers.
3) Effectively Use On-site Videos and Images
When designing an online employee orientation, you should never forget what you’re trying to achieve i.e. onboarding workers to make them safe and productive members of your workforce. The worst kind of orientations are generic and give learners the feeling that they’re just ‘going through the motions’ in their training. You should not accept this standard because it will end up costing you money in the long-run and potentially the worker’s life. The goal is to create engaging orientations so that information – particularly to do with safety – is retained by workers.
A key component in creating engaging orientations is including as much audiovisual material as possible within an online employee orientation. Now obviously this doesn’t mean you should insert any random image or video without context! The best content is directly related to on-site activities and ideally should be filmed on-site. Videos and images are so effective because they are accessible to workers of varying nationalities and levels of literacy. It also fits the ‘show don’t tell’ practice of conducting orientations so that workers receive the most relevant information that suits their needs.
4) Use Video (Well!)
So you should be able to notice a common theme so far. Video is king when it comes to creating engaging orientation content and you’re missing a trick if you’re not including some in your training. It’s so cheap and easy to produce video content now. There’s no need to spend huge sums of money on fancy cameras when almost everyone has a smartphone with a great camera that can record video suitable for online employee orientations. There are also multiple types of software on the market that are either free or very affordable to make creating videos simple. A tool like Powtoon enables you to create great little animations at a very reasonable price. When you consider the savings of going from face-to-face orientations to an online system, the cost of producing video is very small.
Now that you’re convinced of the merits of video, make sure you’re using video well!. You shouldn’t be scared of making your video content enjoyable; in fact the more workers enjoy it, the more your workers will be engaged. Record workers and encourage them to let their personality shine through. Get them to share anecdotes and stories from the worksite. You might be surprised how much more effective orientations are if they are enjoyable for the learner. Be sure to include subtitles and/or captions so that content is as accessible as possible.
5) Get Feedback at the end of the course
So you’ve heard about all the benefits of online contractor management compared to traditional methods and have made the decision to create an online employee orientation. You’ve put together what you think is a strong set of training courses that fit the needs of everyone in your workforce and contractors are being onboarded and doing their jobs. Great! Job done, right? Not really. Your orientations should be ever-evolving with the aim to constantly improve levels of safety and productivity.
The key to creating online employee orientations is to involve workers in the process. Frontline workers have the greatest awareness of on-site hazards and are the ones most likely to benefit from safety training. GoContractor gives you the option to get feedback from workers at the end of their orientation. This information can be incredibly useful in improving existing orientations and in the development of new online employee orientation courses. Feedback from on the ground workers is crucial in creating orientations that are site-specific so workers receive the most relevant training.
GoContractor
GoContractor’s flexible online platform makes it easy for workers to access your engaging online employee orientation material. GoContractor allows managers to easily create and customize training courses so that site-specific content can be included for maximum effect. GoContractor ensures that no workers slip through the cracks by requiring workers and contractor companies to have the necessary documentation. Another layer of security is the Identity Capture Feature that ensures that the worker who took an online employee orientation is the same one who is allowed on-site. GoContractor makes it simple to reach your workers so the only thing you have to worry about is creating the best possible orientations.
