In-Person or Virtual Onboarding: 5 Essential Training Topics for New Employees

Hiring is picking up — employers added 916,000 employees to their payrolls in March. For HR leaders on the frontlines of the evolving workplace, one of the key challenges is attracting and retaining diverse talent. Equally important is making employees feel welcome and valued from day one. Including online compliance training in the onboarding (and reboarding) process sets a positive tone about the organization’s culture and expectations.

5 essential training topics for onboarding new employees:

1. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Training
   Diversity training gives new hires a sense of the organization’s values, priorities and commitment to advancing DEI. Job candidates want to work for organizations that value DEI as part of their culture. A recent survey by Glassdoor, the employer review site, found that nearly 1 in 3 job seekers and employees say they would not apply to a job at a company where there is a lack of diversity among its workforce.
2. Preventing Discrimination and Harassment Training
   New employees need to be aware of guidelines and expectations for workplace behavior and how the organization’s anti-harassment policies and procedures — and the relevant state and federal laws — apply to them. New managers should be trained separately on their specific responsibilities to respond to harassment complaints and avoid retaliation against individuals who report misconduct.
3. Bystander Intervention Training
   The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and other workplace experts consider bystander intervention training one of the most effective ways to empower employees to take an active role in stopping harassment and preventing future incidents. By training employees how to safely step in when they witness someone being harassed, bystander intervention training also helps to foster a safe, supportive, respectful workplace culture.
   
4. Code of Conduct Training
   Code of conduct training sets the foundation for new employees to begin work with a clear understanding of the organization’s core values, principles, policies and standards for honest and ethical behavior. Training communicates the purpose and importance of an organization’s code of conduct and what it means to an employee’s day-to-day interactions with coworkers, customers, clients, partners, vendors and others.
   
5. Data Privacy and Information Security Training
   COVID-19 and the shift to remote work has increased cyber security risks, including phishing attacks. Data privacy and information security training is one of the essentials to raise employee awareness of cyber attacks and the steps individuals can take to protect personal and confidential information and keep systems secure.

Traliant Insight

Providing new employees with the right training, tools and support is key to a successful onboarding process. Incorporating diversity and inclusion, sexual harassment prevention, bystander intervention, code of conduct and data privacy training into your onboarding program helps build a foundation of long-term success for new employees.

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