Virtual onboarding tours can take employees through applications and get them up to speed on the most important features quickly.
Despite the ongoing pandemic, it's inevitable that a new generation is entering the workforce: Gen Z. For years, businesses were focused on how millennials were changing HR teams' approach in the workplace based on their values and needs, especially as many people in this group entered the workforce during a recession. Now millennials are entering their late 30s and early 40s and are taking up management and executive positions as college grads begin to enter the workforce.
Gen Z is expected to make up 27% of the workforce by 2025, making it one of the largest working generations in just a few years. It's a generation whose members have spent their entire life online, meaning they're more familiar with software applications than anyone else who came before them. The addition of more Generation Z employees means HR teams now have to navigate the expectations and needs of four generations, adding them to the mix of Baby Boomers, Generation X, and millennials.
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How do generational differences impact learning and training in the workplace? What does each group need when it comes to online training, upskilling, and working in a hybrid model during this age of rapid digital transformation? These questions certainly provide a new set of challenges during what is already a tumultuous time of the Great Resignation and the expansion of hybrid work models. Digital Adoption Platforms (DAPs) can help address the needs of HR teams who need to train and onboard employees with varying experience and awareness levels of software.
Onboarding new graduates
While onboarding any new employee comes with its difficulties, hiring a recent college graduate who may have never had a full-time office job comes with unique challenges. For many, this is the first time they've experienced a professional work environment, whether it be in an office or working from home. Everything is new including the applications they'll be expected to use to complete their job tasks from Salesforce to Workday, applications they probably have little to no experience. The HR team's goal is always to get these employees up to speed quickly and effectively.
The steep learning curve due to unfamiliarity with applications can be a major concern and a source of frustration for both employees and executive teams. Employers worry about managing productivity. They are concerned about the time it will take between when these employees are onboarded and when they become proficient at their work. DAPs can help flatten the learning curve by providing the tools and tips they need to learn effectively through devices they're familiar with. Gen Z has grown up with their smartphones within reach and learning about new work tools from a mobile device is familiar to them.
Virtual onboarding tours can take employees through applications and get them up to speed on the most important features quickly. HR teams can also create task lists to ensure users complete mandatory tasks when getting started with new programs. One of the most useful tools of DAPs is Real-Time Guidance. Step by step walkthroughs guide employees through applications getting them up to speed more quickly and reducing the number of support queries sent to your IT team.
Different challenges for different generations
Adapting and catering to different generations when it comes to training preferences can be a challenge. How do HR teams ensure that employees with different experiences learn software with the same proficiency? Luckily with the power of AI and machine learning, a digital adoption platform can adapt to the context, learning needs, and proficiency of an individual employee to provide personalized help and training based on the employee's specific needs.
Knowing your audience is always key. That's why it's a good idea to find a DAP that offers multiformat learning content. Different generations are used to getting their information in different ways. DAPs can cater to employees' strengths by helping them retain new information more easily based on their preferred way of learning. Giving the employees options of learning materials in videos, slideshows, and PDF format presents them with the option that works best for them.
Unifying employee experience across generations
Another tool of great benefit to more experienced employees is the automation of repetitive tasks. This frees up employees' time to focus on the work they need to do tasks such as predictable data entry, and field selections can be converted into automated workflows.
While technology alone can't help HR teams manage a multi-generational group of employees, DAPs can at least streamline the onboarding and training process. The usage data from DAPs can also help HR teams determine what platforms employees are having the most difficulty with and where improvements can be made. This can come in the form of employee satisfaction survey data to identifying which apps require additional training and support
From Baby Boomers to Gen Z and everyone in between, we all have different learning styles, and being able to adapt to each style can have a great impact on the employee experience.
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