How knowledge management can improve employee onboarding process?

Companies go through a complex process of training their new employees. However, the expenses in resources and time are very high. On average, companies spend $1,308 training an individual employee every year. Therefore, it is significant to focus on initiatives that reduce stress and make the onboarding process cost-effective. However, the process of onboarding in most cases is extra time-consuming. Statistically, 58% of firms admit that the onboarding program they follow involves mostly paperwork and complex procedures. Here, opting for a knowledge management system would allow better storage, preservation, and distribution of overall intellectual capital in a company.

Ultimately, it ensures better cooperation and knowledge sharing within the company and guarantees better training processes. With solutions like PHPKB knowledge management software, you can access a knowledge base that is secure and offers self-service.

Employee Onboarding - Why Is It Something You Should Focus On?

For every company across different sectors, hiring employees and providing them with an accurate knowledge base is crucial. Statistically, firms that focus on strengthening their onboarding process notice 70% more employee productivity and 82% higher employee retention rate. 

With the right initiatives, employees in their professional space show more loyalty to their company. Companies notice better employee satisfaction rates and work quality improvement when they improve the onboarding process in the early phase. 

However, you should understand that right onboarding should not only involve new recruitment and training them for company roles. Instead, new employees need to gain a better understanding of the organization. They should use the insights they gather to improve their performance and process, benefitting both themselves and the company. 

This is what knowledge management focuses on. It coordinates the employee onboarding process to provide benefits like:

• Standardized employee orientation 
• Workers grasp their roles well 
• Better employee retention rates 
• Higher employee productivity rates 
• Improved customer engagement 

Employee Onboarding and Knowledge Management - How Are they Related?

Knowledge management practices ensure a more seamless functionality to the employee onboarding process. The way this affects employee onboarding cover:

• New employee training at a fast pace with a full-scale knowledge base
• New recruits can meet deadlines on time through proper knowledge in hand  
• High-quality work guarantee
• Proper work collaboration and assigning for quicker task completion 

Here are the main manners in which knowledge management would influence employee onboarding.

1. Quick Access to Present Company Knowledge for New Hires 

New employees in companies are not aware of the sources of information on their company. So, it is understandable that they cannot find the details quickly. In conventional onboarding processes, employees would search through various sections to find one piece of data. However, that takes up a lot of time, thereby reducing the time for new hires from focusing on other important aspects.

PHPKB knowledge management software here can act as a centralized source for all information where new hires can search data quickly whenever necessary. It offers a secure file/document sharing platform where you can store all files and downloads and make them easily accessible to the employees.

2. Self-Service Benefits 

New employees can experience an independent work environment when brands introduce knowledge management into their onboarding program. They can easily search for data about the company, such as tacit, implicit, and explicit knowledge. The features of the best KMS like the PHPKB software that allows for this include:   

• Clean code customization - All of the codes and information present on this platform are well-organized and readable. There are filters available for better categorization. It makes it easier for employees, both new and old, to search systematically. 
• Robust search engine - The central repository on this platform comes with a high-quality search engine. Employees can quickly look for any information in the system and get it in seconds through the fast deep indexed details. The software makes it easy for users to find files without knowing the file title as well. 
• Multi-device accessibility - The software is compatible with a variety of devices. PHPKB knowledge management software is responsive to mobile phones and provides all users 24x7 access to the data.

3. Low Onboarding Time 

Companies need to train their new employees on company responsibilities quickly. This way, they can start the actual work faster. So, in traditional onboarding programs, the present employees spent a long time training their new hires on work environment rules, customer data, arrangements, tools, and partner names. 

It adversely affects companies in two ways. New hires take a long time to learn, while older employees spend a lot of their work time training instead of doing their work. With an organized and well-structured knowledge base, employees get easy access to company processes, policies, cycles, and frameworks. Therefore, the new employees can learn details faster and progress in their training period while senior employees can focus on their productivity. A centralized knowledge management system reduces the overall stress of being a supporting role to the new hires for the existing employees, ensuring better time management. Learn more about how a centralized knowledge base reduces employee training time.

4. Increased Productivity 

Employees that know their responsibilities are more likely to perform their tasks better, and through the onboarding process, the new hires learn the right methods to successfully handle their tasks. They are likely to stay with the company longer and contribute more if they have the right knowledge. Statistically, the possibility of new hires staying with a company increases by 82% if they go through a good onboarding process. 

With KMS software like PHPKB, companies can guarantee the right amount of information to their employees and a successful onboarding process. 

5. Better Team Collaboration 

New employees in the early phases cannot gel with other employees and teams perfectly. The onboarding program generally gives them a medium to interact with teammates and other professionals who are training them. 

That is possible through KMS programs like PHPKB - users get service benefits like Knowledge Collaborations. Here, all team members and content originators can interact, share insights, and pass messages collaboratively for all-inclusive social team participation and cooperation. 

6. Measurement of Knowledge and Engagement

With knowledge management software, companies can trace the engagement ratio of their content. It is possible through features like the Knowledge Base Analytics on PHPKB software. Through this, managers can know how effectively newcomers are using knowledge base content.  

You can access key details like the most searched keywords, view counts, verify content that is not gaining views (content needs updating), or engagement rates through likes. Based on these parameters, companies can decide on employee management plans. 

7. Quick Answers 

During the onboarding process, new employees mostly have standard-level doubts which are easily solvable. The higher-ranking employees and managers have to spend most of their time answering all such queries. Adding a knowledge management solution like PHPKB helps here, with features like a self-service portal with an intelligent search; newcomers get access to immediate answers to their questions, ensuring more productive time for seniors.

Conclusion