Pros and Cons of Taking your Worksite Orientation Online

If you are considering using an online orientation to train new hires for your worksite, you might wonder if the pros outweigh the cons. Every employee needs the right introduction to a new workplace, and it might seem important to have a human touch leading the way. We know working with different trainers can lead to inconsistent results–but is an online orientation a better way to go?

Read on for some of the biggest pros and cons for making the move to an online worksite orientation.

The Pros and Cons
There are two sides to every story! Both in-person and online training have their own benefits–which one is right for you?

Pro: Save Money
When you choose to take your training online, you ultimately save money. Instead of paying for your instructors and workers to get to and from training sites, you can introduce your new hires to the basic concepts of your worksite from anywhere they have an Internet connection, reducing both payroll and travel expenses.

Con: Real Conversations
One of the main concerns with delivering orientations online might be the lack of opportunities for conversations between new employees and trainers. When training is online, new hires who have questions may have to wait until they reach the worksite to get the answers they want. To address this, a help link can be provided to allow employees to submit their questions and get answers back quickly.

Pro: Save Time
Do you ever wonder how much time is lost in a classroom through small talk, review of housekeeping items, waiting for people to settle in, washroom breaks, and other interruptions? Imagine instead how much time you can save by allowing individuals to train on their own without these distractions.

Con: Different Learning Styles
With classroom training, it’s possible for the instructor to assess the class in real time to see if they understand the information. If not, the instructor can try presenting the information in another way that may help make it click. This challenge can be overcome in online training by integrating a variety of activities and interactive elements in the online training that cater to different learning styles.

Pro: Consistent and Scalable Training
The use of online orientations allows you to offer consistent, reliable training to one individual or thousands of people instantly and at the same time. With online orientations, managers no longer need to prepare in advance to ensure availability of the right number of trainers and materials, or plan logistics; this time and energy can be spent on more valuable tasks.

Con: Lack of Camaraderie
When you train individuals at their own pace, rather than in large groups, you risk losing out on opportunities for building camaraderie. Team-building efforts can be arranged outside of training hours for new hires to mitigate this concern.

Pro: Adapt to the Learner’s Knowledge
With online orientations, it’s possible to test each new hire or existing employee to see where they are–and instantly adapt the training to their needs. If they have in-depth understanding of a topic, your orientation can provide a short overview instead of detailed training. What if they need to know more about a particular subject area? The training can automatically provide additional information and support for those topics based on individualized quiz results.

Key Benefits
Now that you know some of the pros and cons of the two training methods, you might be interested in learning about some of the key benefits companies receive when working with BIS Safety Software and their software, BIStrainer, to develop and deliver orientations online.

Virtual Proctoring
Worried about wandering eyes during testing or training? BIStrainer makes virtual proctoring possible using computer webcams. Companies can verify identification of employees, make sure participants are paying attention to the training, and confirm that cheating does not occur by recording their actions during training sessions.

High-Impact Training Material
Not enough time to create training courses? By partnering with BIS Safety Software, they can create professional, high-impact worksite orientations for you. These high-quality productions provide highly compelling material for new employees working through the onboarding process.

Intuitive Design
BIStrainer has been designed with the end user in mind. With drag-and-drop technology and an intuitive interface, new administrative professionals can be up and running quickly, realizing the software’s benefits in a minimal amount of time.
No More Lost, Illegible or Damaged Documents
Improve employee file organization with BIStrainer’s online storage solution. Managers no longer need to manage, store, or search through out-of-date or disorganized paper-based employee files: important documents and information can be uploaded for every employee, like driver’s license numbers and signed onboarding forms. Employees can also fill out forms and paperwork online, from wherever they are, without heading to the office. This helps to ease the burden of lost, hard-to-read, or damaged paperwork and increases efficiency by allowing employees to complete these tasks in their downtime from wherever they are.

Upload training tickets
Using BIStrainer, employees’ complete training record history can be uploaded together with their associated expiration dates to allow for automatic expiry notifications to both managers and employees. Employees simply enter the training provider, course title, and completion date together with an image of their training tickets. Once uploaded, records can be emailed to managers or administrators for verification. Managers simply click a button within the body of an email to approve or deny the training record. If approved, any outstanding training requirement related to the completed course is automatically removed from that user’s account and is marked as complete. Before the training is set to expire, notifications are sent to the employee and managers to allow for timely recertification.

Disclaimer: All information contained in this article is true and accurate to the best of our knowledge. For any technical concerns or governmental regulations, please check the relevant source for the most accurate and up-to-date information.