The COVID-19 pandemic caught everybody unawares and upended how this world functioned. Nobody had anticipated that this outbreak would come down so heavily upon individuals, organizations, and governments globally. With all kinds of businesses severely hit, this has been the year enterprises worldwide have gone from talking about remote working plans to actually putting them into action. Millions of people—including many who had never previously worked from home—have been forced into working from their homes all of a sudden. 

Organizations and enterprises that were already equipped with the tools for remote work and collaboration managed to continue their operations without any interruption. However, many businesses had to deal with the daunting task of adapting processes such as recruiting and onboarding new talent to the current circumstances. As there’s no physical office to welcome new employees and connect them with their colleagues, the HR managers need to think of new strategies to bring the onboarding and training processes in line with the new normal.  

Virtual Training: Best Tips & Practices 

As the COVID-19 pandemic resets major work trends and business models, HR leaders are required to change their current HR strategies, move to digital and revisit their workforce, employee planning, performance, management, and experience strategies. Virtual training has assumed greater importance, which needs to be carefully evaluated and adapted. Some tips that can prove useful in this regard are:

Ramping Up Online Training Sessions  

In a work-from-home scenario, people work from different locations. Under such circumstances, virtual training sessions can help people across the world join the program with ease; it also allows for effective time management. Hence, virtual onboarding and training sessions are picking up steam. Now, worldwide, enterprises are firmly rooting for virtual business transactions, virtual recruitment processes, and working from home. Organisations must invest in ramping up remote training, including reskilling, upskilling, and multi-skilling.

Make Training Sessions Lively

Since the training is done in a simulated environment, considerable responsibility lies with the trainer and the trainee to be diligent with the sessions. In addition, the selection process for trainees becomes very important. The trainer plays a key role here in terms of keeping the sessions interesting and exciting so that the trainees remain attentive throughout and are able to retain whatever is taught. To make training sessions effective, it is vital that some ground rules are set such as making the training content more impactful and value-adding. 

Incorporating the Pareto Principle in Training 

Named after the economist and philosopher Vilfredo Pareto, the Pareto principle lays out that 80% of the results or outcome spring from 20% of the causes. The principle asserts that there is an unequal relationship or imbalance between inputs and outputs.  This principle, popularly known as the 80/20 rule, has to be kept in mind while dealing with matters concerning HR activities as well. The ‘vital few trivial many’ also has to be observed, which is relevant to IT/ITES industries broadly.

Training through Reskilling and Upskilling

To make the most of the hired talent, it is important that HR managers undertake reskilling sessions so that the employees can continue the same job, albeit in a more efficient manner. The potential candidates, upon being hired, should be upskilled and multi-skilled so that they can multitask as well as become equipped to occupy higher designations within the company and become more productive in the long-term. The existing senior management should also be trained and re-trained to take up more competitive job responsibilities.  

Well-planned onboarding paves a clear path for employees as they join a new company. Even in these unprecedented times, the shift to remote work does not have to rob new employees of the traditional experience. By implementing new and innovative practices that are ideal for remote working models, companies will become more attractive to prospective employees. Such novel practices will also help maintain business continuity.