LIMITED
2.1 The training process at Linkgo
The orientation training at Linkgo also follows the ADDIE models in general. As the purpose of orientation training is already clear, we start the process from the “Design” step.
First, we need to identify the organizational constraints. Constraints are placed on training by the organization, the environment, and the trainee population.
They include factors such as how much time will be available to deliver the
training, what mode of delivery is best suited to the trainees, the level of technology in the organization, and the facilities available. As for the case of Linkgo, despite the fact that the company’s top management has deemed orientation training to be of great importance, there are still a lot of obstacles coming from the organization as Linkgo is still a relatively young start-up. The constraints and the solutions for them are stated in the table below.
Constraints Reasons Solutions
Low training budget The company is currently in a difficult period due to Covid-19. Therefore, the operation expenses are kept as low as possible.
• All the training activities are conducted by internal human resources.
• Make use of any facilities available in the company.
Limited day to conduct orientation training:
Trainings must avoid 2 last weeks of a month.
That’s the time all company resources have to focus on pushing sales and marketing campaign
Devise the recruitment plan and orientation schedule to fit with company schedule.
for the products as well as making monthly report.
Limited human resources for orientation training.
The company scale is still small with only 2 people in Human Resources Department ready for orientation training.
Group the new
employees and schedule them to take orientation training togther.
Inadequate training facilities:
• Only 1 meeting room with 3-4 people capacity.
• No other
equipment besides a TV and a
whiteboard.
Due to limited budget and small office.
Develop quality training content to make up for the lack of facilities
Table 2.1. Organization restraints of Linkgo
After identifying organizational constraints, we move on to determine specific training objectives. There are four categories of training objectives:
reaction, learning, transfer, and organizational outcomes. We will focus primarily on the learning objectives as the other objectives are either not important or vary differently from department to department. The learning objectives are presented as follows:
Learning objectives:
• On completion of the orientation, all trainees, on request and with no assistance, will be able to state the vision statement, mission statement and core values, with no errors.
• On completion of the orientation, all trainees, on request and with no
assistance, will be able to present Linkgo’s and department’s major goals and objectives in the next 2 years
• On completion of the orientation, all trainees, on request and with no assistance, will be able to explain explicitly Linkgo’s employee core competencies.
Behavior objectives:
• In the evaluation milestones (2 weeks, 1 months and 2 months after
orientation training), the employee will be evaluated as qualified for all or at least 86% of all probation competencies and KPIs.
Organizational outcome objectives:
• The average turnover for a three-month period will be 30% less than the current average of 23.4%.
Base on the training objectives and organizational constraints, the complete orientation program of Linkgo is as follows:
Training methods: Blended learning (Learning method that combines various training types like online, offline, etc.)
• Face-to-face orientation training will take place on the new hire’s first day of work. This offline training is mostly used to deliver strategic and
motivational information such as organization values, business goals, employee core competencies, etc.
• Other background information that is easy to understand and administrative such as working rules, company policies, organization structure, etc. are delivered through emails and online documents.
• After the orientation training, each of the new hires will have a coaching program that lasts at least until the end of their probation periods. The coaches will be their line managers and leaders.
Training content and timeline:
The whole orientation process consists of 3 main milestones: Pre-orientation, orientation day and post-orientation. The specifics are depicted in the table below.
Phase Time Task P.I.C
Pre-
orientation
1 week prior to orientation
day
Notify new hire to prepare their administrative
documents and procedures.
C&B Specialist
2 days prior to orientation
day
Deliver the orientation training materials, timeline and instructions.
C&B Specialist
Orientation day
8h30 9h30 – • Orientation day agenda overview and
instruction.
• Introduce the new hire to company.
• Office tour.
L&D Intern
9h30 11h – Orientation training:
• Company overview (Vision, mission, etc.)
• Company policies and procedures.
• Other related information.
• C&B Specialist
• L&D Intern
• High-level Manager.
11h -12h Complete administrative procedures and documents.
C&B Specialist
12h 13h30 – Lunch with new hire’s department
14h 15h – Department orientation training:
• Manager introduces new hire to the department and hosts ice-breaking activities
• Manager discuss the role, scope of work and company’s
expectations for the new hire.
Department Manager
15h 17h – New employee:
• Get used to working tools, procedures and tasks.
• Complete the orientation training feedback form.
17h 17h30 – 1:1 orientation feedback and review session with HR Specialist
• HR Manager
• L&D Intern Post-
orientation
Line manager continues to provide guidance and supervise closely new hire’s performance until the end of probation period.
Line Manager
Table 2.2. Linkgo’s orientation training process agenda
2.2 Results of the training process
The outcomes of the training process will be presented based on the training objectives from the beginning. The data used in the evaluation was collected through surveys and internal documents over a 5-month period.
Learning objectives:
Figure 2.3. Linkgo new hires’ score on training topics As we can clearly see from the chart, the new hires scored badly on two topics related directly to their work, which are “Scope of work” and “Competencies and assessment criteria”. This shows that they are poorly informed on their tasks, their position’s correlation with the company and what the company expects them to achieve in their work.
On the other hand, topics that related to general information about the
company witnesses a considerably high score with 43 to 45 percent of the new hires score grade 4.
0 0
7 10 11
7
38
35 30
35
40
32
43 45
10
14 17
13
5 8
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Company overview Policies and procedures Competencies and assessment criteria
Scope of work
Score percentage
Training topic
New hires' score on training topics
1 2 3 4 5
Behavior objectives:
Figure 2.4. Linkgo new hires’ probation assessment results After a 2-month probation period, most of the new hires are qualified for the job. However, the number is still relatively low (58%) compared to an 86% of the initial objective. The missing percentage might lie in the 37% of new employees that need further supervision in the next 2 months.
Organizational outcome objectives:
The average turnover for a three-month period is 25.6%, which is an increase from the initial number. There can be many factors that affect this indicator like the nature of certain seasonal positions, Covid-19, recruitment error, etc. However, other evaluation results show that most of the reasons come from the deficiencies in orientation training.
2.3 Strengths
Overall, the orientation training process of Linkgo is methodical and based on concrete theoretical background:
5%
58%
37%
New hires' probation assessment results
Unqualified Qualified Need further assessment
• Orientation training was planned according to ADDIE model.
• All steps and activities had had prior research and reference from credible sources.
The orientation training did a wonderful job in providing background
information about the company to the new hires. All operation process prior to, in and after the orientation training were executed smoothly with little or no mistakes.
Furthermore, the orientation training had been successfully devised in adaption to organizational constraints and other obstacles.
2.4 Weaknesses and root causes
Besides the visible strengths above, orientation training process of Linkgo has its own shortcomings. I will point out those weaknesses and their root causes base on the theoretical background and practical insights from the evaluations.
The first major deficiency we can notice is the low score of the new hires on topics related directly to their work. This shows that the orientation training in the department was ineffective. The root cause comes from the fact that line managers are too busy to conduct proper training sessions with all the new hires. As Linkgo is on its way to expand and scale up, a lot of work and pressure is on the line
managers. They have to utilize their time to meet the KPIs and work expectation.
Most of their time are used for product innovation and campaign and department management. Therefore the department orientation is often carried out hastily an, d crudely with poorly made documents. As time went on, line managers obviously did not have the time to supervise the new hires closely and provide guidance where necessary. All of these issues not only resulted in poor performance of the new hires in the test but also in the turnover. Many of the new hires chose to leave Linkgo because they did not receive enough attention and instruction from the managers, which led to demotivation and modest work performance.
In Figure 4 , there are 42% of new employees that are either unqualified or 2.
need further assessment after the probation period. A part of the reasons come from the lack of guidance from line managers but there is another major cause for this
issue. Although most of the new hires passed the tests related to general information about the company with flying colors, they had a hard time fit in the culture of the company. This is because of the lack of interactive activities that help the new hires to actually socialize and integrate with Linkgo’s cultures. The closest definition to interactive activity is the introduction and office tour at the beginning of the
orientation day. After orientation day, the new hires went straight to work with little emotional connections with other employees and Linkgo.
CHAPTER 3: RECOMMENDATIONS TO IMPROVE NEW EMPLOYEES