Online Induction >> Induction Program
Published 02/09/2024

Online Induction Program
Best Templates and Guide for 2024

A good online induction program is critical for every organisation, this is the first entry point for a new employee, contractor or visitor who is working or involved in your workplace.

An induction program sets out what they need to know about working in your organisation such as HR rules, procedures, safety in the workplace, policies, how to report a hazard or incident, evacuation procedures, payroll setup, onboarding into the organisation, culture and preparations for their role. Setting up an online induction program allows you to ensure ongoing compliance for your staff and contractors working on site.

There are many things to consider when setting up an online induction program such as what steps to create per induction type, what roles are you inducting for and what kind of induction content should you setup such as what to include in a safety induction. Here we run through the best design and structure for an online induction program.

Looking to setup an Induction Program?

Building the best Online Induction Program for Contractors and New Employees

"A great induction program can make or break the way a new starter perceives their new workplace. It's an opportunity to set culture, work ethic, create a great first impression about the workplace, establish an understanding of the organisations history as well as ensure the new starter is going to be properly prepared for their first day on the job around safety and HR protocols, risks and hazards to be aware of through to policies and procedures they need to follow" Dr Jeremy Nunn.

It is an organisations legal obligation to adhere to prescribed statutes and standards ranging from state and commonwealth legislation, and from industry codes of practice. These requirements mean organisations not only need to provide appropriate training and work instructions to contractors and employees, but that this is done in a consistent and timely manner, validating that the training has been done correctly including an audit trail.

Induct before staff arrive on site
Through your own dedicated induction program you can provide your inductions for employees, contractors and visitors before they arrive on site with a dedicated online induction program as well as on site.

Induct on safety content to prevent safety incidents
On your induction program load all your Occ Health and Safety material, induction courses and tests, hazard registries, incident report forms and much more.

Setup assessments
Your induction program can test the knowledge of your inductees with your own online courses and tests.

Acknowledgement of checklists, policies and procedures
Setup check lists for acknowledgement of important workplace policies and procedures.

Online forms to capture tickets and licenses
Creating forms are common steps to capture emergency contact details, licenses and insurances or evidence of training, new employee starter information or capture other important getting started information.

View Induction Program Templates, Forms and Examples

Components of a best practice induction program

An Induction Program comes in many different shapes and sizes, the structure will depend on your specific industry and workplace requirements. It also depends on the workforce structure, whether you are inducting just contractors or employees, visitors and suppliers too. Volunteers might also be another common induction group. Commonly an induction program structure will consist of:

Collect forms online
Forms: collecting everything online that you would have previously done on paper. Think emergency contact details, new starter information, previous work history, insurances and evidence of training

Induct on important safety topics
Safety Topics: presentating important induction content in your program such as code of conduct, meet the team safety procedures, policies, site access and workplace hazards.

Centralise document libraries
Document Library: making available important materials and resources to download such as operating procedures, policies and procedures

Create acknowledgement check lists
Check List: ensuring that inductees acknowledge and understand all the mateirals and resources through an interactive checklist. Make sure that on this date, at this time, they understand and have ackwowledged through sign off.

Setup assessments
Assessment: online tests and scoring to ensure that inductees have been tested on the materials in the induction program and have read and understood it. It's also an opportunity to learn from the content.

These areas might be best placed as part of your induction check list. You might send all staff through your induction program to go through a series of induction check lists. These might be staged between pre-day 1, day 1, week 1, month 1 and other milestone based actions.

Best Steps to include in your Induction Program

A well designed induction program not only helps new hires acclimate to the company culture and work environment, but also sets the foundation for their long-term success within the organization. By incorporating best practices into the induction program, such as providing comprehensive training, introducing key team members, and outlining clear performance expectations, employers can foster a positive and supportive onboarding experience that promotes employee engagement and retention.

The first step to include in an induction program is providing thorough training and orientation to familiarize new employees with company policies, procedures, and job responsibilities. This ensures that they have the knowledge and resources needed to perform their roles effectively from day one. Additionally, introducing new hires to key team members and stakeholders allows them to build relationships and understand how their roles contribute to the overall success of the organization. Lastly, setting clear performance expectations during the induction process helps new employees understand what is expected of them and provides a roadmap for their professional development within the company.

The most common steps we see in an induction program include:

1: An online form step to start the induction program off where you capture important certifications and licenses as part of ensuring the new starter is ready to work on site (i.e. for an employee it might be evidence of training versus a contractor where its insurances or tickets/licenses)

2: A general organisation induction that covers the ins and outs of the organisation itself, preparing the new starter for the workplace they are about to start at

3: A site specific induction that goes into the specific work environment the worker will be working at and everything they need to know about the site specific hazards, risks, procedures and site access

4: A check list of important procedures and policies to be aware of

5: Document Library of common forms and other materials you want your workers to have access to

6: An assessment to test their knowledge on all of the above areas

Induction Reminders

When going the induction steps, a great deal of information is collected from inductees such as licenses, certifications, insurances and evidence of training. Keeping track of these materials can be exhaustive. A good induction program will automatically track and send out reminders to the inductee on these items:

- Automatically schedule reminders to inductees for reinduction
- Set different reminder periods such as 30 days before, 15 days before, on the day of expiry and even post expired follow ups
- Setup block rules and action notifications

Want to try out a induction program setup? Get started right here:
Create your first Induction Program

Things to include in an Induction Program

Contractors and staff need to provide information to your organisation, you need to present materials to them and ensure they understand them. Common items might include:

- Company Occupational Health and Safety Policy

- Company Officer responsible for OHS

- Hazard assement procedures / safe working procedures

- Licenses, safey/skills training, including induction training given to employees

- Accident / Incident Reporting Procedures

- Develop and demonstrate hazard assessment procedures for all activities undertaken on site

You might include these through either an orientation presentation or combined with an induction checklist. These are great ways to ensure that staff and contractors have read, understood and acknowledged your important safety and risk content as well as policies and procedures they need to be aware of and acknowledge as part of your induction program, typically before they start day one on site / in the workplace.

Things to consider for your workplace Induction Program

How do you keep chasing this information when it expires?

How do you verify it has been submitted and how do you quickly find it?

How do you track that everyone has completed these areas and understood it?

Can you update your induction program on demand?

Can you induct suppliers, contractors, employees and visitors?

With your own OnlineInduction.com program you meet all the above criteria

What happens when you don't have an induction program?

When your staff don't go through an induction program, you risk exposing them to workplace hazards, safety risks and having staff begin their role or job activity in the workplace while being unfamiliar with both the workplace itself and the procedures and policies of your workplace. This has a roll on affect onto their coworkers and any contractors that are working on site as well. IT increases the risk of a incident happening or a near miss, it increases the risk of a workers comp claim and can expose your workplace for being non compliant.

Key points:

- Ensure compliance of staff and your own organisation
- Bring important awareness around risks and hazards in the workplace to new starters
- Ensure refresher training on safety and risks to all existing staff and contractors
- Establish a good company culture with a good induction program

Induction Programs for different workplace roles

An induction program should cater for different role types. Using our induction library, we have a range of different induction programs that are ready to go and available for the common workplace role types such as contractors, employees or visitors. Running an induction program for each role might have differences around what you might collect, present and assess a contractor on versus a new employee or a visitor to site. Induction programs for specific roles such as a teacher induction program can be setup to ensure that a custom and personalised experience is presented unique to that role type.

Commonly you'll set up an induction program for:

- New Employees
- Existing employees for annual re-induction
- Contractors
- Volunteers
- Visitors

Setting up an Online Induction Program Portal

The best way to acheive everything we've talked about is with an online induction program via a web portal and the induction app. Somethng branded to your organisation, a dedicated induction program link you can issue to your staff and contractors and allow them to register and complete online. They can then go through the induction steps in sequence and complete the induction online before they start working in your organisation.

- Have a look at a sample induction program setup right here

Create an induction online using our online induction program

See how an online induction program can work for your organisation by looking at the online demo via the form above or - Contact Us
Preview checklists, courses, forms and templates

Written by Dr Jeremy Nunn Founder, CEO View Profile