Employee Onboarding and Knowledge Learning with AI: A New Era of Efficiency and Engagement 

Efficient employee onboarding and knowledge learning are pivotal for success in today's fast-paced business environment. Onboarding new staff into a Private Equity firm, for instance, often involves navigating complexities such as familiarising them with historic deals, current portfolio performance, and locating master report templates on servers. This process can be both intricate and time-consuming. 

Artificial Intelligence offers a transformative solution by creating a virtual repository of senior partners' knowledge, accessible through a GPT-style interface. This innovation facilitates seamless onboarding experiences, enabling new employees to quickly assimilate and contribute effectively. 

In this article, we explore how leveraging AI can revolutionise employee onboarding and knowledge learning, drawing insights from our recent ‘Lunch and Learn’ seminar that we held with a UK-based Private Equity firm seeking to gain knowledge on how AI can create value inside both their firm and their portfolio companies. We focus on three key areas: resource, content and personalisation. 

Effective onboarding is crucial for new employees to assimilate into their roles quickly and efficiently. On average, it takes up to 26 weeks for a new employee to reach full productivity 

and can cost up to three times the position’s salary due to hiring and onboarding costs, and productivity loss. However, with AI, this duration can be significantly reduced, optimising the time to productivity and enhancing overall organisational efficiency.  

Key Takeaways 

Now let’s discuss some of the challenges that organisations face in onboarding and learning, and how Artificial Intelligence can add value to operations.  

Resource 

One of the primary challenges in employee onboarding is the opportunity cost, as more experienced employees are diverted from their primary, value-delivering roles to assist with training. Additionally, scaling limitations make it difficult to deploy resources effectively in response to rapid organisational growth and fluctuating employee intake.  

To combat these resource challenges, AI can deliver automated training programs that mimic human delivery techniques, removing the dependence on employees for training. Large Language Models (LLMs) can provide on-demand interactions, instantly responding to queries and offering feedback, to streamline the training process and free up human resources.  

Real world examples include Chorus.ai, the platform uses AI to analyse sales calls in real-time, providing immediate feedback to representatives based on historical call data performances. Choris.ai enhances sales training efficiency and effectiveness, improving sales outcomes without incurring the opportunity cost of valuable employee time. 

Kasisto AI has been implemented by a number of banking institutions to handle queries, such as Standard Chartered, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Bank of Montreal. The chatbot empowers employees with a conversational tool to manage new enquires with business tailored responses.  

Automated content production 

Engaging and effective onboarding optimises productivity and contributes to an 82% increase in employee retention, but maintaining up-to-date, engaging onboarding and training content is a significant challenge for organisations. Frequent updates in propositions, macro trends, and regulatory changes make it difficult to keep training methods and materials current.  

Real-time updates enabled by AI ensure the training materials are always current, reflective of the latest company changes, industry trends and regulatory requirements. AI can deliver interactive and immersive learning experiences, such as simulation and gamified elements, ensuring that the content remains fresh and engaging.  

Quizgecko is an interactive assessment technology. Quickgecko’s AI transforms text or URLs into interactive quizzes. Gamified learning increases employee engagement and learning effectiveness.  

EddApp’s AI Create generates automated training content. The platform instantaneously generates microlearning courses from a single topic, keyword or summary, complete with text and media, at a click of a button. EddApp Ai Create helps refresh content based on current events and company changes, ensuring up-to date training methods.  

Adaptive learning for enhanced personalisation 

Tailoring onboarding and learning to individual learning styles and preferences is vital for effective training. Traditional training plans are often static, based on general roles and historic information, which may not cater to unique needs of each employee. Differing learning styles and skill levels creates a challenge in delivering effective onboarding plans or upskilling paths for employees.  

AI can provide adaptive learning pathways based on real-time performance tracking, skills assessment and capability gaps. It can be leveraged to identify the most effective learning experience based on individual preferences, such as visual, audio or testing. Personalisation not only enhances the learning experience but also accelerates employee proficiency and independence.  

Duolingo uses adaptive assessment technology to personalise lessons and quizzes based on the user’s proficiency and learning pace. It continually adapts to the user, ensuring an optimal balance between challenge and comprehension. 

Pearson’s adaptive learning technology can segment learners based on their preferences and performance, delivering content in the most effective modality. 

Case Studies 

In Palladium’s recent work in Legal Services Patent law, the heavy reliance of junior solicitors on senior colleagues for guidance significantly strains resources, creating a bottleneck in productivity. Critical insights into drafting effective patent applications are often locked away in vast document archives, making them inaccessible and underutilised. This hampers the efficiency of the drafting process and limits the potential for junior solicitors to quickly become proficient and independent in their roles.  

Palladium explored AI solutions to address these inefficiencies  

Palladium was brought to enhance the operation efficiency of a legal services firm, who recognised the potential for AI to streamline their operations. The company’s employees faced challenges with softer and more subjective tasks, particularly in assessment that were highly dependent on the knowledge and expertise of individual case handlers. This often led to disparities in fee calculations and valuations, as time estimates involved a degree of subjectivity. 

Below are two solutions Palladium designed to streamline their operations: 

Harnessing AI for your organisation 

AI is transforming the landscape of employee onboarding and knowledge learning. Delivering a faster, more effective, and engaging onboarding and learning experience for employees is crucial for organisational success.  

Identify the areas where your company faces onboarding and learning challenges. Next, explore how you can leverage AI to reduce time lost from experience employees, create more engaging and relevant training content and pinpoint opportunities for personalisation. Finally, choose the right solution to execute the change, such as virtual assistants, training GPT or adaptive learning.  

Sources 

Rollag, Keith & Parise, Salvatore & Cross, Rob. (2005). Getting New Hires Up to Speed Quickly. MIT Sloan Management Review. 

The Great Onboarding: How Social and Collaborative Learning Can Create Rapid Alignment.

Society for Human Resource Management. (2022). The Real Costs of Recruitment.