The airline industry is a fascinating and complex one in which technology, regulations and people come together to provide travellers with the safest and smoothest flying experience possible. This blog looks at ways to ensure smarter onboarding for airline industry employees.
To be the best carrier in today’s highly competitive environment, airlines need to attract and retain the right types of employees. These are the people who will not only have a passion for the industry (whether that’s flight crew or ground staff), but who will also have the ability to:
- provide excellent customer service at all times
- understand and apply the safety procedures and regulations
- respond calmly to any unexpected events
- be a good fit in terms of company culture
Once a candidate has been through the recruitment process, they may then face another set of interactions with HR before starting the job. Background and security checks will be done and new starters will potentially need to complete some eLearning and pass the assessment before beginning classroom training.
At a time when airlines are struggling with challenges of rapid digital transformation, globalisation and increased sector complexity, setting up an onboarding strategy could be the key to ensuring new recruits are engaged and motivated.
Creating a culture of smarter onboarding for airline industry employees
The airline and aviation industry should not only look at having a pre-induction and/or an onboarding phase, but ideally at making it all a seamless journey for the new employee.
The new joiner will have had certain expectations before joining based on their previous research on the company, its culture, tone of voice and marketing messages.
It is important for airlines not to disappoint at this stage and to make their new employees feel proud of joining the company. As an employer, you’ll no doubt want to give your new starters the confidence that they’ve made the right choice to join the organisation.
At a time of immense and myriad changes within the airline and aviation industry, it is also likely that many airline staff are deciding to – or are forced to – change airline employers. This audience will need particular attention to make their transition painless and to ensure they are up to speed with their new working environment, while also aligning with the vision and goals of their new employer.
Our approach to airline sector learning
At LEO Learning, our approach is to look at induction as a process, not an event. We believe that organisations that fail to recognise this also fail to reap the rewards of a strategically-designed and implemented introduction to their business.
One of our most popular onboarding methodologies is based on the principles of Align, Deliver, Sustain. Here’s how it works:
1) Align
This takes place before a new joiner walks through the door. It’s designed to engage new starters and ensure they are aligned to the vision, values, history and strategic messages of the organisation.
2) Deliver
The focus here is on the new starter’s first week on the job or at the training centre. It will further familiarise them with your organisation and introduce them to their immediate colleagues and other members of the wider team.
It will also introduce new recruits to your organisation’s systems and processes, as well as policies on areas such as health and safety, terrorism, equality and discrimination.
3) Sustain
In order to sustain, the third phase of the induction process will focus on providing further content to equip new joiners with all the tools they need to do their job properly and to their maximum capabilities. This might include their induction route map, alongside a checklist of the orientation tasks that need to be completed, including signposting to everything they need to get through their first three months of probation.
Ongoing support from colleagues, identifying opportunities for spaced practice and ‘nudging’ new starters to keep learning at the forefront of their minds will be crucial for them to integrate new practices into their everyday activities.
The power of a cost-saving blended learning approach
The above methodology can apply to many industries, but LEO Learning believes that smarter onboarding for airline industry employees should be a tailored, customised process where the company’s as well as the learners’ requirements need to be listened to.
Where technology can create more learning moments for employees (for example, accessing courses on their mobile device while on standby), it is important to take into consideration that face-to-face learning is still an important requirement in highly regulated sectors.
Onboarding programmes using blended learning can offer airlines the flexibility that they need and help them save costs by reviewing their online versus face-to-face learning ratio.
If you want to know more about using blended learning for smarter onboarding for airline industry employees, get in touch today or download our free ebook, ‘Why blended learning works (and can work for you!)’.