Introducing new employees has traditionally been carried out in large groups for a full or half-day full of information in the form of lectures, information sheets, cheat sheets, and elements of food and fika. Some may prefer introductions of this kind because they find physical encounters with people more enjoyable. However, this kind of introduction has begun to be phased out after the pandemic changed our behavior around larger gatherings of people. Therefore, it is crucial that digital education that replaces physical education appeals to everyone who may need to attend it.

When introductions and other educational materials are digitized, you must think a few extra rounds to ensure the material reaches all intended target groups. For example, you may need to supplement text material with videos as everyone learns differently, but working from Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) is at least as important to ensure that everyone can actually absorb the content.

Getting a good start on a project (which can be to create an education) is one of the prerequisites for the result to be as good as possible. Many models for project planning assume that the more time you spend on the preparatory work, the better the end result.

At InfoCaption, we advocate that education, especially introductions, should be easy to absorb and understand. It should be easy to find the education and uncomplicated to return to it later if you are interrupted or for rehearsal. Therefore, we think it is important to invest time in creating these central and digitized educations that replace traditional physical meetings.

By spending time producing a nice, accessible, and easy-to-understand introductory education, Forshaga municipality wants to ensure that all new employees get a good start in their new workplace, feel welcome, and get a good foundation for further introduction and see their own role from a larger perspective.

Lina Wiklundh, a communicator, and Lena Andersson, HR consultant at Forshaga municipality, further said:

We have all been new employees and know how important it is to get a good start on your new job. We want to feel welcome among colleagues, understand our new context and get the information we need to do a good job and thrive.

We want everyone to get off to a good start with us
The goal of the new central introduction is primarily that those who are newly employed should feel warmly welcome to us in Forshaga municipality! In addition, we want to tell you about our common mission and what it means to work in a public organization.

A common ground
The central introduction contains information that is common to all: how a municipality is governed, how our organization looks, how we communicate, and information about employment, benefits, collaboration, work environment, and much more. Digital education does not replace but complements personal meetings. Each manager is responsible for the reception and the part of the introduction that concerns work tasks, systems, and the routines that apply at the current workplace.

This is how we did it
The central introduction contains information that is common to all: how a municipality is governed, how our organization looks, how we communicate, and information about employment, benefits, collaboration, work environment, and much more. Digital education does not replace but complements personal meetings. Each manager is responsible for the reception and the part of the introduction that concerns work tasks, systems, and the routines that apply to the current workplace.

We all know that everyone absorbs information in different ways. Therefore, we have chosen to mix texts, films, images, and graphics. It can be viewed on a computer, telephone, or tablet and is adapted to accessibility in accordance with the requirements of the Act on Accessibility to Digital Public Services. The training takes about an hour to complete. After each chapter, you must answer a few questions to ensure you understand the content.

Comments from new employees who tested the education:

• Clear, warm, educational, and informative!
• All employees benefit from taking advantage of this, regardless of whether you are a long-term employee, a new employee, or when relocating a job.
• Professional, trustworthy, and long-awaited introductory material!
• Positive image, environment, location, and welcoming tone.
• Well laid out, and you find out the necessary things that can be good to keep track of.
• I think the short film clips are very good as you get a face on the characters and not just a names.
• The training gave an overview of what the organization looks like in the municipality, which is good for my work here. I also like that you emphasize that every employee is important.

Click here to see the education! (in Swedish)

We in Team InfoCaption think that Forshaga municipality has used almost all the tools available to create this education. It is clear and contains interactive instructions for employees to participate in, which not only consists of text but keeps the user active by mixing text, knowledge tests, and video content. We believe this introductory training will create great value for the municipality.

Forshaga municipality has received the Guide of the Month award thanks to their fantastic work.