Effectively Onboarding New Staff and Volunteers

The purpose of onboarding is to get your new hire or volunteer to be productive as quickly as possible. You want them to feel like they belong and at the same time effectively contribute to the work of the organization.  

Experts within this field of work noted that onboarding has the second highest impact on the efficacy of your organization’s work. Having a great onboarding process is not only key in helping you to retain top talent but having any form of an onboarding program has been shown to increase staff retention rates by up to 25%. 

Learning Objectives 

Upon completing this course, you will be able to: 

• Understand the value and importance of the onboarding process in the engagement, productivity, and performance of new personnel. 
• Develop an onboarding toolkit that includes a workback plan. And, 
• Create checklists and ideas to incorporate in your onboarding process.  

The toolkit you develop will cover new hires and volunteers that work in your office or remotely.  It will help you to efficiently and effectively onboard new personnel by focusing on orientation, administration, and social integration. 

Course Curriculum

Part 1: Onboarding: What is it? Why is it important? 

Part 2: Effective Onboarding 

Part 3: Helping New Hires Feel Welcome and Engaged

Links and Additional Resources

5 downloadable resources and course transcript

Course Access & Duration

This course is on-demand, meaning that you can take it anytime, at your own pace. The course will take approximately 1.5 hours to complete from start to finish. You have one year (365 days) to complete the course from the date of purchase before it will automatically expire in your account. However, once you open a course for the very first time, you will have unlimited access to complete the course within 3 months. You can choose to take the course in one sitting or in smaller bites. Either way, the course is entirely flexible and up to you how fast you complete it within the 3-month time frame!

Course Level/Prerequisites/Certification Credits 

Introductory level, no prerequisites.
This training may be used to meet the requirements for renewing the Certified in Volunteer Administration (CVA) credential, but you will need to contact the CVA directly. One Professional Development Unit (PDU) is awarded for each 50-60-minute session or contact hour in topics related to volunteer resources management. For more details about the CVA program and whether this course meets the renewal requirements, visit www.CVAcert.org or email info@cvacert.org. 

Continuing education certification may be eligible through the Professional Administrators of Volunteer Resources – Ontario (PAVRO). For more information, please email pavro@pavro.on.ca. 

Participation in the course is applicable for 1.5 points in Category 1.B – Education of the CFRE International application for initial certification and/or recertification.

Pricing

$99 – this price includes unlimited access to the course for 3 months and all the course downloads. 

Final Exam

The final exam is optional but highly recommended. If you choose not to complete the final exam, the course status on your eLearning dashboard will show as incomplete. 

About the Course Author

Liz Rejman (she/her) has spent 25 years (and counting) working in the fundraising profession serving social service organizations, arts organizations, healthcare foundations, and higher education institutions.

In her role as Director, Fundraising Operations at Pathways to Education Canada she developed an onboarding experience specifically for the fundraising team to combat the stress of staff turnover and improve employee engagement. She has shared her knowledge and expertise on the topics of leadership, prospect development, ethics in fundraising, and data management at numerous and in fundraising articles. Liz is a former President for the prospect development association Apra and served as a member of the Board of Trustees for the Apra Foundation.

She has instructed at both Western University on the topic of technology in the notfor-profit sector and at Georgian College on prospect research. She is the co-editor and contributor to the book “Prospect Research in Canada: An Essential Guide for Researchers and Fundraisers” and contributor to the book “The Vigilant Fundraiser”.

“An investment in a positive onboarding experience will yield higher engagement and greater productivity every time.”

“A positive onboarding experience increases engagement, retention and productivity in the most efficient manner possible.”