On-boarding Apprentices in a Virtual World

Highly trained employees are more important than ever for business success. Having the right team, with the right skills allows businesses to meet the challenges of competition, growth and innovation. In order to achieve this however, you must have the best possible candidate. During this past year every part of how we do business has been impacted by the pandemic, and this of course includes how new employees, including apprentices, are found, hired, inducted and on-boarded into an organisation. 

Introductory meetings (for new recruits) with the team now take place over Zoom or Microsoft Teams, and catch ups over coffees have been replaced with virtual handshakes – but that doesn’t mean it isn’t possible to take on a new hire, and specifically an apprentice, and to do so effectively. In fact, I’ve been speaking with many insurance employers who recruited apprentices (as part of The Insurance Practitioner Apprenticeship) during this past year and their feedback was hugely reassuring - they said the programme lends itself well to remote on-boarding, due to its structure as well as the remote learning aspect. Many also said that with a few small changes to their on-boarding approach they were able to easily bridge the gap and ensure a smooth transition for the new apprentice. 

When speaking with these insurance employers one thing really struck me – that despite the pandemic and the challenges we’ve all faced, one thing has remained the same – when hiring an apprentice the employer needs to look at how they can provide them with the support needed to help them build a successful and sustainable career within the industry. The Insurance Practitioner Apprenticeship has been in existence for almost six years and having this experience behind us served us, the apprentices and the employers well during this past year. It also meant that we already had a robust framework in place for on-boarding which was straightforward and could be adapted for the virtual world. 

On-boarding an apprentice is a significant responsibility at the best of times, but we know that doing so within the current environment can seem daunting. To on-board an apprentice remotely and to do so successfully employers need to prioritise the following strategies – these should help employers provide a solid start for any new apprentice and ensure they hit the ground running. 

1. Welcome Packs – making the apprentice feel welcome and valued will be hugely important – particularly as they will miss out on the chance to meet everyone in person. Going that extra mile and providing them with a welcome pack could really help to make them feel more at ease. The pack could contain important information about the company’s culture etc, but also nice gifts such as stationary, a mug or even a bar of chocolate – it’s the little things that can make all the difference! 

2. Soft introductions – try not to overwhelm the apprentice with too many formal introductions – it’s already daunting enough doing them over zoom, so try to make intros more relaxed and informal if possible. 

3. Compile ‘form filing’ ahead of the start date – not something we necessarily would have thought of pre-pandemic but providing the apprentice with forms to be completed ahead of their start date will mean they are a little more familiar with how things work even before they officially begin the job. 

4. Provide a roadmap – giving the apprentice a clear timetable of what’s going to happen, and by when will be hugely reassuring for them – again the apprenticeship helps with this as there are key dates already scheduled in their diary. 

5. Block book time – make sure meetings are in their calendar before they even begin so that during those first few weeks their time is always accounted for. 

6. Encourage collaboration – create opportunities for the apprentice to build social capital and connections within the business – this will be hugely important for their development and progression. 

7. Structured mentorship programme – having someone responsible for the apprentice’s career development and who can provide them with guidance is invaluable. 

Of course there will be challenges with taking on an apprentice in the current environment – but as always here at The Insurance Institute we are on hand to help in any way we can – in fact we have developed a comprehensive guide for employers interested in taking on apprentices – ‘On-boarding in a Virtual World’. This guide contains everything an employer needs to know about on-boarding remotely and it can be downloaded here.

If however you have any further questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch – we would only be delighted to hear from you.