What is everboarding?

Training occurs at several stages of employment: new-hire onboarding, to eliminate skills gaps, when tools or products change, annual compliance training, preparation for a promotion.

Work-related learning happens all the time, whether collaboratively, via social platforms, or self-directed — in addition to formal training.

Everboarding recognizes that learning is constant and transforms training from a “go-to” or “one-and-done” event to a continuous process.

Learning is ongoing

One-time exposure to information is rarely enough. Spaced repetition is a proven approach to mastery and knowledge retention.

Yet many corporate training programs expose learners to an eLearning course or instructor-led training, once, and that’s it; training is “completed.”

Training might be finished, but learning is just starting.

When learners complete their training, they might be able to pass a quiz or regulatory exam that day. But what about next week or in 4 months? And, with a large gap until their next training, how much prep time will they need to recertify next year?

Knowledge retention is the goal, not completing a training course.

Everboarding recognizes that learners need repeated exposure to content to remember and retain the important concepts and facts. It acknowledges that onboarding training might overwhelm new employees with too much information all at once, and it provides a structure to review and reinforce their learning.

In short, everboarding is an approach to corporate training that focuses on knowledge retention.

The specific details of each everboarding strategy are as unique as your organization and learner population.

• Your approach might use blended learning, combining virtual or in-person instructor-led training with microlearning to build a knowledge retention campaign.
• It might be all digital, combining eLearning courses with an app that offers Q&A, flashcards, a game, or other mechanisms to review and reinforce learning.
• You might have an all-microlearning campaign that incorporates teaching with review and self-testing using a variety of interactive activities.

Bring learning and working together

Whatever your approach, the ongoing portion of your everboarding strategy should include moving training, retention, or both into the workflow, by making short learning sessions a part of the daily or weekly routine. That can help with retention because learners will access lessons and activities within the context of their work — they will find and review the information at the moment they need to use it. 

Integrating learning with work also increases engagement, since learners do not have to schedule time to train and interrupt their work processes.

Improve training results and job performance and embrace a continuous learning culture: A move from one-and-done training to everboarding is a win for learners, managers, training admins — and your bottom line.

Now that you have a solid understanding of what everboarding is, it’s time to dive into use cases for everboarding! We cover scenarios where taking an everboarding approach to your online training will help your organization thrive. Head over to our article “How can I use online training to benefit current employees?” (hint, it’s everboarding), and we’ll walk through the use cases together. Alternatively, if you’re looking to continue your journey through our learning hub’s guided introduction to online training, jump back and find the next article that piques your interest.