Induction is the first chance any organisation gets to welcome and develop new talent. The quality of the experience has implications for the individual’s commitment to the company – 69% of employees are more likely to stay with a company for three years if they experienced great onboarding (O.C. Tanner), and for the bottom-line, the cost of employee turnover is estimated to range between 100% and 300% of the replaced employee’s salary (HBR).

Deloitte approached Solvd Together to update the Analyst Induction Programme (AIP) for the UK Consulting business. Both organisations are believers in bringing human-centered 5Di learning design, to learning and development so this led to an exciting and rewarded relationship. Working from research already conducted by Deloitte, Solvd Together applied the 5Di model and an event marketing best practices to deliver an in-person experience that could achieve both business and audience performance outcomes. 

However, as the COVID-19 pandemic continued unabated, the team had to work flexibly and redesign the in-person programme to work in a studio, and then in a fully virtual context. The principles agreed at the outset of the engagement such us user-centricity and TV-quality production, were carried over to all versions of the programme.

The result of the collaboration was an immersive 5-day event combined with a digital platform and impactful communications campaign. The features of this experience included:

• A BBC host that introduced sessions and tied everything together.
• A consumer-grade front-end to the event that mimicked an in-person participant-experience.
• TED-length talks (20 mins maximum) from senior leaders in the firm, who were also trained by a TED Talk communications coach.
• A series of practical, team-based exercises supported by 50+ enthusiastic Deloitte faculty.
• Sessions with celebrity guests, such as a cook along with Nadia Hussain and a Q&A with Ashley Banjo.
• Several immersive, actor-led simulations that put the new joiners in scenarios that matched the reality of professional services.
• Fun virtual games and activities to improve the networking and connection between all participants and faculty.
• Pre and post communications that looked and felt like a brand activation. 
  

The success of the approach and delivery led to Solvd Together being asked to deliver further seven programmes 2021 and 2022. This included leading the design on an integrated graduate induction for an additional four service lines, another week of AIP, and a one day summer conference for more than 3000 delegates.