Technology has been pushing us toward an all-digital world, making paper of very little use. However, companies now understand the importance of physical onboarding materials and the psychology behind them.
Organizations all over the world now offer employees physical onboarding materials to new hires to emphasize important messages that don’t always go through digital offerings.
Many startups have shifted from online booklets to physical booklets for new employees, serving as tangible resources that filter out digital noise without contributing to screen time stress.
Solving Digital Fatigue with Printed Onboarding Strategies in Tech
How Digital Fatigue Has Become a Major Problem in Corporates
Fresh hires at companies already spend a majority of their time on screens, from working to checking emails and notifications on Slack, and the onboarding process makes it even more fatiguing
In hectic onboarding processes, important information for new employees gets lost in a pile of digital pages. Additionally, with an overload of screen time, critical onboarding details are difficult to retain, leading to new employees forgetting crucial procedures.
This is why many companies are now providing employees with handbooks that can be easily printed by online booklet printing services, thereby removing distractions during those first weeks.
This paper’s printed material creates a psychological phenomenon called cognitive anchoring, where information from physical objects is retained in memory more than screen-based content.
Practical Advantages of Printed Onboarding Materials
As the online work culture has evolved, the demand for physical materials has increased significantly. Having printed reference material saves time wasted on searching for answers online or asking colleagues multiple times.
With everything online and dependent on the internet, physical materials save employees in an emergency situation when they are not able to access the network. Remote employees in areas with unstable internet or those traveling during onboarding appreciate not needing connectivity for basic reference information.
One of the most important uses of physical materials is that they reduce screen fatigue. New hires already spend 8-10 hours daily on screens, and reading long onboarding information on screen increases this fatigue, whereas having physical onboarding material provides cognitive relief.
Additionally, branded physical onboarding material enhances company culture in distributed teams. A well-designed welcome packet creates a connection with the organization that a PDF cannot match. Various companies, like HelloPrint, provide quality onboarding materials that serve a true purpose in onboarding a new employee.
How To Implement Physical Onboarding Material in Your Company
While implementing physical onboarding materials, the focus should be on critical information that employees repeatedly check, like the company org chart, benefit summaries, or tech stack overviews. With this, keep digital platforms for information that updates frequently, like project wikis or real-time announcements.
Use a clear hierarchy with sufficient space and high-quality material, as these booklets will be used multiple times. Size should be implemented carefully. A5 size usually fits desks perfectly without disturbing the space flow.
Various print-on-demand services, such as HelloPrint, allow you to update content quarterly without requiring high costs.
