Employee Induction: Giving New Team Members a Head Start

The first day at a new job is always a time of confusion. So many people to meet, and so much to learn, in a short span of time. A well-planned staff induction program can make it so much easier for new team members and so much more beneficial for the firm.

Some companies make the mistake of ignoring the induction process. But induction, the learning necessary to get a new person up to speed, will go on regardless. The point is, expecting the new person to learn things by themselves or by asking questions from other employees, rather than structuring how they learn these things, will only waste time and cost the business money.

Starting a new job is a stressful experience for new personnel. This will naturally affect the success of any induction program and can even cause the new person to ‘drop out’ if they feel excessively uncomfortable or pressured.

It is therefore worth spending time on effective induction, as real cost savings can be made in a number of areas; avoiding accidents caused through unfamiliarity, rapid achievement of full productivity, and minimizing the likelihood of the person being frustrated ad leaving so that you are put to the entire recruitment cost again.

You don’t have to be a big firm to have an effective induction program that works for every new team member. Think of the potential mutual benefits:

• The new team member gets a sense of being part of the business
• He or she learns about the history of the business
• Some of the businesses’ culture can be communicated
• He or she gains a feeling of confidence rather than confusion

Giving new team members the right kind of introduction to your business means they can quickly get over the ‘strangeness’ of their new work environment and become productive almost immediately. Here are some suggestions of what your induction program for new team members might contain:

1. An introduction by you, to their supervisor
2. An introduction to their workplace, including a tour of the premises and its facilities
3. An introduction to their colleagues
4. Instruction in internal communications – intranet, emails and so on
5. Security and first aid procedures
6. Dress code, smoking policy
7. Company history
8. Office procedures – telephone answering, stationery supplies

To get through your own firm’s induction list might take half a day, or two days, or even longer. This doesn’t mean that’s where you’ll spend all of your time of course, but it does mean that part of the induction process involves deciding who will handle which elements of the induction.

The initial stages of the induction are usually handled by the person’s supervisor. Other stages related to more specialized areas can be handled by people who are knowledgeable in those areas.

One of the main sources of frustration for new team members is not knowing who to contact in the business if they have a question on a specific subject. For this reason it’s a good idea to have a list of possible question areas (stationery, annual holidays, payroll) and the names of the persons to contact.

It’s also better to have a written induction schedule for a new team member that includes the subject of each section and the name of the person who will handle that part of the induction. This will also serve as a checklist to ensure that all planned stages are completed.

Some inductions require specific training; in areas such as computer software or work procedures for instance. It is absolutely essential that all persons conducting a segment of the induction know their topic thoroughly and can mentor the inductee through all steps of the learning process.

The induction will determine how quickly your new team members settle into the business and how quickly they reach their full potential. Involve as many of your team as possible to create good relations between the new employees and those that they will work with.

It’s always a good idea to ensure that even on day one the new team member is involved in performing some actual work related to their role within the organization. This will give them a feeling of purpose and accomplishment, and provide a break in the barrage of information being poured into them.

When the induction process has been completed, have an informal discussion with the inductee to see if there are any gaps or missing elements in their understanding that might point to gaps in the induction procedure itself and modify the program as necessary.

Copyright 2004, RAN ONE Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission from www.ranone.com.