Research has shown time and again that organisations need to invest heavily to induct new staff to have the best chance of retaining them, as well as achieving the maximum level of productivity from them as early as possible.
This shouldn’t be left to the HR Department (even if you have one). It should be seen as a core responsibility of every supervisor. Many client companies also employ “Buddy Systems”, buddying-up their new employees with experienced employees, to help the new employee acquaint themselves with the workplace and the expected performance standards.
New employees (and indeed all employees) need to receive the necessary training to be able to perform their job satisfactorily. There should be easily accessible training materials, suited to the particular learning style of the employee. For example, for some often-repeated tasks, some of our clients use pictures and wall charts to demonstrate how common, repetitive functions should be performed correctly and safely.
How We Can Help
Here are some of the ways we have helped our clients establish successful induction strategies for new staff –
- writing down how things are done (‘work method statements’ or Standard Operating Procedures – ‘SOPs’) and to what standard, to provide a reference point for current and future training and induction;
- creation of staff handbooks, adapting our standard template documents where this is appropriate – to save time and money. But we can also review your existing handbooks for completeness and user-friendliness if you prefer;
- developing induction processes and checklists to make sure new employees get a good overview of your organisation, their role in it, and important rules and policies;
- developing organisation policy and procedures so your people understand your rules and their rights;
- developing new starter surveys, so you get rapid feedback on how they feel about working with you so you can take remedial action where this is required.
For more support contact us to discuss how we can help you induct new staff.