INDUCTION PROCESS
You’ve recruited your next star employee. You’ve used your new recruitment process and it has worked really well. In fact, you had two real quality candidates and you couldn’t differentiate between the two, – so you hired them both!
What happens now……..? Its’s their first day on the job and they are sitting opposite you in your office, looking expectantly at you. They’re excited and you are thinking you now have to spend time training them.
Do you:
- Welcome them, give a quick guided tour of the premises, give them a small company handbook and tell them to get on with it…
or
- Realise what an important asset they are to your business and set out a proper induction plan with them for the next 90 days.
Many businesses owners don’t have an induction process or plan for their new employees and will do option 1. They hope and expect their new employee to pick up the culture and vibe of the business on their own. They then wonder why their new employees become disillusioned very quickly, don’t live up to the expectations expected of them and become disengaged, doing only what is expected or even less than expected, while the boss still pays them a salary. The boss wonders why he even recruited the ‘has been’ employee in the first place.
Does this sound familiar?
A proper induction process is absolutely fundamental to get the best out of your new employee. You abdicate doing this at your peril.
Yes, it does take time and effort to induct a new employee. The rewards though, when done properly far outweigh the time spent inducting them.
So, what does a good Induction programme look like?
Whether you do it yourself, or if your organisation is large enough that someone else can do it on your behalf, doesn’t negate your responsibility to ensure the induction process is followed and completed over the next 90 days.
Followed properly you will have an outstanding diligent employee at the end of the 90-day induction programme who will go on to make you lots of money
What does a good 90-day induction programme look like?
It must have these ingredients in it.
Vision and Mission – reinforce the Behaviours and Culture that make your business what it is. You will have spoken about them at the interview. Now is the opportunity for the new employee to see them in action and why they are important you your business.
Company Handbook with all relevant details (relevant means specific to your business
KPI’s – the expectations for the employee. One of the most important documents. It outlines the KPI’s you have set together with your new employee and how they will achieve those objectives, and what training they need to fulfil the job requirements
Reward and Consequences – just like children, employees need to know the parameters and boundaries they can work within
Weekly one to one meeting’s for at least the first month. This allows for trust and open communication to be built and sorts any issues within 7 days. It’s not left to fester
Role plays and on-the-job training and mentoring. Role play with your new employee the job specs. Have a process and or script for each scenario. This means they have the resource to know what to do and don’t have to ask you each time.
Attached is an indicative 90-day plan. It is by no means exhaustive and there are many other variations that could be added. It is a start and can be added or deleted to.