We have seen many companies treat inductions like a tick box exercise- which, to some extent, they can be- making sure that employees are given new start documents and know where the fire exits are all form part of nearly all inductions.
However, what often really matters is how you approach inductions and what they really consist of.
A great induction ensures that employees integrate as well as they can into their new role. Successfully integrating an employee early reduces turnover and can have longer term effects in terms of reducing absence levels and driving higher performance and job satisfaction.
The most important part of any induction is the planning- as they say, if you fail to plan you plan to fail.
Planning
Do you think about what a new start needs? They might have the skills or qualifications to do the job but your systems, culture and ways of working will be unique and so it is important to make sure that this is all captured.
In terms of planning, think about how long the induction will be- often a week is standard but there may be elements of the induction that go beyond the first week which is fine.
Often once you have planned one induction, you can use this planning for future inductions. For this reason, we are advocates of induction packs. Most businesses have a lot of information they want to share with new employees about the business, systems and processes and procedures. Collating that information into one document which can be tweaked to suit each induction makes the planning easier and creates consistency across the business.
Also including basic information about the business- key services, departments and management. Including information that employees typically want to know like bank holiday dates, how to request holidays and pay dates – even dress code- can all be very useful and can answer a lot of questions most new starts will have. If you have employee benefits or a reward and recognition scheme include them here. These are all elements which help encourage early employee engagement.
It is often useful to break inductions down into mornings and afternoons and plan out what the new start will do in each session and, more importantly- who they will do it with. We often forget this- ensuring that new starts have time to work within their team and with individual team members as well as be properly introduced into the business (even areas they are not going to work in) is so important.
It creates a welcoming environment and gives them time to settle into the business. It also shows them that you see them as a long term investment. With the existing team, it provides responsibility and investment in them which helps to drive team engagement, recognition and performance.
From a practical perspective, one person cannot do a whole induction so breaking it down where different people in the team can do parts of it makes sense. Allowing new starts to spend time in other areas of the business – even just an hour here or there- so that they understand the full operations of the business takes the pressure off the department to catch up on any work and provides an opportunity to give feedback on how they feel the induction is going.
Supporting Documents
Once you have planned this, having an induction document and schedule which can be given to your new team member on their first day shows them you have taken time to plan and think about their first week or weeks. Sharing it with the team and others in the business who are going to be involved in their induction also allows you to organise your work and others’ work around the induction.
Also give consideration to breaks- is an employee happy to show them around the local area or invite them for lunch during their first week? It can be challenging integrating into a new team so making new team members feel welcome can go a long way.
Review
Getting feedback from new starts and current team members to find out improvements you could make to the induction process is also worthwhile as is incorporating it into your probationary review process to make for a ore streamlined approach
As with everything, an induction will be personal to you and your business so please let us know if you want to refresh or introduce a new induction process.
