You should carry out an induction as it will help your new appointment to establish themselves quickly in their job and productivity become motivated to do well and fit into the business early on.
Investing time in the induction process will give new workers a good grounding and help them make fewer mistakes in the long run. The highest level of staff turnover is among newer workers so it is important that the early period spent with your business leaves a good impression on them.
In the time prior to your new appointment starting with you is good practice to keep in contact with them, even meeting for a coffee before they start to give them more of an insight to the company and their job role, really making them feel like they are wanted for the job and keeping them in the loop with any business updates. You can also send the new appointment their contract and training plan before they join as this will allow them time to read over and prepare any questions they may have for you.
It is good practice to start their first day with a company overview.
For the first half of the induction you want to give them an overview of the company, telling them a little bit about the company background and plans you have for the future. This might include some financial information, types of customers you have, update on the management team and their own team.
By the time is comes round to the induction your new appointment will have received their contract by either email or mail. You can also ask them to bring an already signed copy in with them at their induction. Verify they understand the contract and have no issues with it.
You always want to cover some of your company policies and procedures in the induction, things like payroll, holidays and sickness. Allow the new appointment some time to read over the employee handbook allowing them to familiarise themselves with it.
You also want to get your new appointment to fill in their new start form. This will include their contact details, bank details and emergency contact details.
In the second part of the induction, it is best to go through their training plan. This is also something that you can send out with their contract prior to them starting as it allows them to see what you have in store for their first few weeks in the company. Go through the training plan in depth allowing them to ask any questions they have on this. You can also set some objectives and what you would like them to achieve in the first few weeks, something which you can measure at their probationary period review.
Health and safety procedures should always be covered on induction also, including fire exists and any other relevant health and safety procedures that suit your company and the job role. This may include manual handling, lone working, use of specialist equipment and the use of PPE.
Letting your new appointment meet the rest of your team is important to make them feel welcomed into the company. Identify key people in the team who they can shadow – it’s important to reinforce a positive impression, therefore look at people who can be a good ambassador for your business.
Remember, induction isn’t only the first day of employment. The induction period continues during the probationary period, and you should check in regularly, reviewing their progress against the training plan. As a minimum, we would suggest a face to face catch up at the end of the first week, and then again after the first month, and then 4 weekly up to the point you carry out the probationary review.
There should be no surprises at the probation review and maintaining regular contact, giving feedback on performance is really important.
An effective induction will also involve you asking for some feedback from them – so carry out an evaluation to ensure your induction process is relevant and up to date.
Your turn
Do you have any good practice around induction you’d like to share?
