Making the New Guy feel welcome!
by Claire Stewart on 22/01/09 at 7:00 am
1 comment
Not many organisations are recruiting this particular January, but usually there is workforce movement within organisations at this time of the year. If you have just hired a new employee then you may want to consider implementing a simple induction programme to fast track their assimilation into their role. You will start them off with a great experience of the organisation. Here are a few pointers:
- Firstly you should assign an ‘office buddy’ prior to their start date so when they arrive they are met by someone who can show them the ropes for the first few days.
- It’s great if you can get the person who is leaving the position to train up the new employee, if not then arrange to have the old employee’s manager or a co-worker explain the position as clearly and thoroughly as possible.
- Ensure that the employee understands what their outputs are and any deadlines that affect them.
- Within a week you should run a workshop for new employees where the organisation’s employment contracts, policies and procedures and informal practices are explained.
- It’s always a nice idea to finish the workshop with an informal gathering with all the staff, either at the premises or at a local bar / restaurant.
- Make sure that your new employee signs their employment contract- give them a copy and put the original on the employee’s file.
- Meet with the new employee after a week, a month and three months to check on their progress and how they are finding the position- their probation period should be up by the end of 3 months.
I’m always looking for relevant subjects to write about to help you manage the HR side of your business more effectively. If you think of a subject that you would like clarity or further information on, please let me know and I’ll see what I can do.
Warm wishes for a fabulous 2009!
Claire Stewart is the founder of PeopleWise, an HR and Employment consulting service. Like Neo in the Matrix, Claire sees through the convoluted mess of SA employment law and makes sense of it for you, loyal Ideate reader. View more articles by Claire Stewart.
Tags: employment, recruitment
idale
Jan 30th, 2009
Hi Claire
Nice article. In addition to the points you raise regarding induction, our company feels its important is instilling the brand values and the company culture into a new employee from day 0 – before he/she joins.
We tackle this by having the “buddy” ring up the person and chat about what time they should come through on their first day, etc.. state a general excitement about them joining, and all that.
First rule of order is showing a bunch of videos, made by the other staff in a team build, to really give the newby an impression of the company culture and people.
We’ve found that this aids in staff retention and have several other strategies to specifically tackle staff turnover and employee education about our company, and industry.