Setting New Employees Up for Long Term Success
Make your employees feel valuable, empower them to feel included in outcomes, and make them feel welcome that’s a sure-fire way of setting them up for long-term success. It’s as simple as that. On their first day have someone ready to induct them into the business. Make sure their computer is set up if they need a computer, make sure there are all the tools they need to do their job. The number of times I’ve heard people have turned up, “Ah, we weren’t ready for you. Oh, you need to sit over there. Oh, here’s a handbook, here read it.”
Make sure you’ve got their workstation all set up and ready to go. Give new employees all the tools and equipment they need to succeed from day one
Remember to give them a tour of the premises. Show them where the tea and coffee area are located. Show them where the toilets, familiarize them with the fire exits and health and safety notices. Introduce them to other staff members. If you can, I suggest doing a stationery box up. Pens, pencils, rubbers, staplers, everyone fights over staplers, getting that all set up. Having that all there and even if during the interview they said, “Oh, I like Turkish delight chocolates, ” have some at their workstation.
“Oh, they listen. I’m not a number on the payroll record; I’m just not your employee. I’m important.” So, it’s the first 90 days that someone decides whether they’re going to stay or leave a business.
The first day is crucial; it’s setting everything up. Sitting down with the line manager and discussing what is required of the employee. Giving the employee an orientation and training schedule. The person knows what their job will be, how they’re going to do it, and what tools are available for them, and what support is available for them as well. So, they go home feeling excited.
There are health and safety obligations, as well.
- Identify the emergency exits
- Walk through the evacuation procedure
- A copy of the employee handbook.
- Essential facility locations, i.e., restrooms
- Signed off.
You need to get the induction sign-off on because if they come back and say, “I didn’t know.” “Well, on this day at this time we went through this with you,” and not every new employee is going to work out. That is just the way it is. No matter how good your induction is, no matter how good your business is, there is always going to be that bad apple in the basket.
The more documentation you have, the more that’s written down, the more that are signed off, the greater your protection. And I do hope you don’t have to go through it, but should you hear someone come back and try to bite you with a fair work case, for example, then you know that you’ve got all the documentation ready to state your case.
If you’re a business owner and you’ve got at least 15 staff, an employee can go for unfair dismissal if they’re out of jurisdiction until about at 12 months anyway. And if you’ve got more than 15 staff, at six months that they’d be out of jurisdiction for unfair dismissal.
But you could have unlawful or adverse actions, so you need to cover those off. Checking in at the end of the first week:
- Hey, how are you going?
- Have you any questions?
- Is there anything that you need?
- Is there any support?
Adding, it’s been great having you here, really looking forward to that next week. Your people aren’t just a payroll number; they’re not just another employee either. Make them feel important because everybody wants to feel important. Everyone wants to feel valued, and everyone wants to feel welcomed and appreciated for the skills that they bring to the table.
Make sure you’ve given them your policies, practices, and procedures before their first day of work, including any fieldwork statements if necessary. Now, that’s important. There are quite hefty fines if you don’t, which not many people realize. So do make sure you get them the fieldwork statement on or before because it is in the national quality standards. Fieldwork statements should be included in your induction package, and it’s a good idea to have your employees sign off.
And you’ve got a brochure about your company, including that something the more prominent companies have. A brochure illustrating about us, this is what we do, company mission statement so they can get up to speed quickly. Make sure you’ve got everything ready to go when you’re taking on a new employee.
And the most significant thing, I see this all the way along, this is how I operate, treat others the way you want to be treated.
You’re instilling the company culture in the new employee. Treat people the way you want to be treated. If you treat people well, you’ll get the same treatment back in return in most instances.
You can grab lots more information in our Probationary Employment Manual
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