Joining a new company can be challenging at the best of times – there’s names to remember, people to impress, and lots of information to take in. On top of this, there’s often regulatory and technical training as well as standard HR processes, making a good induction even more critical.
If you’re an HR professional or manager responsible from new starters, do not underestimate the impact of a well-thought-out induction. Employees who feel comfortable and enjoy their first few days are likely to kick off their career at the company in the right way, leading to better engagement and performance down the line. Here’s how to make it happen…
Induction Basics
Good inductions will cover
- Administrative essentials. This should include health and safety, IT setup, legal/employee documentation, cybersecurity essentials, compliance training, key processes such as how to apply for time off, grievance procedures etc.
- Comprehensive office tour. Providing a floor plan including who sits where can be extremely helpful for new starters.
- Introduction to key colleagues. It’s important for the new starter to meet their team face to face so they can understand the day to day role in more detail as well as getting a sense of the personalities and working styles of the team. Build in time for less ‘formal’ interactions like a paid-for lunch with a couple of colleagues to make them feel at ease.
- Intro to company: history, structure, values and expectations. This is essential to ground the new starter and give them purpose in their role.
- Plan for the first week. This should be structured enough so the new starter is never at a loose end, but with enough time built in for breaks so they can soak up new information.
- Learning and Training: Introduction to core processes relating to the industry and role.
For those looking to take their induction to the next level, here are our top tips.
1 Be ORGANISED and PROACTIVE. Don’t leave everything until the Friday before your starters arrive. Start planning the moment they’ve accepted their offers. Figure out what who in the business you’ll need to help collate the information into their starter pack, block out people’s diaries, and ask for internal feedback on induction processes before they’re launched.
2 Put EFFORT and PASSION into your content. There’s nothing worse than feeling bored on arrival, so use induction to inspire and motivate new employees. Invest in quality training courses and learning content, tailored to your business and the role.
3 TAILOR to different employee types. An employee with 15 years of compliance experience will have different induction requirements to a customer support engineer who has never worked in the industry before. Allow structure to vary according to prior knowledge and skills, curating a tailored programme for each individual. Again, it might be helpful to take feedback from current employees in the role about what induction training they would recommend.
4 Mix it up. Avoid a dry and forgettable induction experience by delivering learning through multiple channels. Use a mix of eLearning (you could even give modules to complete via LMS prior to start date), self-teaching, presentations by senior management, group training (external or internal), manager-led one on ones and shadowing. Different content type requires different delivery, so why stick to one format?
5 TRACK & FOLLOW UP. It’s important to track employees through their induction and follow up on their progress. Not only will this ensure your team are up to speed on their progress and further training requirements, but it will help improve the process for future new starters.
IGA Training offers highly tailored, quality training courses and online learning solutions for companies. If you’d like to discuss how these could support a great induction process, then please contact us here.
