[Editor’s Note: Beverley Ireland-Symonds is one of EmployWise.com’s expert authors. She has worked in different fields including the NHS and fashion and spent 16 years working in adult and further education. She currently runs a training and consultancy company, Accelerated Training & Consultancy as well as a coaching practice: Coaching with Confidence. She writes for her blogsCommunication Skills and Confidence Coaching. You can follow her onTwitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Beverley has a Master’s degree from Greenwich University.]

When a new member of staff joins an organisation, the importance of providing them with an effective induction cannot be underestimated, and yet quite often people are not provided with sufficient information and are left struggling to find out things by chance. This is not a good tactic and can leave a new member of staff feeling isolated, disappointed and stressed about their new job.

I once had an irate manager ring me up and demand to know why I hadn’t been to meet her and the rest of the management team. Distraught that I had caused such offence I had to admit that I didn’t know they were my staff, which made me look an idiot. I then tried to put things right by saying that I would meet up with them immediately at their management meeting. When I was told where they were it was a building I had never heard of and I had to ask where it was. Again, not very impressive. When I eventually found my way there my manager presented me with a map of the buildings. Clearly I should have already received this and a proper organisation chart as part of my induction.

The way organisations conduct their inductions will vary, but I believe that to ensure staff have the information they need to do their jobs induction should come in three different parts: Organisation, HR (Human Resources) and department.

Organisation

Introduction to the organisation’s core business, mission and values and future prospects. This is often the opportunity to meet key senior members of staff and put faces to some of the names the employee has already heard or read about. The problem with organisational inductions is that because they generally only happen now and again, it’s possible that a new member of staff can be in their job for some months before this happens. So depending on their role, the new member of staff may need to have a lot of this information as soon as they start and this will need to come from their line manager.

Human Resources

Some organisations rely on department managers/supervisors to relay important information about staffing policies, practices and employee conditions, but I believe this is poor practice. It’s the HR staff who have the best knowledge about things such as annual leave, sickness/absence leave, pay, pensions, organisational procedures such as complaints, appraisals, probation etc and it is them who should deliver it. They should also be monitoring that new staff have received an effective induction by collecting proper feedback

Department

It’s generally the department induction which is key to someone settling happily into their new job. However, all too often managers/supervisors leave the entire process to another a member of staff and the information is given in less than an hour. This isn’t adequate.

The best organisations will have an induction process that lasts a period of time, so not all the information is delivered at once. Even if these guidelines are not in place managers should think through the amount of information the new member of staff needs and ensure that it is given in a timely fashion. Mixing up practical information such as where to find the photocopier and nearest toilets with technical details of the job can leave the new employee in a muddle. Clearly it is sensible to have a induction checklist and a pack of where they can find information that they need.

Even if Manager are not doing all the induction they must find time to meet up with the new member of staff to find out how the job is going, talk through the probation process and give them any additional information. Not only is it an opportunity for the manager to get to know more about the member of staff, it’s also an opportunity for them to ask questions or to voice areas of concern.

Summary

Having an effective induction can make a substantial difference on an employee’s long term performance and how long they want to work for an organisation. If companies care about retaining and developing talented staff a thorough induction is a must.

Photo by: Nozomi Stall