10. Induction And Training

Taking on an employee represents a major investment on your part. It is definitely worthwhile ensuring that your new employee is content, productive and likely to stay with you for a significant length of time. The first step in that process is carrying out an effective new employee induction and addressing your employee´s training needs. You will learn about these two elements in this session.

• Induction - Make your Employee Feel Welcome
• Address Training Needs

INDUCTION - MAKE YOUR EMPLOYEE FEEL WELCOME

Induction is the process of welcoming your new employee and making them familiar with your business and the role they are going to perform. First impressions last. In fact, research suggests that many people know at the end of their first day´s work if they will still be with that company a year later.

To hear about Jake´s Induction Disaster, click here.

Jake´s experience explains why the highest rates of staff turnover in small companies can be found among new employees. Follow the steps below to make sure you get off to a better start!

Welcome Your New Employee
First things first, make sure you organise the recruit´s first day on a day when you have enough time to welcome them and introduce them to your business. In a very small business, you will probably be able to complete most of the new employee induction in one day.

Provide an Overview of Your Business
Put yourself in the shoes of the new employee. You would be curious to know about the business, what types of work it carries out, who are the main customers, who you are likely to be in contact with and many more similar questions. Take a few moments to go over these areas with your new recruit, and show them around the premises.

Recap on Administrative Matters
As mentioned earlier, you should provide any new employee with a written statement of Terms of Employment. You can recap on this on the first day. You will also need to get any bank details or other details you need for the payment of wages / salary and social contributions.

Downloadable Support Materials

	View a Checklist of administrative requirements for the United Kingdom
	View a Checklist of issues that should be covered in a Health and Safety Policy
	View a sample Induction Checklist.

Explain Health and Safety Regulations

An essential element of the induction process entails making the employee aware of your Health and Safety Policy. This can be a problem if you do not have a Health and Safety Policy. Don´t worry - this is not difficult.

There may also be specific types of regulations for your type of business. For example, people working in the food industry have to adhere to certain hygiene procedures. These issues are addressed in section 4, you may want to ask your local business adviser about some of these.  

Introduce Your New Recruit to their Job

Explain to your recruit exactly what their duties will be and ensure they know how to carry out those duties. This might include showing them how to use general office equipment such as the phone system or photocopier but can also involve particular equipment needed for their job, such as food mixers in a delicatessen setting, or cutting equipment in a landscape gardening business.

Introduce Your New Recruit to Key People

Depending on the nature of your business, your new employee might have a lot of contact with certain customers or suppliers. Let these people know in advance that you are taking on a new employee and then be sure to introduce your new employee to them.

Have I Covered Everything?

Have a look at the Induction Checklist to see if there´s anything else you need to cover. Some organisations ask recruits to sign each part of the Induction Checklist to show that all necessary areas have been covered.

Five Helpful Tips

• Be well prepared. If you are poorly organised, your new employee might follow your lead.
• Be sure that the employee knows what you expect from him or her.
• Ask the recruit questions to check that he or she has understood each part of the induction. Give them ample opportunity to ask questions too.
• Let your new recruit do some work on the first day. This will help them settle in.
• If you are concerned about some of the legal and regulatory issues touched upon in this module, Module 4 explores these issues in more detail.

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ADDRESS TRAINING NEEDS

Despite lots of evidence highlighting the importance of training, small business owners rarely invest enough in training for their staff.

If you need convincing of the value of training, click here

Carrying Out an Initial Training Needs Analysis

Soon after a new employee joins your business, arrange to discuss their training needs:

• Use the Job Description and Person Specification to help you identify what skills are required.
• Look back on your notes from the selection process. Did you spot any skill gaps that you need to address?
• Ask the new recruit if, on the basis of their first few days´ work, they feel they require training in any particular area.

Use a Training Needs Analysis Form to discuss priority training areas with your employee. Ask them what types of training would interest and motivate them. The content of the TNA Form will depend very much on the exact nature of the job in question.

Choosing Training Providers

Once you have identified a list of training needs, you must decide how you will deliver the necessary training. There are several options:

• On the Job Training — you may be best placed to train your employee in certain areas. Be sure to allocate enough time to this type of training — it can easily get forgotten.
• Local Business Support Providers — Your local small business support providers may run short courses in relevant areas like IT, customer service, marketing and many more. Such providers can usually direct you towards other suitable training opportunities.
• Vocational Training Colleges — Check with local education and training colleges to see what types of vocational skills training they have available.
• Sectoral Networks — Your business sector may have a representative organisation or network that offers training in specific areas of relevance to the sector.
• Equipment Suppliers — If you use complex equipment, the suppliers of that equipment sometimes offer training in its use, though this can be expensive.
• Online Training — Scan the Internet to see if there is any relevant training available on-line.

When you have looked at all of these options, work out a programme of training for your employee for the next year or so. Remember to think about and agree upon practical issues such as time-off required for training, and who will pay for the training. You should record all of this information in a Training Plan for your employee.

Review Training, Progress and New Needs

Keep a record for each employee of the training undertaken. Ask the employee to comment upon the usefulness of the training. This will help you in future training choices. Watch the employee in action to see if the benefits of training are apparent.

Downloadable Support Materials

	Click to download a sample Training Needs Analysis Form
	Click to download a sample Training Plan
	Click to download a sample Training Record

You should seek to discuss training needs with employees at least once a year. This can form part of the appraisal process discussed later in this module. You may have to look at training needs more regularly if the nature of your business evolves regularly, if you introduce new equipment or is you alter the tasks of your employee.

To hear why Isabelle has been with her employer for 7 years, click here:

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COMMUNICATION AND MOTIVATION

As well as offering good training opportunities, you need to ensure that you have a good level of employee communication. This is one of many ways of keeping good staff motivation, as explored in this session.

• Building Good Employee Communication
• Staff Motivation

BUILDING GOOD EMPLOYEE COMMUNICATION

A team without communication is like an engine without oil: it simply won’t work! So make sure to avoid the dreaded Mushroom technique!

The Mushroom Technique of Management

• Keeping your staff in the dark!
• Every now and then, open the door and throw a pile of dirt on them!
• Not to be recommended!

Establishing good two-way employee communication will enhance the overall efficiency of your business in a number of ways:

• Your employees will understand the business better.
• They will know what is expected of them.
• They will understand why you take certain actions or decisions.
• Minor problems can be addressed before they become major problems.
• Your employee(s) can make useful practical suggestions about improving operations, thus benefiting the business.               

There are two main forms of employer-employee communication: general exchange of information and more formal appraisals.

General Exchange of Information

Think about a regular weekly or fortnightly meeting to have an informal chat with your employee to discuss how things are going and issues such as:

• Practical Matters: equipment or resource needs; better ways of doing things; solving common problems.
• Performance Issues: you may wish to encourage an employee to improve some element of his or her work, or congratulate him or her on their performance.
• Business Issues: Keep your employee informed of new opportunities or issues facing the firm.

Be consistent in your communication with your employee(s). Nothing is more frustrating than getting confusing instructions or information from your boss. Be prepared to admit you were wrong if you have to go back on a previous position.

 

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