Induction- What does your company do? what do you wish that it does?

[Danielle]

I am currently looking at our induction procedures, we have a very comprehensive induction for corporate employees at our main site that includes:

2 ½ hours with HR on their first morning this includes:

• Tour of facilities and informal meet and greets with colleagues.
• Presentation about our company and explanations as to who we are and what we are doing in different areas.
• Tour of Intranet and forms.
• Shown email system and databases that are needed to access.

During first week they may visit retail stores, plant or other locations.
They will also have a specific meet and greet schedule with key people within the business in which they will be either interacting with or needing to meet to get a better understanding of how we operate.

Whilst this is comprehensive, it is also very labour intensive for HR to organise. I was wondering what other companies were doing? How I can I stream-line this process? Any tools/ processes etc that you suggest? And any other great ideas, would be much appreciated.

Also if you have a lot of locations how do make sure that the induction they receive is adequate when HR is not overseeing it?

Thanks very much.
D

[Alison]

Hi Danielle,

I'm currently undertaking a review of our induction process and am facing similar issues to you.

Without turning this into a long winded post, basically we push the responsibility of the first day induction onto the new employees manager. HR sets the structure and the steps that are requried, but it is the manager who undertakes all those steps. To ensure that the induction is adequate, we provide check lists and resource kits to the hiring manager when they have a new appointment starting, and also give a resource kit to the new employee on their first day.

We also hold a 'Welcome Session' once a quarter (as long as there have been at least 10 new starters) which all new starters in the past quarter are invited to attend - all of the senior managers present some info about their division and the company as a whole. This might be a solution you could consider to cut down on the face to face time required on the first day with every single employee.

[jba]

Sorry guys just had to mention i have not heard anything in your induction that mentions safety which features heavily in our induction program. In an ideal situation i would also prefer to include a relevant policy and procedure period in with the induction program as well. Both these issues are so legally sensitive these days and really should be addressed right from the start.

[AVienet]

You may also want to look at an online induction process. That way everyone gets the same experience, you can ensure you deliver the information you need to, to everyone and it doesn't require a people resource. People can also access it immediately upon starting - they don't need to wait for the next induction date. It also shows that your company is progressive and savvy. If you have all of the materials or a checklist you could easily build something from that. You can even incorporate an audio/video message from the CEO which is always quite impactful.

[SteveR]

JBA, Yes, absolutely concur with you. Regardless of what industry one works in, white collar, blue collar etc safety must be a prime section in any induction program. Similarly, a safety culture must be seen to be driven from the top. Start a culture of safety on Day 1 & you will be well on your way to addressing other HR issues eg retention.

[HRbeat]

Hi All,

Our own induction process has an ongoing review. In the fast-paced environment faced with constant change and external challenges our organisation is in, we needed to keep both our existing and new employees up-to-speed not only in terms of skills but also with pertinent information.

Our induction program has all that has been mentioned so far. In addition, we have a presentation of the organisation's brief history, current state, and future plans. This way, we inform every employee at every level of the organisational strategy and hopefully gain their commitment to it.

To facilitate an understanding of our business, we also give them a walk-through all our stakeholders and a general profile for each stakeholder group, products and services offered, and long-term customers/clients.

The Corporate Induction as it now stands is going to be 1.5 days, with ongoing Core Induction Modules to be delivered over the next 3 and 9 months.

Hope this helps?

[Moz]

Which 'core induction' modules get delivered over a 3-9 month time frame?

or was that supposed to read 'non-Core' ?

[HRbeat]

Hi Moz,

Nope...it's Core Induction. We find that new employees experience information overload if we try to give them all information they need during their first week. So we staggered the delivery over the first 3 months of probationary period (the absolutely must-know), with skills-building in the next 9 months that facilitates their development and leverage performance.

With the skills shortage, we find that we are now recruiting for potential, not just existing skills, knowledge and experience, and we provide growth opportunities through learning & development. We are in a sector faced with high turnover issues, where we lose talent through an outflow outside the sector as people choose to pursue their careers in another environment.

[Lisa-Jane]

Hi Danielle,
In my organisation we have three different sites to look after and found the best way to manage New Employee Orientation is to hold a Monthly Corporate Orientation Day. HR is responsible for organising and running the day. Topics covered on the day include HR Policies and Procedures, manual handling, OH&S, Emergency Response etc.
Once the new employee starts working, they will also receive site specific information which could not be covered on the Corporate Day. We call this Induction, and is conducted with a checklist during the first week of employment.

[SteveR]

Hi Lisa - Jane,

How many new staff on average would you have on a given monthly Orientation day to make it successful? I'm assuming you would have a certain level of turnover to make it worthwhile.

For companies with low staff turnover it is still critical to be able to successfully orientate new staff. Are there any views on how to do this effectively without involving larger numbers?

[Lisa-Jane]

Hi Steve,

We have approximately 350 employees. Staff turnover is not high when compared with the industry average.
On average we would have four employees attend Orientation.
Last month I cancelled the day as we only had one staff member scheduled to attend, the month prior there were 8, today we only had three people attend.
The day is resource intensive, especially for such a small number of people. Management is committed to utilsing training as a tool to differentiate ourselves from the competition.

For smaller organisations I would recommend splitting Orientation into two segments. The first segment would be the abosolutely essential infoirmation that has to be delivered within the first week of employment (which we cover with the Induction Process) the second segment would be information that can be delivered within a group situtaion and you may be able to Orientate two people at the same time.

In a previous role, staff turnover was low (number of employees 90), on average a new employee would commence every few months. I developed a checklist which allowed me to spend one to two hours with the employee going over HR specific information, and then the new employee would spend time in each of the other departments as required. This method spread the workload.

[SteveR]

Thanks! I'm particularly keen on your views in your previous role. It was a similar size orgn to where I am with a very low new staff level. I like your approach.
Cheers!

[Lisa-Jane]

Hi Steve,

I will have a look this weekend to see if I kept a copy of the checklist.
If I did, I will let you know.

[Micky_Jay]

Originally Posted by AVienet

You may also want to look at an online induction process. That way everyone gets the same experience, you can ensure you deliver the information you need to, to everyone and it doesn't require a people resource. People can also access it immediately upon starting - they don't need to wait for the next induction date. It also shows that your company is progressive and savvy. If you have all of the materials or a checklist you could easily build something from that. You can even incorporate an audio/video message from the CEO which is always quite impactful.

I have also seen places where you can do this before you commence employment. This means that they have an understanding of the organisation before they start and it does not take too much work time. The problem with the online system for smaller companies is that it might take up just as much time and resources (if not more) to produce and you will still probably need to have a face to face (individual or group) induction for those things that could change regularly or need to be done in person or on site.