Onboarding and Inductions - is it worth your time?
You’re busy, you’re stressed and you have 101 things still do to. You’re waiting for your next hire to start and it cannot come soon enough. You have a long task list for them to work through, things you’ve not had chance to attend to or deal with, and you are ready for them to get going the minute they walk in the door. You haven’t got time to show them all the ropes, they know what they are doing so they can just get on with it. You’ll catch up with them later when you have time. However, in my experience later doesn’t ever come, there is no real induction, but a series of rushed meetings about the work that needs doing. Then the problems soon start to show.
But you hired them with the technical skills you needed for the role, so they should just get on with it, shouldn’t they? ‘Hi there, welcome, here is your first task, off you go’.
Maybe in your ideal world as a business owner that is how you would like it. But, in the real world, people can’t read your mind, they don’t have all the information behind the purpose of their role and if you don’t share your goals, they don’t know the context around what they really need to achieve.
Oxford Economics have reported that replacing staff members incurs significant costs for employers, which can be up to 25-30% of salary. That is based on the cost of lost output while trying to re-recruit and get that new recruit up to speed (to reach the ‘optimum productivity level’) as well as the logistical cost of recruiting and taking on a new worker.
So is taking the time for ‘onboarding’ your new employee and creating an induction plan, worth it?
Time invested vs time wasted
Half day or ideally full day induction vs 10 minutes additional questions everyday = an extra 2,400 minutes or 40 hours explaining something over the year. That is a weeks’ worth of work. Not to mention any reduced productivity or opportunity lost, in time and money. Give people the big picture of the business, the history and reasons why. Show them they are a valued member, you chose them for a reason and you want them to be involved and engaged in the business. This applies to every level. Provide them with the information and data they need up front, how things work, who to contact, what your policies and procedures are in advance of needing them.
The famous quote from Nasa when the janitor replied to President JKF ‘I’m helping put a man on the moon’, demonstrates the importance of engaging everyone into the vision. When we know what we are all trying to achieve, we can work together to do that more clearly and it adds value and meaning to every role.
(Meaning and motivation is very important, but this is a whole other topic to cover).
Decision making and priorities
When you take people through the reasons behind the role and the main objectives for them, they can make their decisions in line with business goals, not on what they ‘think’ they should be doing or just want to be focusing on. Most roles are extremely broad in their job descriptions, roles such as marketing, sales, operations, it is only when you give that technical expertise a direction and focus for your business, they can narrow down and work on what needs to be done.
However, this also links to considering the level of role you have recruited, the experience they have and on-going support and direction they then need. Don’t expect a junior to be left alone, you will need to be more hands on to set them up for success.
You want to be able to go on holiday!
You are busy. So busy that you don’t want those 5 or more general and repeated questions every day when they aren’t needed. Questions on important and new stuff yes, but not; ‘where do I find that form?’, ‘who do I contact for this again?’, ‘what should I focus on today?’. Set up your operating procedures, document your processes and train people on them, if it’s just in your head you’ll be repeating yourself all the time and won’t have the time to run the business. It may make you feel important and you may be struggling to let go of roles as you grow, but get it out of your head and stop micromanaging, allow people to implement and improve them, that is why you have taken people on with that experience and skill. Use them!
Whatever your type of industry, company or size, onboarding and induction is always worth it. Overlooked, it can become the root cause of all problems later down the line.
Coming soon …
So you understand that onboarding really is worth it and the time invested will pay back ten-fold. So how do you onboard your new employees, what to focus on and what do you need to cover?
Keep an eye out for our next blog which will help you get started, along with our free checklist so you can implement that straight away.
If you can't wait for the checklist or you would like help preparing an onboarding and induction plan for your business, contact us here.
Don't forget to sign up to the free HR Hub emails for support with managing your team.
Comments