This may seem an odd or somewhat prosaic subject to blog about, but please bear with me. I would like to present my views on one of the great opportunities for companies and organizations to gain the hearts and minds of new employees in their first few weeks of employment.
Do many of us remember our first two or three weeks in a new job? Those nervous days of polite questions, mandatory training and trying to remember where the toilets are and what everyone’s name is. This hazy phase of finding one’s bearings is quickly replaced in our minds by the growing confidence and competence of subsequent weeks and months.
What if those early weeks leave a scar, though? What if they make you feel marginalised, so much of a nuisance to your very busy new colleagues, that you leave work on your first day questioning why you ever took the job?
Here are my top tips on how to make the first two or three weeks productive and worthwhile for new employees:
- Make new employees feel welcome.
Ensure that there is a member of staff on-site who has been given the role of welcoming your new member of staff on their first day. A new member of your team has been given this date and time to start their new job. Please do not give the impression that your new starter’s presence on this day is a total surprise to everybody in the office. This not only gives a negative first impression of your organization, but it does little to ease the nerves and feelings of discomfort common to everyone on their first day in a new job.
The member of staff showing the new starter around on their first day would ideally be a manager or senior member of staff. This will immediately signal to the new starter that they are an important new member of the team, and that the management are pleased that they have chosen to join the team.
Introduce your new starter to their colleagues. Give your new starter opportunities to talk to their new colleagues about non-work subjects. Take special care to introduce them to their immediate colleagues, the people they will be working alongside on a daily basis.
- Ensure that computer log-ins and access are ready for your new starter on their first day.
There should be absolutely no reason why a new employee’s log-in details cannot be ready for them from day one. Anyone starting a new job has been preparing for this first day for probably at least a month or two. It is surely not beyond companies and organizations to put some effort into ensuring that they can access a computer and their email account on the first morning. This is another easy way to make new employees feel that their presence is welcome and has been planned for.
- Let new employees learn together and get to know each other.
Having two or more new employees start at the same time can be advantageous. Rather than relying too heavily on learning techniques such as shadowing – which is of little benefit to people who learn more by doing than observing – employers could try allowing new employees to work together to have discussions about their expectations of the job or go through processes they will encounter during their work. Positive working relationships and friendships can be formed at this early stage.
It is ideal for two or more new starters to work and learn together during this phase. I don’t think it is a productive policy to rely overly on existing members of staff to teach their new colleagues the ropes. Let the management take on this responsibility. Give new starters this focused attention at this point, and employer and employee alike will reap the benefits further down the line.
I have always been impressed by organizations who have planned out a timetable for my first few weeks with them. This has given me confidence that I will be learning the role and having full and worthwhile days. You are going to expect your employee to be busy and productive when they are doing the job. Give them a timetable that will allow them to get into this habit from the very beginning.
Use the weeks of induction to ensure that your new staff members feel as comfortable as possible. Go out of your way to validate the choice they made in taking a job with your organization. New starters never like to feel that they are sitting around with nothing to do, that they are in the way of busy people doing their jobs. Keep in mind that today’s new starter is tomorrow’s key asset to the company. I think it is better to err on the side of information overload rather than its opposite.
- Take your employees step-by-step through the processes that they will be implementing in their jobs.
I think the first three or four weeks in a new job are the time to take new workers through every step and aspect of their new job. The pandemic has surely taught us that time together in the workplace is valuable time. Attitudes and practices developed during this time will set the tone for our attitude and enthusiasm for our new job. Start people on the right track and they are surely more likely to stay on that track as they gain in confidence and experience. Do not risk sending employees into their work with a negative impression of the company and management already formed.
Where shadowing falls down as a method is in providing only a snapshot of the work your new team member will be expected to do. It is probably not going to be possible for them to shadow every part of their job in a given three or four-week period. By providing an overview of the entire role rather than more intensive exposure to whatever the person they are shadowing happens to be doing on that day, managers can feel confident that new members of staff know what is expected of them and know where to find the information and guidance they will need.
New employees need to know the basic structure of the organization, who they can go to for guidance, and what is expected of them before they begin their work in earnest. Those early weeks are so important because hearts and minds lost are not easily won back.
Better things for better living, but not through chemistry 