We all know how hard it is to be the "newbie". It's a new workplace and everything and everyone is unknown. It can feel awkward and daunting, and worse if your new colleagues treat you warily as the outsider who hasn't proven they fit-in yet.
Yes, that is what we see in so many workplaces. The new person must prove they fit in. What a horrible way to treat people.
Every employer we've met says they want to have engaged people who will stick around and grow with the business. Well, it starts with the induction. Yet we also know how few businesses have created a warm and welcoming induction process for when their new people join.
In some workplaces, the induction is all about safety, security, and compliance. It's time to make it what it should be - about engagement and participation.
We're being reminded of this ourselves this week. We've just moved into a new shared office, after years of working from home. So everything is new and a little bit daunting, but it has never felt awkward because we have a great support from Arthur, who goes out of his way to make us feel welcome and settled in our new 'home'.
We can all be like Arthur, then every new team member will be able to quickly move-on from feeling awkward and daunted - and do you know what? - most of them will actually fit-in!
In an article for Bonusly, George Dickson sited a study of over 1,000 workers which found that "31% reported having quit a job within the first six months. According to the research participants, the top reasons for leaving were a poor on boarding experience, a lack of clarity surrounding job duties and expectations, or a less than stellar boss ..."
Hmm, sounds familiar. The good news is that all of these factors are within the control of the business. So what could be done better?
Ideas for Making a Great Induction Process
Some ideas you might like to consider are:
- Advise everyone in your team that you have a new team member starting (share their name, start date, and position) - why should it be a surprise to anyone when the new person walks in for their first day?
- Ask everyone in your team to wear their name badge - obviously a new person is going to struggle to remember your names, especially in bigger teams.
- Make sure the new person has everything the need when they arrive - having them stand around while IT finishes setting up their things is not the most warming welcome message, is it?
- Assign a mentor that will be responsible for making them welcome, and introduce them to everyone - give them someone like Arthur who they know has their back!
- Introduce yourself - don't wait for them to come to you, go to them!
- Show them where the facilities are (bathroom, lunch places, kitchen etc) and outline the rules and etiquette in your workplace;
- Outline where their team members eat lunch and buy their coffee, and the location of the nearest bank, post office, parking, and supermarket.
- Ensure they have the training they need. Of course this should include the emergency and safety procedures, bullying, sexual harassment, and the other policies that are important for their role.
- Ensure they can access and know how to use the technology.
- Organise meetings with the key people they will work with so that they can learn about the accountabilities of their colleagues, and how their own role fits in.
- Be like Arthur - regularly check in with them on how they're going and what they're struggling with. Be helpful!
So, what about the rocket science? There isn't any, which makes it all the more puzzling as to why this just doesn't go right in so many businesses. It starts with having a clear and documented procedure that anyone can follow when new people join your business.
Doing all that you can to make people feel comfortable and important goes a long way to making their first few weeks the foundation for their great contribution. And then they can create the extraordinary.
