Induction is the process of introducing a new employee to an organisation. Although many people treat it as something that begins the moment that the new employee arrives on their first day, it really begins the moment you make them an offer of employment.
Some organisations use different terminology to describe this time period and process. Some call it ‘onboarding’. Others use the term ‘orientation’. Whatever you choose to call this introductory period, what it really comes down to is welcoming someone – to their new role, new team and new organisation. An effective induction validates the decision to join the company. It should also give the employee everything that they need to be successful in their new post.
It is a process that is fundamental in terms of whether an employee actively engages with your organisation, and even more crucially, whether or not they decide to stay with you. The importance of these early days and weeks cannot be overstated.
In reality, there are two parts to any induction. There is the formal, company-produced and organised stuff. Then there is the more organic side – what happens outside of the structures. How other people make them feel, what is said about the organisation by other employees. What it feels like to join your place.
How long an induction period lasts depends on the job and the organisation. A time period of around ninety days is a good rule of thumb. By the end of those first few months, both employee and employer should have a good understanding of whether it is working out for them both. The employee should be well on the way to understanding their role, the culture, the organisation and the team. The line manager should have set some objectives, provided regular feedback and be ensuring that their new team member is feeling included and valued. So far, so straightforward. Or is it?
When it comes to induction, some organisations get it so wrong. Sitting people in front of boring e-learning. Sending out swathes of over-long policies, including the disciplinary ones which tell how they can be fired before they have even started. Forgetting to tell people when they can take a break or where they can go to the toilet. Setting up meetings with everyone they might ever come into contact with. Failing to provide the broader context of the role or the company. Overlong corporate induction days full of PowerPoint in a room with people you will never see or speak to again. Other employees being critical in front of new team members.
We could go on.
Like most things we have written about in this book, there is nothing too difficult about induction. It just takes some time, planning and a little effort on the part of the manager and the wider team to make someone feel truly welcome, and importantly, to validate the decision to join the organisation.
Whenever someone starts a new job, it’s guaranteed that they will be asked ‘how is the new job going?’ by friends or family many times during their first few weeks. Effective induction is about striving to ensure that the employee only has one answer: ‘Great, thanks!’
Recommendations on induction:
• Don’t neglect the period between the job offer and start date. This is an opportunity to begin building the relationship between employee and company; to make someone feel truly welcome.
• Review what you send out to people once you have made them a job offer with a critical eye. Ask yourself what signals it sends and how it would make you feel if you were to receive it, knowing little else about the organisation.
• Beware the compulsory learning. You know the stuff. Data Protection overviews. Health and Safety modules. Policy summaries. Make it interesting, and if you can’t make it interesting, make it brief.
• Don’t forget the simple but important practical stuff. Parking, toilets, canteen, stationery. A phone list, access to the necessary systems and locations, how to book a meeting room. Make it easy for employees to find their way around and fit into their office and its etiquette.
• Involve the CEO. Induction is ensuring that you retain talent. This is part of the job of every CEO.
• Involve the whole team. Make sure that they all know who is joining the team and when.
• Having an informal buddy works. Someone to go to lunch with in the first few days. Someone to ask the way to the toilet for the third time.
• Try and do as much paperwork as possible before day one – you don’t want all of that taken up by routine administration.
• Consider the opportunities that social media can provide you in induction – whether that is an internal social network, or simply engaging with starters socially before they arrive on day one.
• Don’t consider induction done after the first week. Employees will differ, but many will need plenty of help making the transition to a new workplace.
• Gifts are a nice touch. Mugs, pens, notebooks. Some flowers on the desk, lunch on the first day. Inexpensive, but always welcomed.
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