Forestalling the induction crisis

Stephen Taylor, editor of the CIPD's handbook People resourcing, highlights the value of well-tailored induction programmes.

The induction of new employees could be handled a great deal more effectively by most organisations. Despite good intentions, the majority continue to run generic training events, lasting a day or two, which all recruits from across the organisation attend. These are typically designed in order to convey key organisational messages (company history, mission statements, planned changes, the importance of health and safety, the need to join the pension scheme etc). Such sessions, because they have to be repeated very regularly, are seen as unglamorous and are delegated to the most junior training or HR officers to organise.

This traditional approach is better than nothing, but it offers little for most new employees. Those with knowledge of similar organisations will cope, but those who enter lacking confidence as they climb their steep learning curves need a great deal more if they are to swiftly reach high performance standards.

Early leaving is a major problem for many employers. At any one time, around 5% of the UK's working population is in the first three months of a new job. Nearly 20% of new starters actually leave before three months are up, while over 40% are gone within a year. Around a third of these resignations are initiated by employers or occur because short-term contracts come to an end, but the majority are voluntary and could be avoided. They represent a substantial waste of resources for employers who spend a great deal on hiring and training people - only to see their investment walk out of the door before any real return has been realised.

Well-tailored induction programmes can play an important role in preventing early leaving and in helping new staff to reach full efficiency in their jobs more quickly. The key is to design the programme from a new employee's perspective. Its purpose should be to meet their concerns as much as to communicate key management messages. Importantly, wherever possible, it should start before the employee physically starts work.

Formal and informal induction processes need to be based on what new employees need. You should ask recent recruits of six months' or a year's standing to help you design your programme. What caused them greatest stress in their first weeks? What would they have wanted to know more about? What did they find confusing? What unpleasant surprises could they have been warned to anticipate? It also makes sense to look at any exit interview data you have collected from people who didn't survive the onset of an induction crisis. What was bothering them? Could their resignations have been prevented through more effective intervention at the induction stage?

All this helps to manage expectations in such a way as to reduce the likelihood of a hard landing for new starters. Ideally they will know, thanks to their induction programme, what to expect ahead of time. They will be better equipped to deal with problems, and will know to whom they should turn for help should they need it.

Stephen Taylor, senior lecturer in HRM, Manchester Metropolitan University.

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