by Sharon Jones
The process of hiring someone isn’t easy. If the potential employees on the other end think they have it rough, they don’t actually understand what goes on our end! The planning that goes into the whole job advert, interview, and choosing process is long winded for us, and we’re never going to be entirely sure as to whether we’ve hired the right person until they’ve been at the company a few weeks. Because, just like we put on an extra friendly face, they’re probably putting on an even bigger one! But, all the risk of hiring a new doesn’t stop once you’ve offered them the job, settling them into the role is the next stage. If you want to do it right, there’s a few simple steps you need to be following. The last thing you want to do is get an employee who is perfect for the role, but do all of the wrong things following the hiring process. To make sure you create and keep that perfect employee, here’s what you need to be doing.
Meet The Team Days
If you can remember back to when you got your first job, you’ll remember that it was one of the most nerve wracking days of your life. It’s just so worrying walking into a room full of people that you just don’t know, wondering whether you’re ever going to fit in, or whether you’re going to be right for the job. So, when a new employee is coming into your team, it would be good of you to put on a meet the team day. Even if only one new employee is coming in, you should put on some type of morning or afternoon where they can meet the team before their first official day. Don’t just hold it in the office, do something that’s actually fun. Whether it be taking everyone for lunch, or doing an activity morning somewhere. If you do it in the office, you run the risk of everything being too robotic. Your current employees might get distracted as the desk, and it can just seem so much more formal. Out of the office environment, people begin to relax a little, which is exactly what you’re looking for. Make sure you brief everyone before it happens, introducing the new employee by name and what they’ll be doing within the company. You could even assign one person to be their buddy for the day, making sure that they feel at ease, and giving them someone to talk to so they’re not just lingering around a big group of people. If you’re going to get a sort of buddy system going, you need to make sure it’s the person who is the most lively out of your team, someone you know is going to be able to keep a conversation flowing no matter what.
What Do They Need To Start?
Before they start, you need to think about the things that they actually need to start the role. This is one of the things that companies are really terrible at. It’s a lack of organisation that can make a new employee feel really awkward on the first day, especially if they don’t have everything they need to start. So, think about all of the minor things they’re going to need. If you’ve hired someone to be a delivery driver for you, you’re going to have to sort commercial truck insurance for new drivers to commence on the day that they start. That way, they can jump in, and get stuck in, rather than hanging around wondering what to do. If you work as a team on a construction site, making sure that they have the appropriate health and safety briefing, training, and qualifications is also important. You then want to think of the smaller details that are going to help make them feel part of the team. From making sure they have a uniform to wear from the first day, to setting them up with their own working space and tools. The more prepared the role is for them to go into, the quicker you’ll find that they naturally fall into it. During the first week or two, the buddy you assign them for the meet the team day should stay with them throughout. That way they have someone who they can confidently ask questions to, as they’ll be more likely to feel comfortable around them, and it takes some of the pressure off of you!
Ongoing Training
Ongoing training is so important, but it’s one of the main things that new employees will point out that they’re missing. Ongoing training is so important, because you can’t expect an employee to learn absolutely everything, and be perfect at it right from the get go. It’s going to take some time to get them to where they need to be, and you need to be sort of a comfort blanket for them. The more ongoing training that your provide, the better the employee is going to become. Plus, the last thing you want is to be on the new persons back because mistakes keep being made, even though you’re the one who didn’t give them enough training. It’s important to offer constructive criticism to your employees, whether they’re new or not, when you think something is going wrong. There’s nothing worse than making a person feel small when they make a mistake, you should encourage them and show them exactly what to do, so that they don’t make it again.
Legal Side Of Things
The final and most boring bit, but you do need to make sure the legal side of things are covered. The first is to make sure they’re on your payroll, and registered so that they’re paying the right amount of tax. You will usually need a payslip from their previous employer to do this. You also need to make sure that they’re on the business insurance, and that you’re covering your own back if anything were to happen to them whilst they’re at work, which was work related.
