It’s Your Business
- Author: Terry Greenhut
- Subject Matter: Shop management
- Issue: New-employee orientation
11th in a series
Hiring a new employee begins a relationship with someone who was, more than likely, a total stranger to you not very long ago. Even if you conducted a very well planned interview process you still don’t know very much about this person and he or she probably knows little about you and the way your company functions. Without many preconceived notions, this is a great time for you to make a strong impression on your new hire.
Your familiarity with your older- or longer-term employees has caused them to know how to work with and sometimes around you. Your new hire is a clean slate as long as he or she isn’t immediately influenced by existing employees. They may have a ton of experience at the job they are supposed to be doing but they don’t have any experience working with and for you. If you want them to work a certain way, if you want to instill your values, if you require that they attend a certain amount of training, or anything else you want them to do – now is the time to get their compliance while they still think the sun rises and sets upon you. In other words, this is your one and only chance to set the standard. If you don’t take the time and trouble to do it now they will just settle into their own way of doing things and then it will be very difficult, if not impossible, to get them to change.
The right mentoring
In a previous article I mentioned taking a new employee around the shop for introductions to everyone. While that is important it’s only the tip of the iceberg. You and one of your most trusted employees, one who has a great attitude, knowledge he or she is willing to share, enthusiasm about the job and the company, and a strong sense of loyalty should make the tour with you and the new hire. This person should then become the mentor for the new employee. Even if their job descriptions are different, this person can still mentor the newbie in the areas of producing a high-quality product, having the right attitude toward customers and co-workers, working with a good repeatable system, and cleanliness and organization.
If you don’t have anyone you’d feel comfortable having as a mentor, do it yourself. The worst thing you could do at this point would be to have your new star player ruined by having someone with a bad attitude or sloppy work habits pass those along. Taking the time and effort to properly indoctrinate the new employee will pay off in better job performance and a happier employee who will probably stay with you longer.
Keep in mind that people quit jobs and move on much more because of the way they feel about the company, the boss, their co-workers, and the working conditions than they do for a hike in salary unless that increase is very large and not matchable by their current employer. They have to enjoy what they do, who they are doing it with, and the surroundings they are doing it in or they will not want to stay very long. The right mentoring in the beginning sets the stage for everything that will happen later.
Orientation takes time
During the orientation and maybe for some time after, new employees will ask a lot of questions or at least you hope they will. If they don’t ask any you might make the assumption that they think they know it all or just aren’t that interested. Either of those sends up a yellow flag that will make you want to keep an eye on them for a while. There are no stupid questions. Even if you think that a question a new employee is asking is something they should already know, it might just be that they do. They could be asking to confirm what they know or to make sure they will be doing things to your satisfaction. As I get older I find that I am asking more questions than I used to, mainly to confirm that I heard and remembered it right. That could be a function of age or the fact that I owned transmission shops for so long that I know what it costs to make mistakes and want to be sure I make as few as possible.
Orientation of new employees should not only be a one-day process to get them acquainted with the company. It should go on until you feel that the new hires have indeed found their niche, are comfortable, and performing well. Depending on the individual, this can take anywhere from a couple of weeks to several months. It doesn’t mean that you have to be on top of them all the time, but they should be monitored more closely than you would a long-term employee, and to be sure they don’t have questions that go unanswered or are starting to pick up any bad habits. One huge mistake managers and owners make is to feel their job is complete once the new hire is working. With that attitude they will no doubt be repeating the hiring process far more often than they should be.
Your new hire should be given a copy of any company policies that you’ve created and have in force. That way they can’t later on say that they didn’t know. Things like vacation and holidays, sick and personal days should all be spelled out. How and when they are paid. Who takes responsibility for mistakes? Who do they report directly to? If they start work at a particular time, are they supposed to be punching in at that time or already at their work stations? How many tardy or absent-without-medical-excuse days will cause some type of action to be taken against them? At what point does overtime kick in? Is it after 40 hours for the week or after 8 hours in a day? Does it have to be authorized and by who?
Expectations: During orientation it’s good to let new employees know what will be expected of them in terms quality, productivity, punctuality, attitude, willingness to be trained and to train others. In general, people will try to live up to the expectations of their leaders, if they know what those expectations are. If there are no expectations outlined, employees might turn in work that they think is good enough even if it is not the standard of the company. Those who are experienced in the trade and have worked for other companies whose standards may differ from yours might try to apply those standards to your company. It is extremely important that they are told in no uncertain terms, “This is the way we do it here.”
Monitoring the work
Inspect what you expect. Although at times employees feel that managers are watching them too closely, the question is, If they weren’t watching, what would be the result? In many cases it wouldn’t be what’s hoped for. That’s why a level of management exists – to make certain that jobs are being done properly. Never feel guilty about monitoring the work of the people in your charge. That’s primarily what you get paid to do.
Keep in mind the phrase, “Comebacks Kill.” They kill productivity, profit, and pride. If there is an inordinate amount of them, they can kill the entire business. I’ve been asked many times over the years what an acceptable percentage of comebacks would be. Can you guess my answer? It’s zero percent because if you are willing to accept any percentage above that you aren’t making a maximum effort to eradicate them. If a new employee is having a lot of comebacks, there is obviously something he or she doesn’t understand. As a manager your job is to find out exactly what that is and find a remedy for it before the employee becomes discouraged and quits or it costs you customers and a whole bunch of money.
Effective training: Training is done to affect a result that invariably causes a change in behavior. The only way people will change is if they see a reason that creates a benefit for them or avoids a loss. In the case of a new employee it’s simple. Training can help them prove their worth to the company and keep them from losing the position they just worked so hard to get. That’s why, in the beginning, they are much more likely to accept the training even if they have to go out of their way a little bit to get it, whereas seasoned employees are far more likely to take the attitude that they already know everything and view it as a waste of their time.
For training to be effective it takes commitment repetition, and time. One or two training sessions doesn’t get the job done. It needs to be ongoing and monitored. Finding out what a trainee thinks he or she has learned after a training session lets you know if they were paying attention and understanding the material. Monitoring their progress on the job lets you know if they really got it or not.
Mistakes to avoid
- 1) Leaving new employees completely on their own after initial orientation. A good manager keeps in touch with all of his or her employees. It lets them know that they are still on your radar, but more than that it shows that you care about them and the job they’re doing. It gives you a chance to praise any good work they are putting out, and we know from experience that means almost as much to them as money.
- 2) Getting too informal and friendly with employees. Some of them will take it as a sign of weakness. It also makes you let your guard down in reference to your demeanor, language, and often the secrets you were supposed to be keeping. It can also make you too lenient when you shouldn’t be.
- 3) Unclear expectations. Not letting the new employee know exactly what is expected of him or her; for example, the quality and volume of the work they produce, how they are supposed to interact with other employees, customers, and company management, how they keep their work area, punctuality, and any other responsibilities they may have.
- 4) Failure to recognize and correct poor work habits. Those who have had experience have developed their own set of work habits over the years. If these do not meet with your expectations they must be changed early on while they still can be. Waiting too long will make that job difficult if not impossible.
- 5) Asking for and receiving inadequate feedback. If you aren’t asking for the data you need or aren’t tracking it you will have a hard time getting the improvement you want from your employees or even knowing whether or not they are improving.
- 6) Lack of caring. If you don’t keep in touch or make it difficult for employees to talk to you, they will think you don’t care very much about them or the company. Once that happens they will shut down and make it very difficult for you to communicate what you need them to know.
Orientation is your opportunity to make a good and lasting impression on new employees. It will be worth your time and effort to give them a good starting point and to earn their respect and cooperation.
