KEY POINTS:
Whenever a new person starts a job, he or she is immediately on a sharp learning curve. How a company does things, what the health and safety procedures are and understanding the culture of the organisation are some of the things that have to be dealt with.
Head
of Human Resources Management Department at Massey University Paul Toulson says the induction process is necessary for a number of reasons.
"Turnover in an organisation is at its highest rate during the first few days of employment. The longer people stay, the less likely they are to leave and this is a practical reason to have a proper induction so the new employee can feel comfortable in his or her position as soon as possible."
Toulson emphasises that each organisation has its own culture and way of doing things.
"It's important to enable people to learn quickly and to understands the rules, policies and culture of an organisation.
"A person's manager should be involved and introduce the new person to other members of staff. In a large organisation there is often a human resources section and new appointees can spend a day covering company policies - this is not always necessary in smaller organisations."
Toulson suggests that companies have a checklist for the induction process. "Certain things need to be done - it makes good sense to have a checklist. An example of this would be to ensure the new employee has been told of compliance issues and health and safety.
"These are not things employers should take for granted."
HR Manager for The Edge, Nicola Ross, says inductions are critical for bringing a new employee on board.
"It's a way of getting a person to feel a part of the organisation, to understand the purpose and direction of an organisation and their role within that."
Ross says this requires a phased approach over a period of time, covering different elements at different stages, as the person's understanding of the organisation and their role within it grows. "It involves both formal and informal aspects, including involving new staff in social events."
The purpose of the induction needs to be kept at the forefront: to bring someone into the culture and the organisation in a way that makes them feel engaged and part of the whole. "A tick list approach can be useful, but it's not enough."
Ross suggests that the induction process should be phased through the first year of employment, not just one-week thing.
"It's a good idea to get a new employee to work with another person to get day to day support. It's important, however, that the 'buddy' chosen for this role has an understanding of how systems work, what's required or them in their own role as a buddy, and have the skills to meet this."
And of course, there should be some input from the manager. "An induction is about integrating the person within the organisation. HR's role is in facilitating the parts of the organisation to support this happening."
Professor of management and head of the department of management at Auckland Business School Marie Wilson agrees that the induction process is valuable. "Research shows that people decide within two weeks of starting a job whether they wish to stay with an employer. This has to do with whether they feel they fit in the environment.
Wilson says there should be an expectation that people will need support for the first couple of months of work. "Most people do not settle in completely until after six to 18 months.
"This is a period for figuring out how things work, for example how salary reviews work and more.
"The process can begin before the first day of work with the company providing information before the person arrives,"
She says the one or two-day induction process is "better than nothing - but not the beginning or the end. "A person needs to figure out questions - there has to be a safe environment to ask - a lot of people don't want to show what they don't know."
"A checklist of what a person needs to know can be useful and should be used in the first week, first month - the information must be filtered, too much at once will not be remembered."
She also suggests addressing the "soft stuff" - "Buddies are good for that. Get someone more senior, a role model, and create a buddy system."
A large company that takes the induction process very seriously is Vodafone. Every month a two-day company-wide induction process is held for 40 to 50 people, says head of culture and capability, Jocelyn Anso.
"Before this we found that 25 per cent of people who left the company left in the first six months - this has decreased since we instituted our processes."
The two-day induction involves showing new staff the "big picture" of the organisation and its goals. "We use a sports team analogy - we look at how each team contributes to the whole."
Company executives are involved; there are multi-media presentations and discussions. On the second day the culture of Vodafone is discussed.
But the two-day induction process is not all Vodafone does, Anso says.
Before an employee starts work he or she gets an employee pack and is directed to the company website to discover for themselves the values and vision of the company.
There is an induction checklist for the first three months of employment and goals around the job are discussed at department level. "We put a lot of work into it - as it is an important part of building the culture we want in the organisation," she says.
