Answers: November 2018 Question of the Month

Linda LaitalaEmployees, Leadership, ManagementLeave a Comment

Here are our top three responses for the November Question of the Month: Describe your on-boarding/orientation process with new employees?

#1

  • We have a checklist of all the paperwork that has to be completed.  It then goes on to training and goes over the job description.  We cover the JHA (job hazard analysis).  Then each new employee goes through some safety videos (required by our insurance company) before they start working on the floor.Next, the general manager brings the new employee to their work station and the training begins.  Our onboarding process covers all the technical things they need to know.

    I do wish we had a mentor program; I would like to have someone work with each employee to instill our culture.

#2

  • Onboarding people in our company makes a huge difference in the success of the employee and how well they understand our culture.  Getting hired is the first step of our relationship with new person and the onboarding is the second step.
    • We first show people around the office making sure we show them the lunch room, refrigerator, microwave, bathrooms and where office supplies are kept.
    • Next, we make sure they go to lunch with one of their co-workers.  It’s a bonding session
    • Each new person meets one-on-one with me (the owner).  I explain our core values and emphasize that we are interested and invest in their success.Because many of our employees have never been a salaried worker before, I go over what that means.

      I explain that we love to learn new things and that we are serious about learning and expect them to take some of the free on-line courses offered.

    • Every employee is issued a Quick Finder reference guide.  It’s an operation manual with all the critical numbers: police, alarm company, directions on how to get on our system remotely and every team member’s name, hire date, phone number, etc.  It even includes what to do if you get hurt on the job.
    • The owner personally checks in with them a couple of times during the first few weeks.  It gives her the chance to see where they need more information and coach them along.  It takes three months to get fully acclimated to our company.

#3

  • We’ve recently updated our onboarding process.  Our HR person works the co-general managers.  The process has two parts:
    • What is required by law
    • What the owners require the new team members to know about the company.

 

New team members come in a half hour later on their first day; this allows the managers to get their day set up before beginning the onboarding process.  The first four hours are spent with HR, the second half of the day is spent with a co-general manager.

    • During their first week, they do an introductory walk around the plant three times with the general manager.  The objective is to meet every team member and get a feel for the different departments and jobs.
    • Each new teammate is given a mentor and each mentor has a checklist of things to cover.

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