New employees: navigating successful onboarding and probation
by Ilga Horvat
Ilga Horvat from Boutique HR shares valuable insights into the processes involved with bringing new staff into a business.
Starting a new job can be both exciting and nerve-wracking, but understanding the importance of successful onboarding and probation can make the transition smoother for everyone involved. During onboarding, new hires get acquainted with company culture, expectations and their role within the organisation. This period sets the stage for a positive work experience and helps employees integrate into their new environment.
Last month we spoke about how to hire the right person for your organisation. Now that you have them, how do you ensure they succeed in the role and achieve what you need them to?
No matter the role, it is essential that the person hired understands what they should be doing day to day and given a rundown of the processes that are followed in the business.
It may sound obvious, but so often when everyone is busy, it is often assumed that the new employee will know what they should be doing and come with an intuitive sense of how things work in the company. Allowing that bit of extra time and resources to properly show a new starter “the ropes” will ensure you have a more efficient worker in the short term.
What to include in the onboarding process?
Your new starter should have received their contract, any relevant company policies or employment handbook and required tax, superannuation and banking paperwork prior to starting and have completed it. It is a good idea to check their understanding of your company policies. The employer’s Positive Duty obligations highlight the significance of ensuring employees understand the importance of what behaviour is considered to be unlawful and the consequences of this occurring in the workplace. Induction training covering your code of conduct, sexual harassment, bullying and harassment, EEO, safe work practices, data protection etc. is advisable.
Regardless of whether it is noted in the Employee Handbook, it is prudent to take the employee through the basic points of when they will be paid, who to call if they are running late or sick. An outline of who is who in the company and what their roles cover and introducing them to the key people they will be working with or may need to indirectly work with will save time later and make the person self-sufficient.
Depending on the specific position, implementing a buddy system can prove beneficial. Assigning a mentor or guide to new employees allows them a reliable source for inquiries and direction as they acclimate to your business. Not only does this support newcomers, but it also grants valuable insights into their abilities. By observing their strengths and areas requiring additional support, you can allocate tasks more effectively, reducing errors stemming from inexperience or miscommunication.
Consider this scenario. A large project required landscaping to be done to complete the project. The job seemed simple, so the tasks of digging out the garden beds, lining them and planting was allocated to a new employee. The new employee was only one week into the job. They were nervous, inexperienced and on a tight deadline to finish the task. No one supervised this new employee, nor did they provide detailed instructions or check off a task list with him. A few months later after a dry summer, it rained heavily and the garden beds were flooded. No drainage holes were put into the garden bed. The manager had assumed the new employee would know to do this even though they were an inexperienced 1st year apprentice. A team had to be allocated to dig out the garden beds again, lay drainage and replant. This additional cost and time could have been avoided if the new employee had been given guidance and support.
Creating an environment where the new employee feels at ease and embraced is crucial for a seamless start. Simple gestures, such as organising morning teas for team introductions or arranging daily lunches with a designated colleague during their initial week, can facilitate deeper personal connections and integration into the team dynamic.
In November last year, I wrote about the importance of providing feedback. Establishing this feedback loop early in the employee lifecycle is a good way to set them up for success.
Check-in with them after their first week. Discuss how they found their first week, what they enjoyed and what was a challenge, what value you saw in their contribution, what they could improve upon. Do they have any questions, is there anything they are unsure of?
Goal setting
The next stage will be to set up some objectives and goals for the employee to work towards. No matter if they are a vineyard hand or a production manager, they will still need to know what they are expected to achieve so they can work towards it.
As noted by Julien Fortuit in the Forbes magazine article ‘Mastering the Art of Goal Setting’, “Intentionality in goal setting is as important or more so than setting the goal itself, as far as the likelihood of success. In short, if you want to get something done, you have to commit.”
If the person is part of the goal setting exercise they will own the goal and it will be something they commit to. As opposed to a task that has been imposed on them and they may not be 100% willing to do, pushing it to the bottom of the task list.
Working through the objectives together allows you to outline the company and department’s vision, current objectives and targets, and the importance their role plays in that. This process will allow you to gauge the employee’s practical experience rather than the overview you may receive in the interview or first week.
The employee will be in their probation period which should have been outlined in their contract. This is the designated period at the start of a new job during which both the employer and the employee assess each other’s suitability. It’s essentially a trial period where the employer evaluates the employee’s performance, behaviour and overall fit within the organisation, while the employee gauges whether the job meets their expectations and aligns with their career goals. Depending on the size of the company the employee may not claim unfair dismissal during the first six months of employment, which is often set as the probationary period depending on the complexity of the role and contract provided. However, there are caveats around this, so employers should not think this gives license to terminate an employee they deem isn’t a good fit without process. It is crucial that procedural fairness is followed and employees are provided with clear guidelines of expectations and feedback throughout this period.
For employees, knowing about probation allows them to actively engage in their performance, seek feedback and take necessary steps to meet expectations and secure their position within the company or realise that it is not a good fit for them.
Now that the clear objectives and more immediate tasks have been identified it is important to track how the employee is performing. Establish a regular WIP (work in progress) catch-up with the employee where you review their progress and provide them with constructive feedback so they understand the standard expected and have the support required to meet it. They can identify challenges and through this process you can assess their long-term suitability for the role. When actively managed the probation period provides an opportunity for the employer to address any issues or concerns early on, before they become more significant problems.
Often managers do not invest the time to have regular catch-ups to provide feedback in this early stage. Consequentially they miss the opportunity to support the employee to succeed and attain the ideal standard of work required or identify that the person is not a good fit for the role or team. Certain points that are not addressed or rectified early on then grow into problems a year into employment. For employees, knowing about probation allows them to actively engage in their performance, seek feedback and take necessary steps to meet expectations and secure their position within the company or realise that it is not a good fit for them.
Actively managing performance during probation will ensure an employee is set up to grow within an organisation and add long-term value or, provide the opportunity to offboard them minimising the investment made.
If you would like a template to use for your probation WIP discussions, please email us at hello@boutiquehr.com.au and we will send you one.
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