Ten Top Tips to creating a great employee induction!

Congratulations! You’ve hired the most amazing person for the job, they’ve accepted the offer, handed in their notice and now begins the countdown to their start date and the planning for their joining which means getting a great induction in place!

The induction process is really important, and having something that is structured, varied and offers plenty of training, nurturing and a great first impression of your brand is super important.

One of the most important things to remember when it comes to hiring is that yes, their first day might be in a months’ time, and yes, their training and induction might begin on their first day; but actually you begin inducting someone and engaging them with your brand and company from the minute they apply for the role, and throughout the whole initial hiring process you are not only determining whether or not this person is the right person for the role, but you are giving that person an introduction and insight into why they might want to work for you. With this in mind, it is important to make sure your whole hiring process from the minute that advert goes out really lives, speaks and breathes your brand and delivers the ultimate first impression that wouldn’t make your ideal candidate want to go anywhere else!

Now that you have delivered a brilliant hiring experience, check out our Top Ten Tips on making a great first impression during your induction process!

1. Put together a great welcome pack and send it to them before they start! There is so much paperwork to fill out and send back and logistics to sort out with someone before they begin which is obviously all protocol, but let’s be honest – can be a bit dull! So put together a fun welcome pack and send this to them before they begin – it could include a message from the MD, things to look forward to when they start, what they can expect from their first day and maybe messages from the rest of the team about what it is like to work there! Make sure to also remind them of their start time and who will be meeting them when they arrive and introduce that person over email if they haven’t met already.

2. Introduce them in style on their first day! Meeting a whole new group of people can be quite daunting so why not break the ice straight away by introducing your new team member to the rest of the team in a fun way. Here at Inspired, when we send out our welcome pack a couple of weeks before they begin, we also ask for our new team member to send us back a fun fact about them, their favourite film or book and how they like their tea or coffee along with a photo of them, and then on their first day we send out a fun welcome bulletin to the whole team introducing our new teammate and what they’re going to be doing! This is a great way to start conversation and get people engaged right away! Or you might schedule in a quick ‘welcome party’ or social event for the whole team to get to know one another over a coffee on the morning they start!

3. Give them a schedule ahead of time so they know what to expect on their first few days and weeks and assign them a buddy/ mentor! – Putting together a great induction and training schedule is really important. Be sure to get the whole team and other departments involved and send out diary invites ahead of time to everyone so that everything is set in motion! Make sure as well as training sessions, there are also catch-up sessions, lunches and coffees/ teas in with other colleagues too. Buddy your new start up with someone too for the duration of their training and induction – not only is this great for the new start who will have the additional support of a mentor, but is also great progression and development for someone already on your team to help coach and mentor someone new.

4. Take them for lunch! Not only is this a good opportunity to bond with your new team member but it is also a great way to introduce them to the surrounding area if it is not somewhere they are familiar with! If someone is taking them out on their first day then be sure to let them know just in case they usually bring lunch in!

5. Include different learning tools and set expectations. Be sure to use a whole variety of learning tools and assessments to keep things engaging – whether this be presentations, videos, practical and shadow sessions – be sure to incorporate as many different ways of learning as well as utilizing different team members for different sessions. Ask your new team member how they best take in information and learn to so that you can adapt any sessions to best serve them. It is also important when training someone to set your own expectations of what is expected of them – for example, following up with the trainer to say thank you and what their key takeaways were, you may also include quizzes or assessments or sign off for some areas so be sure to set expectations for pass criteria.

6. Jazz up your induction and make it speak for your brand! Most, if not every company will have some form of induction process following the same structure and training which most likely hasn’t updated in a while… so maybe it’s time to jazz it up a little! As an example, here at Inspired, we came away from using the term training induction all together and instead we enroll all of our new starts into ‘The Inspired Academy!’ where they undergo all their onboarding, training and introduction into the business and then graduate at the end of their 6 months! You want your induction to be a memorable and empowering learning experience so how can you make yours stand out? Think about your brand values as part of your training pack also and be sure to include sessions on those too!

7. Make sure they have access to all their induction and training tools. It’s really easy when you are either training someone or being trained yourself to get a bit lost in everything that is being sent to you and shown to you by various colleagues so make sure the trainee has easy access to everything they need for their training and that it is all in one place including their training schedule, training session notes and useful documents as well as any feedback forms, induction documents and everything they need for starting out! Be sure also to provide training to your existing team on how the induction and training should look, expectations, follow-up with the trainees line manager, where to find useful information and encourage them to share any feedback on how they feel the training could also be improved

8. Put catch up sessions in the diary and have a training tracker in place – your catch-up sessions with your new starter are just as important as your client meeting or your urgent project. Before they start ensure these catchups are already in the diary and stick to them!  If you are going to be off then ensure that someone else will be able to catch up with them. If you haven’t already then creating a training tracker of all the sessions and any assessments your new starter must complete in their first six months is really helpful to go through in these catch-ups – this way you can discuss how they felt that session went, if they require any additional training on that topic and get these booked in the diary.

9. Get their feedback throughout the induction process – encouraging regular feedback throughout someone’s induction process is really important and allows them time to think and reflect on their training and experience so far. Be sure to go through their feedback with them in your catch-up sessions, and where needed, implement any changes or schedule any additional or extra training they may require.

10. Make sure they have been set clear goals and targets – as your new team member progresses and builds in confidence throughout their training and induction begin setting them initial targets for certain KPIs so they can begin to work towards goals as they continue learning. Be sure to regularly review these with their training and congratulate them on their achievements along the way.

Don’t forget to regularly review your induction, training documents and sessions and update them where necessary, and don’t forget about training for your existing team also – maybe they too would like some refresher training themselves so some of the sessions could be lunch and learns for the whole team to contribute towards!

One thing to also think about is that period of time between offering and starting, this is also just as important as both the hiring and the actual starting date! During this time, your new start has gone from communicating with you regularly during the interview process and offer process to this more silent period as you wait for them to start, and this is where sometimes people can let anxious thoughts slip in or in some cases pull out of the offer. So be sure to have a couple of touch points over this period (not just for all the onboarding and payroll paperwork) but to also show your enthusiasm for them joining! This is why sending out a friendly informative welcome pack is a nice reminder of why they accepted the role in the first place!

We hope some of these tips are helpful when it comes to planning or managing your induction process and if you have some great features within your own induction, we would love to hear about them!

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