Are Your New Hires Learning Fast Enough?

Usually, by the time we get a new recruit hired to fill a vacancy, the business has already started to bleed a little. Everyone is working harder to keep up with the volume of business, morale may start to drop, and both revenues and profits may be on a downward trend. So the sooner we get the new recruit up to speed on the job, the better. All true. But it is exactly this eagerness to get new hands working as quickly as possible that often leads to greater problems. Problems like mistakes in service and repairs, excessive customer complaints, increased customer comebacks, reduced profits, reductions in employee morale, and an increase in turnover.

So while it's natural to want your new hires to get on the job as quickly as possible, putting them into the fire too quickly can cause far more problems than it could ever solve. But take heart, there is an answer: make sure they learn the job both well and quickly. Here's how to do that.

Start with a foundation of written work standards. All consistency and excellence start here. The best way to ensure that every employee learns to do every job the way you want it done and continues to do the job the same way is to put your work standards in writing and put a copy in every employee's hands. When a new employee sees that you have established work standards, he starts out thinking in terms of doing the job right every time. And having these standards in place means that your trainers don't have to re-invent the wheel for every new employee. You can read more about this in my article, "How to Make Work Standards Work" on my website.

Hire better. If you want the best people working for you, you have to be sure to hire the best people. Actually, what you really need to do is hire people with a passion for doing what you do. Whether your hallmark is fantastic customer service, speed of service, thoroughness of diagnosis and repair, or anything else, it's absolutely vital that you hire people with a passion for it. Don't worry so much about their experience as their talents and drive. You can read more about this in my article, "Why Your Employees Should Be Doing What They Do Best" on my website.

Make your new employee orientation count. To orient your new employees well, you must do three things. First, welcome them into the exclusive club of your business, making them feel they belong. Second, be sure to provide enough information so each new employee knows how to be a successful employee. This includes both training and information about the business. Finally, be sure that all new employees are well informed about all policies, procedures, and privileges that apply to the job. You can read more about making your employees feel like a member of an exclusive club in my article, "The Hidden Power of Membership" on my website.

Train better. The single most important element in learning a job well is the quality of the training a new recruit receives. And the single most important factor behind the best training is consistency. To make your training consistent, you need established work standards so everyone trains to the same standard and a consistent method of training. Since much of the training needed by new recruits is in how to do the tasks of their new job, I recommend reviewing my article, "Why Being Systematic Guarantees Performance Daily" on my website for the explanation of how to get the most out of on-the-job training.

Coach and mentor better. Perhaps the single most dangerous practice in working with new hires is to give them some training (even excellent training) and then putting them to work without any ongoing support. My recommendation is to assign each new recruit a mentor for the first month or more on the job. Give the mentor responsibility for ensuring that the new recruit reaches full competency in the job as soon as possible. You can read about selecting mentors in my article, "How To Pick Great Mentors for Your New Hires" on my website.

Does this sound like a lot of work to you? It could be, at least for the first few new recruits. But after that, the savings in time, money, energy, and dissatisfaction will make it all worth your while.

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