Dear Members,

Here is something useful while talking about INDUCTION.

INDUCTION

What is induction for?

The purpose of induction is to ensure the effective integration of staff into or across the organisation for the benefit of both parties. Research has shown that tailor-made programmes increase staff retention.

A good induction programme contains the following elements:

· Orientation (physical) - describing where the facilities are
· Orientation (organisational) - showing how the employee fits into the team
· Health and safety information - this is a legal requirement
· Explanation of terms and conditions
· Details of the organisation's history, its products and services, its culture and values
· A clear outline of the job/role requirements.

Who needs an induction programme?

All staff, both full- and part-time need an induction programme. Some groups have specific needs - graduate trainees, people returning from career breaks, long-term absence or maternity/paternity leave, senior appointments, technical specialists, directors. Tailor-made programmes should also be available for groups such as job-sharers, temporary staff, contractors, promoted staff, transferred staff and teleworkers.
What happens without an effective induction programme?

New employees get off to a bad start and never really understand the organisation itself or their role in it. This may lead to:

· poor integration into the team
· low morale, particularly for the new employee
· loss of productivity
· failure to work to their highest potential.

In extreme cases, the new employee leaves, either through resignation or dismissal; the results of our most recent recruitment and retention survey1 showed that 13% of leavers had less than six month's service.

Early leaving results in:
· additional cost for recruiting a replacement
· wasted time for the inductor
· lowering of morale for the remaining staff
· detriment to the leaver's employment record
· having to repeat the unproductive learning curve of the leaver
· damage to the company's reputation.


The role of HR in employee induction

Although the induction of a specific employee is the line manager's responsibility, the HR group is responsible for the company's induction policy and for developing the full range of induction programmes and courses. Personnel specialists will also implement some aspects of induction. Finally, HR will be responsible for the evaluation of the induction process.

The basics of an induction process

The structure of an induction course depends not only on the size and nature of an organisation but also on the type of recruit. The process begins at the recruitment stage and continues into employment. New recruits need to know the organisation, the culture and the people, and their role. Ideally, all new employees should receive an individual induction programme that reflects their specific needs. For a large company, this programme would be a combination of one-to-one discussions and more formal group presentations, which may be given within an induction course.

The line manager is responsible for a new recruit's induction, but would not be expected to cover all the elements personally.

 A typical allocation of induction tasks would be:

· Line manager/supervisor: explain the departmental organisation, the requirements of the job, the purpose and operation of any probationary period and the appraisal system.
· HR: cover the housekeeping aspects for a new starter (possibly on arrival, certainly on Day 1) such as completing employee forms, taking bank details, explaining the induction programme.

· Safety officer: explain health and safety issues.

· Section supervisor or a nominated colleague: provide an escorted tour of the department and introduce fellow workers; then give day-to-day guidance in local procedures for the first couple of weeks.

· Senior manager(s) and/or HR: give an overview of the organisation, its history, products and services, quality system and culture.

· Training officer (or line manager): describe available training services, then help to develop a personalised training plan. Provide details of other sources of information during induction such as the company intranet or interactive learning facilities.

· Company representatives from trades unions, sports and social clubs, etc: give details of membership and its benefits.

· Mentor or 'buddy': sometimes inductees are allocated a colleague, not their immediate line manager or anyone from the personnel function, to help speed up the settling-in period.



Using a formal induction course

Advantages
· Saves inductors' and managers' time by dealing with a group rather than several individuals.

· Ensures that all new recruits are given a positive message and consistent information.

· Can employ a range of communication techniques including:
o group discussion and projects
o presentation (PowerPoint/overheads/slides/videos)
o visits and guided tours
o off-site training sessions
o involvement with suppliers, customers and contractors.

· Enables new recruits to socialise with each other and build cross-functional relationships.

· Is relatively easy to arrange.

Disadvantages
· Contains a range of subjects that are unlikely to appeal to a cross-functional and mixed ability group of new employees.

· May take place several weeks, or even months, after the inductee joins the organisation, which disrupts integration into the work team.

· Is less personal and involves managers and HR personnel rather than colleagues and local supervisors.

· Contains too much information to be assimilated in a short time.

· Is not a true reflection of either the organisation or the job

· Individuals may not be able to attend all sessions in a series of induction presentations resulting in incomplete induction.

What to avoid

· Providing too much, too soon; the inductee must not be overwhelmed by a mass of information on the first day.
· Pitching presentations at an inappropriate level - either too high or too low.

· HR rather than local personnel providing all the information.

· Creating an induction programme which generates unreasonable expectations by being more interesting and more exciting than the job itself.

· Demanding that inductees stop interesting and useful work to go to a dull presentation. This hinders integration and devalues the induction process and, possibly, the HR group.

Trends in induction

Changing content

· Fewer 'chalk and talk' sessions and more multi-media presentations, or active learning tasks (eg giving inductees a questionnaire where completion involves talking to people outside the normal scope).

· Moving away from being purely about the practicalities of an organisation to discussing culture and values. For example, an online induction and e-learning programme has been developed to introduce the culture for new HR staff in the NHS, and Tesco also uses e-learning for its annual 40,000 new recruits.

· Involving a wide range of personnel in the programme development to ensure that the content continues to match the organisation profile; out-of-date or badly produced material is depressing.

· More awareness of socialisation issues and using induction sessions for cross-function team building, for example, at the NHS University.

Procedures

· More written procedures to provide evidence of induction programme eg for Investors in People, ISO 9000, etc.

Evaluation

· Holding post-induction reviews, either formally or informally.
· Using statistics (eg on early leavers) to monitor the effectiveness of the induction process

Thanks

Regards

Pushpinder

Creative Learning Systems

9818920097

011-42143006.