Invest in induction rather than recruitment

Induction is an essential component of the recruitment and selection process, but as Business Systems Specialist, Tamara Simon, explains many employers make the mistake of overlooking this important process.

First impressions really do count. So why do employers forget this essential rule when it comes to inducting new employees into their business?

Businesses spend substantial amounts of time and money on recruitment each year; and yet, for many, induction is just a simple tour of the office, rather than a structured induction program.

So, why is this the norm rather than the exception? Unfortunately many employers:

a. Feel it’s not important
b. Say they don’t have time
c. Aren’t sure what to put into an induction program.

A structured induction program should include training, allocation of work and a performance review at the end of the probation period.

An induction helps new recruits settle into their jobs quicker and boosts their motivation, and should be an essential component of the recruitment and selection process, rather than something that is forgotten, ignored or glossed over.

By not developing an effective induction program, employers are forgetting the probation period is not only their opportunity to assess the new employee’s potential, but the new employee is also determining whether the organisation, its people, processes and culture match their employment
needs.

Research shows over 35% of employees leave organisations within the first 12 months due to:

• Lack of understanding or clarity about their role
• Unrealistic work expectations
• No formal or informal performance review, and thus no idea of how they are fitting in
• Uncertainty in where to find things
• Uncertainty in the ‘correct’ way to do things.

If this sounds all too familiar, here are some of the things you need to develop to ensure return on your recruitment and selection investment, and to minimise employee turnover in the first twelve months.

Tamara Simon was a Queensland Finalist in the Telstra Business Women’s Awards. With extensive experience in over 10 industry sectors including building design, training, auditing and marketing, she is passionate about helping build profitable and sustainable service-based businesses. Take Another Look at your business , people and systems to build sustainable profits.

Tamara makes a great point!  And this is something we come across frequently as bookkeeping professionals.  We know that many bookkeeping functions are performed periodically - and that could be weekly, fortnightly, monthly, quarterly, or even anually!  Any induction and training program has to be able to encompass all of these infrequent tasks.  Simply getting your new recruit to shadow someone for a week is not going to be an effective training tool.

So take Tamara's advice and ensure you have a structured induction program in place that takes into account ALL aspects of the job your recruit will be performing.  At Imprest, we like to make sure that all our clients bookkeeping procedures are documented, including period-end checklists.  These notes are a great starting point for your induction program.

By ensuring that new recruits have all the knowledge and tools they need I can guarantee you will get better staff retention and have less mistakes and disruption to contend with!