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Talking all things HR to help you make sure you are dotting the "i"s and crossing the "t"s to make sure you have everything in place to have a thriving business with happy employees.
Welcome back to another episode of the My HR Partner podcast, where we dive into the nuts and bolts of making your business thrive through strong and effective HR practices. Now today we're zeroing in on how small businesses can nail the onboarding process to set up new employees for success. Very important.
So Karen Hillen, thanks for joining me. Thank you. Excellent. Okay. So, Karen, can you break down what a solid onboarding process might look like? What do employers need to be aware of to ensure that, you know, they're excited, they've got a new person starting? that you know, they can set them up for success.
Yeah. And I think that's key. It's setting them up for success. When you've gone to the trouble and the expense of recruiting, finding someone, sometimes finding an employee is hard. You get someone that you think is going to be great. You want to set them up for success. You want to welcome them, welcome them into your business.
So it is important to make sure that you've got some sort of process in place. So when they arrive on the first day, you've got a process and you can go, okay, this is what we do. So having that is so important. I can remember years ago, I walked in my first day at a job. And the first thing was, Oh, Oh, we didn't know you were starting today.
Oh, just sit there. And it was awful.
I can imagine just how that makes you feel. I mean, just as we're opening up into this episode, I'm thinking how many new jobs have I started? And the impression you get in that first hour as the, as the person coming on board is just, it, it really sets you up for the, the culture.
You think you're, you You're walking into good or bad.
Exactly. And I think that was the thing for me. I was nervous starting a new job anyway. And that just made me feel so much more nervous. They're not even prepared for me. They're not expecting me. So I don't want other businesses to fall into that trap.
Businesses get busy, people get busy, you know, the business is probably really struggling and is busy and that's why they're recruiting a new person. But if you have a process, it makes it so much easier. So I suppose to start off the, the onboarding process from the sort of compliance paperwork side of things, there's the employment contract.
And ideally you would have already sent that out to the person and hopefully they've already signed it before their first day.
Very important. We've covered that off in, in many previous episodes.
It doesn't always happen. It's better if it does. If it doesn't, and you know, you haven't got those things organized.
then that's okay. But again, it's better to be prepared. So you've hopefully already sent out the contract. It's been signed. So then if there are any issues with the offer, the contract, they can be all ironed out before the person's first day.
Not something you want to be doing in the, in the first half day.
Yeah. Get that out of the way. Yep.
Yep. So also things like the payroll forms, the, the tax file number declaration, the super details. Bank details, all of those things, if they can be done before the first day, that's fantastic. If not, that, there's some of the things you'll want to do on the first day.
Of course, and you'd expect that as a new employee too.
Yeah, but it's good to have an induction policy. It's really good to have a checklist that you can go through to cover off all of the things for induction and orientation on a person's First day, first week, first two, three, four, maybe even up to six weeks.
I think as an employee, seeing that they've got a checklist, that they've put some thought in that this is a business that is ready for employees to come on board, that that I'm going to be ticking off the things that I need to know and have to do in order to, to come on board here.
Yeah, definitely. And I think that shows, yep, this business is organized. It's got some processes. That's going to make people feel, okay, this is going to be a good place to work. They're welcoming. So I think it really does help to settle someone's nerves too, for their first day. So you can cover things like you know, their workspace, show them where it is introduce them to the team.
Ideally if you can give them a mentor or a buddy, that's great too, because then that person knows that they've got that person to go and ask questions. What a cool idea. I wouldn't have thought of that. Yeah. And look, you know, if you're a really small business, that's your first employee, well then that's not gonna make sense because it's gonna be, you'd
be hard to,
Have a buddy then.
Yeah. But if you've got a team that can be a really good idea. Or you might have people in your business that are allocated certain things to run through. Induction or orientation with a new employee. So you could have somebody depending on how big your business is, someone from IT might come and talk about, this is how you log in.
These are your login details. These are the systems that we use. All of those types of things.
Nah, good idea. And I mean, I'm thinking now, How important is it to take a new person around and introduce them to everybody on their first day? Is that a good idea or not, not such a good idea or does it depend on the workplace and the culture?
Yeah, look, I think it depends on size probably. would be the most important thing. If you've got a huge team, it's probably not going to be possible to meet everyone on the first day. But if you're a small business and you only have a small team, I think it's important just so, probably not going to remember everybody's name on the first day as an employee, but at least again, you're going to feel that you're being welcomed because you've been introduced to everybody.
People are away, obviously that might happen the next day or the day after, but I think it really is, it's good for everybody, not just the, the person whose first date is, but even the rest of the team, so they can get to know the, the new person and welcome them. And you know, it doesn't have to be, let's have a big morning tea party on the first day.
That's nice, but just so people feel comfortable and they know the people. And even if they can get a really short idea of what each person does in the business. So if they do have to go and ask a question, they know who to go to. Things like you know, a, a staff list or a phone list, so the new person knows, okay, that person is payroll, or that person looks after the IT, or that's the person that does the accounts, or whatever it might be.
I think. Having those processes in place and that sort of paperwork in place makes it a lot easier for somebody. Cause like I said, you're not going to remember everybody's day name on the first day unless you've got a super memory. So having the list of the team will be really good too, because you can, you know, some people, you know, make a little map or, you know, write something.
What a, again, what a
great, great idea. I was just thinking, as we're talking about being introduced. That horrible feeling like, I'm not going to remember any of these names maybe one.
So
a little map with who sits where and what a fantastic idea.
And I've had that in in a, I can't even remember where it was now, but in a job that I was in, they gave you a little map and then you could write in people's names and you could see, you knew where to go and who to talk to.
That really is cool. Anything like that, that's going to make it easier for somebody to settle in.
And I guess you can too sort of bring in things into your onboarding process that I guess will give the new employee an idea about your, your culture. I remember one Workplace I was I was actually at and had a couple of rules about about a new employee stay.
One, it was never a Monday. It always had to be a Tuesday. I've heard that a lot. Yep. And two, always started later on the first day and finished earlier. Great idea. Mm. So always that the new employee wouldn't be in until 10.
Yep.
And would leave at 3. 30, just for the first day. Still be obviously paid.
For the full day. For the full day. Yeah. Just to show this is the type of workplace we are and, you know, we, first day we understand we values and it, it's going to be far less stressful if you're coming in at that time on a Tuesday. And, and, and. Leaving, you know, a bit early, beat the traffic, et cetera, go home feeling good about your, your first day, which I'm guessing is, is really what this is all about.
That you get to that end of that first day and you're just happy with what's, what's taken place in terms of you starting the new job.
That's so nice. I really like that idea. I think, yeah, it takes some of the stress out of the day. I think also other things, you know, and, you know, I've got a. an induction and orientation checklist for clients.
And it's a template, but of course you can add your own flavor to it. You know, things like public transport or where to park if, you know, if parking is a problem in the area, here, here are some tips on where to park. But if you get here, you know, if they've got flexible working arrangements, for instance, and you've got some choice on times you can start, maybe.
a tip of if you get here before, I don't know, eight o'clock, parking's a lot better. I know one place I worked, parking was at a premium and we had flexi time, it was a government position. So it always made sense to get to work at 7. 30 because it was much easier to get a parking spot. So, just the little things like that and tips like that.
Also where's the best place to get coffee? Where are the places around the area to get lunch? What's the situation with lunch? Does everybody have lunch at the same time? Is, is there a staggered arrangement?
Again, all those things, little things that everyone takes for granted once you're, you're in and working.
But yeah, you don't know the The lay of the land. Do you? So it's, it's almost just making sure you're letting them know that the lay of the land of what goes on there and how and when.
And then they don't, you know, work related things in relation to this is your job. These are the processes, but I think they're equally important to settle someone in to make sure that they can say you're a caring business.
You've got a good culture. These are the things we do here. And again going back to your point about giving an introduction to the business and it could be. This is our mission statement. These are our values. You know, this is how we think around here. And, and that's part of the reason we recruited you because you have the same values as us.
So all of those things, I think will again, help welcome somebody into the business and make that person feel like they, you know, They made the right decision on accepting the job and, you know, they're in the right place. Which
is ultimately what we're talking about here. So I, I mean, this has been a fantastic episode for anyone listening out there.
So many things. You. You can do that you just probably don't think about.
Yeah, and I think that's if you've got it all documented too.
Yeah, so document these things. So you could almost have your, your your formal checklist of what you're actually going through, you know, with the, the compliance and the documentation and the IT and, and et cetera, et cetera.
But also have your, your informal checklist yourself. Yep. Have I told them about lunch breaks? Have I told them about coffee?
And also, you know, important things like emergency evacuation plan and all of those sorts of things as well. So all of those things, if you can have them in a checklist or documented somewhere you might even get a new employee to, to watch a few videos and that might be about safety or it could be just, you know I know one organization I worked with, which was a larger organization.
They used to have a one day, full one day
induction.
And sometimes you'd be there for two or three weeks before you got that first one day induction because people would come from all different offices and locations. And that was great because you found out a lot about the business. But then technology, they started recording a lot of that stuff.
Yep. So then instead of having to go to the head office, which may not be your location, you could watch all of those things on video over the first couple of days, for instance. So there's lots of different ways to do it. And that can depend on the size of the business as well.
Yep, absolutely. So I think the key takeaways for me is really plan.
Prepare, be prepared and have checklists.
Absolutely and I think it's like for anything in HR or anything in business really, if you've got a plan, you've got some documentation around it, it just makes it a lot easier. If you're the business owner in your way, somebody else can step in because they know what the process is.
Absolutely. So, remember, a great start leads to lasting success. Karen, it's been a pleasure again, and you never fail to to deliver on your knowledge around all areas in, in HR. So to our listeners, take these gems back to your business and watch your new hires grow. Flourish as they come in because you've, you've done it the right way and they're feeling comfortable and they're, you know, they're going home.
knowing they've made the right decision joining your organization. Remember to check out Karen's website for all things HR. Now, what is that website again, Karen? It's
www. myhrp.com.au. Okay. And all of our podcast episodes are there with so many helpful tips and things for you to be able to implement in your business.
So I look forward to chatting to you again soon. Thanks a lot and have a great day.