The industry-wide concern of retaining staff has been, and continues to be, on the minds of Head Office teams nationally. One crucial way of maintaining a low turnover, and growing teams of dedicated staff who care about working for you, is to give them a worthwhile induction where they immediately feel included, respected and safe. 

Inductions that work – how to promote effective onboarding. 

Located within Head Office, you will have the information that needs to be shared, some of it will be company culture oriented, lots will be required compliance and yet more will be about your new hire’s role specifics. When there is so much that needs to be shared, understood and signed off it is a balancing act to make it clear and not seem like a bombardment that could put off your new hire from feeling included. 

One answer, to create an induction Pathway

You might be thinking, we already have an induction process, we are always hiring people. However, when was the last time you reviewed your materials, thought about how they are handed over, changed the process of checking sign off? How far does the process extend beyond day one? Does it smoothly transition into long term performance management and feedback opportunities? 

It might be time to renew your method. We have some top tips to consider when you are restructuring your onboarding process:

• • Outline all the steps a new starter needs to take, from watching welcome videos, reading and signing policies, attending training sessions, acknowledging risk assessments, meeting the team, getting to know their venue etc. 

• • Decide how to deliver each element effectively and track completion – matched to your company culture and approaches

• • Group them into themes/urgency and order them logically

• • Consider timed release of information or activities that guide your people through their first weeks rather than only a day or two

• • Include feedback and review options so that the induction is not just ‘done and dusted’ but becomes part of ongoing training and personal development processes. 

• • Consider unique locations and what specialist information needs to be delivered differently at those venues. 

Utilise digital tools to visualise and track progress

Inform People offer a wide suite of digital compliance and performance management tools that can be used to capture and deliver an induction which can also be accessed from anywhere, completed dynamically, and tracked by managers at every stage. 

Let’s revisit the key points of an induction and see how our modules can assist in making your onboarding process smoother and more welcoming. 

Outline the steps and group into themes

Using the Pathways module, every step on an induction can be listed out in one or more groupings. For example you will likely have a ‘Policies and Procedures’ set of compliance information for everyone, a ‘Day 1 Essentials’ that must be completed before a first shift, ‘Product Training’ or other trade specific training options. 

See the image for how a Pathway in progress could look. 

What can be included in a Pathway?

Information delivery in the form of:

• • a piece of Knowledge (from the Knowledge Base)

• • a full e-learning course or policy with follow on questions (using MSCP)

• • Attendance of an Event (using the Events module)

• • A newsletter or other group of documents (via Knowledge Share)

• • Links to external options such as company web pages

Information collection in the form of:

• • Collections – online forms that collect personal information / feedback / opinions with management sign off

• • Audits – though this might not be the most relevant for Inductions, and might be more suited to Career Development Pathways, you might want to get your new starters to complete a location tour for security, fire or ‘meet the team’ reasons that they need to be marked as a ‘witness’ on

• • Reviews – structured exercises for reflecting on progress and setting goals 

Progress Reviews

If your information delivery is effective, all targets and expectations for a new starter will be understood from their first day and they will be shown how they can reach their goals. 

You can measure induction progress through completion of Collections in their Pathways (as above) or a more formal Review structure with your business goals and reflection on personal competencies. 

Also consider how your new hires will have the opportunity to provide regular feedback,  chances to ask questions of their colleagues and ways to check information independently. 

Editor note: Reviews can be structured forms or handled more ad-hoc through Objectives in the Calendar whether you want weekly check-ins, 4-8-12 week reviews, one final sign off sit-down or a combination! 

Unique locations

Having a general induction process is great for the most part, getting the company handbook shared and the main Health and Safety topics ticked off – but what about when locations differ? 

Unique locations offer an additional challenge that Inform People has been designed to tackle – targeted compliance that is relevant to location specific quirks and requirements. 

Using our detailed and customisable Organisational Structure (link to article) you can identify specific location attributes to trigger learning and health and safety compliance relevant to the challenges presented. 

Examples we have facilitated:

• • Different alcohol licensing in England, Scotland and NI – different training, audits and risk assessments

• • Compactor training only at venues with compactors 

• • Different brands within your company that need slightly different messaging

• • Risk Assessments specific to certain types of reclining cinema seats

What this means for your people is that the information they are expected to review on their first day and following weeks is specifically relevant to where they are working, they won’t be bogged down by erroneous information for machines or procedures that are irrelevant to their place of work. While they also will have the H&S specifics they need to be aware of at their fingertips from the start so they and you know they are compliant and safe to get started in their new role without delay.

Put the power in their hands, make it easy to feel part of the bigger picture

A common problem that can affect your newest employees is that the information they are shown in their early days is always relevant but might be hard to access or review as they progress and want to refresh their knowledge. 

By making their induction a digital Pathway on Inform People, they will always be able to click back into the Knowledge Base, their MSCP Training, Policies or Reviews to clarify a point, rewatch a video or update a personal goal. Removing the hurdles of access means they are looking internally for what they need to know and not waiting for an email response or trawling a printed handbook without a search function. 

New Starters aren’t the only Inductions to consider

Every new role one of your employees takes on needs an introduction of sorts – perhaps they have opted-in to a Fire Marshall role that involves extra training and responsibilities or maybe you have a Management Development Programme. All of these new career updates can be enhanced with an induction style Pathway that includes new Policies, User Guides, Data Collections and Events to attend. 

Both outside hires for senior roles or people promoted through  internal progression could be thrown into their new responsibilities quickly and might, unfortunately, be expected to know facts, policies, and procedures that they have limited experience of. With a properly thought out Onboarding that is linked to their Job Title, Goals or Ambitions – you can take away the frustration of ‘learning on the job’ by giving them all the tools they need to embrace their new role straight away.

Prioritise Health and Safety

Make it part of the everyday – if your new hires are included in the regular auditing, or at least they see it happen and help to give feedback when a check is being completed, they will not only understand the H&S measures in place for them in their workplace but feel part of a culture of safety. In turn, feeling protected and cared for can increase loyalty. 

If there isn’t time to make it special, make it smooth

We know that changing the way things are done can be an overwhelming thought but the team at Inform People have worked with a variety of retail and hospitality clients to streamline their onboarding, information sharing, and career development processes to make it as easy as possible for the end user and managers in charge. 

The things that go wrong are when policies are dispersed across hard to locate or outdated documents, when inductions are rushed and can’t be revisited and when personal safety isn’t prioritised or promoted. 

You know your business and culture so it’s a collaborative process to deliver an effective onboarding that is user friendly, easy to access, trackable and engaging. 

If this sounds like something you would be interested in, please get in touch. You can reach us on info@informpeople.com or even call +44 (0)161 713 4104.