When a new employee joins an organization, she has a million
things on her mind. The type of organization, the people, the methods of doing
work, the work culture, how the employees will take her, how long will she take
to understand the work…It is a transition phase: for many from university life
to the workforce and for many from one organization to another.
Leaving one organization is painful by itself, adjusting in
another is even more painful. An effective induction is what it takes to minimize
this pain.
A company induction program needs to be a carefully thought
about plan. It needs to take into account the sensitivities that a new joinee
brings with her. This is the time to win over the employee – make it or break
it: your true Moment of Truth! It requires a concoction of empathy, thoughtfulness
and compassion.
Induction in an organization is the role of Human Resource
and Training combined. It ought to cover the entire philosophy of the company.
There should be ample information on its history: How did the concept of the
organization come about, how did the concept take shape, what were the difficulties
in bringing it to the current situation, how did the management overcome these
difficulties. There should be adequate discussion on the vision of the company:
why it is there and where it wants to go. The mission of the organization
describes how it is going to achieve its vision.
Besides its philosophy, an induction program should provide
enough information about the organization: the infrastructure of the
organization, its branches, the products/services they develop, their USP’s
(Unique Selling Prepositions), its hierarchy and the key people in the organization.
Enough emphasis should be laid on the policies of the organization, their
expectations of the staff, behavior as a team, grooming and communication standards.
There should be some information on the role of each department in the
organization and how the new joinee fits into her role as a part of this team.
An Induction Program should also talk in detail about what
the company has in store for their internal customers, welfare activities
carried out in the organization, its CSR programs and other extra-curricular
activities.
The role of an effective induction is to create ownership in
the mind of the new employee towards the organization and feel welcome in the
new environment. Besides a general induction in the organization, employees are
taken through another induction in their respective department to help settle
down in the transition period and make this transition smoother and more
stable. The employee is in a very fragile state of mind at this period and
utmost care is required to caress and nurture the employee and turn her from an
employee to an asset!
