Training-Getting the New Employee Started Right

Preface The longer a good employee stays in a job, the more valuable he becomes to the employer. Employee turnover is expensive in terms of time and capital. Employers are coming to realize that introduction to the job is one of the most critical steps in retaining good employees. Changing employers and perhaps jobs can be a confusing process. The burden is on the employer to reduce that confusion to a minimum. The initial investment required to adequately start a new employee can pay tremendous dividends down the road. Let's take a took at how you can make the training process work for you in your business. There are several basic elements we need to consider in the training process. The order which we will look at these is as follows. - You (or your Company) - The new employee - The job to be performed - How the training will be done (Methodology) YOU You is the logical place to begin in the process. You may be an individual, a company, a large corporation or a management team. You are the management. What are the roles of management? It is important that these be properly identified. This sets the tone of the training. The roles of management remain fairly constant regardless of the size of the business. Within each business these goals will be defined. Generally the roles of management may be viewed as: - Provide resources, materials, capital, labor - Provide market for goods and services - Set quality standards - Maintain profitability of operation - Set performance standards and evaluate - Accept responsibility for decisions - Establish policy and procedures to accomplish all of these It is easy to separate these roles in theory and difficult to separate them in practice. These roles are interdependent. Training deals with technical and human concerns. We will deal with those concerns which are human issues.

The first step, before any training is begun, is to develop the goal or goals of your business. This should be a fairly well defined, detailed goal. After the goal is defined you need to ask the question, What do you expect of your employees? You should develop a list of expectations. After you have this list you need to ask yourself, How do these expectations relate to the goal of the business. Many employers find that they have expectations which really do not relate to the goal of the business. The point is that expectations which do not relate to the goal may cause problems and perhaps your expectations need to be reviewed. Once you have identified and reviewed your expectations you have the basis for training new employees. The New Employee One rule of successful labor management says "Hire good people, start them right, then get out of the way and let them work." I'm sure that if the rule were followed completely it would be successful, primarily because you start with Good People. You can rely on luck and find a few of these but a far much better system is to actively pursue a sound plan for recruiting. In any event, new employees coming to work for you will come with a built in "Experience Bag." It's up to you to find out what's in each individual bag and plan to train accordingly. Any training should be based upon individual needs. Start where the employee is. You need to know specifically what their experience or lack of experience is. Are they familiar with a system similar to yours? Are they experienced in a system quite unlike yours? If this is the case, you may have to demonstrate how and why you do things differently than a previous employer might have done it. It should not be a case of "un-learning." You are much better off if the employee realizes there is more than one way to do it and that your way just happens to work best in your situation. The Job To Be Performed Training will be at several levels. Part of training will involve Policy and Procedure. Important Policy and Procedures should be explained and also given to employees in some written form so that they might refer to it when a specific problem arises. Training may also be necessary on how you expect certain things to be done. How you expect customers to be greeted, how the phone should be answered, how merchandise is to be stocked, how idle time is to be utilized and the like. The best way to help an employee learn these behavior skills is fairly simple. 1) Explain - Tell how it is done. 2) Demonstrate - Show how it is to be done. 3) Involve - Let the employee do it. 4) Feedback - Tell employee how to improve. Answer employee's questions. 5) Practice - Let employee gain experience under supervision.

6) More feedback - Explain and answer questions. 7) Do it - Let employee go to it with reduced supervision. Most companies use certain "Hardware" in their business. This may include paper work such as order forms, letters, reports, sales tickets and correspondence. Hardware also includes machinery such as office equipment, cash registers, communications equipment, manufacturing or construction equipment. Use of hardware requires a different level of training than policy and behavior. Training in the use of equipment or hardware can be broken down into logical steps. A formula which has proven successful is this. 1) THEORY - Explain how and why certain hardware is used. Explain how equipment works. 2) EXPOSURE - Familiarity with hardware. 3) DEMONSTRATE - Show how equipment is used. 4) PRACTICE - Let employee gain "hands-on" experience under close supervision. 5) FEEDBACK - Make corrections and answer questions. 6) EXPERIENCE - Allow employee to gain experience in operation with supervision. 7) OPERATION - Employee operates hardware with continued feedback and lessening supervision. HOW THE TRAINING WILL BE DONE A simple checklist of questions can be used to determine how training will be accomplished. 1) WHY? What is an acceptable level of performance? The manager/trainer must be able to answer this. This is determined by the company goals. Why is it necessary? The trainee must be able to answer this. It must be important for learning to be effective. 2) WHAT? What do you wish trainees to learn? How will you know they have learned it? You may need to describe the exact performance you expect. 3) WHO? Who needs the training? Will you try to train everyone or only a selected group?

Who can best do the training? Is it the Boss, the Manager, a Foreman or a Co-worker? Is it perhaps someone from outside the business? Some large companies employ training departments. Many more utilize consultants to do this. The small businessman has many resources available. To list just a few: K.S.U., K.U., Community Colleges, VocTech Schools, S.B.A., Chambers of Commerce. Sometimes suppliers will do this. 4) WHERE? The physical setting is important. Should it take place in the business, in a classroom, at a conference center or perhaps in the home? Who does the training may help determine this answer. 5) WHEN? This is an important question. Should the training occur on "job-time" or "trainee-time?" Should it take place as soon as the employee is hired, after 6 months or perhaps before the employee is hired? 6) METHODOLOGY? Is the methodology appropriate to the content? Do you expect the trainee to learn new attitudes, behavior or skills? Do you rely on a single method of delivery? Variety is essential in learning. Remember repeated use of a single method tends to reduce effectiveness. Summary In some businesses continual training is part of the operation. In all businesses initial training is very important. If properly handled, it can lead to greater job satisfaction, high levels of production and reduced turnover. Training should be broken down to logical steps. THE SEQUENCE IS SIMPLE. 1). Theory, the How and Why. 2) Lecture or Demonstration, passive involvement and 3) Practice or exercises, active involvement. Throughout training, it is essential that there be feedback, questions, answers, suggestions. Feedback should be immediate. Training can be used to learn attitudes, behavior and skills. Variety of techniques adds to effectiveness. The value and effectiveness of training depends upon a number of elements. The first and perhaps most important is the establishment of sound company goals. Management is the exercise of influence over others toward some predetermined goal of the organization.