Onboarding New Employees

It is that time of year, spring is ramping up and you are thinking of hiring as many people as you can to do as much work as your sales team can sell! Onboarding correctly sets your new employees up for success. Not doing it or doing it haphazardly will only serve to increase your turnover and continued frustration in finding employees. Below is my recommendation for onboarding employees the right way:

Start with an organized packet of information:

• New hire paperwork
• Tax and other legal documents
• Your employee handbook
• Safety Manual
• The Summit Greenbook with the appropriate job description and training plan

Make sure to set aside a good amount of time to fill out the paperwork, explain documents, and answer questions about the handbook. Run through those topics you know to be important to you and a new employee: the importance of safety protocols, timeliness, breaks, timekeeping, pay-day, cell-phones on the job site, etc.

Identify the leaders in your business. Who will the new employee be working with and for? Which crew leaders are ready to manage more hours and train new employees? Be sure to spend time with those crew leaders so they know the importance of a proper onboarding process. Oversee the introductions between the new employee and their crew and make sure they exchange cell phone numbers or identify other communication channels. Remember, employees, fire their bosses, not the company. You need your crew leaders to treat your employees with care and respect.

Schedule an orientation that you, as the business owner, conduct. This ensures that all employees hear about the Vision you have for your business as well as the Values that are important to you. If you do not make those expectations clear from the beginning, your new employees stand a good chance of either making up their own rules or hearing from another team-member what they believe the standards to be.

Create a two-week plan that is scripted and easily repeatable. What skills will you expect from what position? You can refer to the Summit Skills assessment form and modify it to fit your business. Or, use the Summit Greenbook and follow the training plan within.

Schedule 15-20 minute feedback sessions in each of the first two weeks. Have your field leaders review both hard and soft skills, for example:

• Job site cleanliness
• Customer Service (Plus 1)
• Equipment/Truck maintenance

Starting off a new employee with the expectation of good communication patterns and a scripted training plan sets your business apart from the competition. Those new hires are less likely to be dissatisfied and more likely to produce for you; those that are not comfortable with the structure will soon find themselves working for someone else!

Happy onboarding! –Kathryn Freeman