How to Make the Most Out of Your New Hire
The hiring process is a lengthy and tedious journey to say the very least. From the initial meetings to their first day, the application and recruiting process is fraught with peril. There are hundreds of decisions that need to be made that will impact not only your team but your company. Most HR professionals are very well aware of this, and there have been significant improvements in the past decade to streamline the onboarding process. We are collectively doing a much better job as a whole bringing in new team members, but there is always room for growth, so before their first day here is how to make the most out of your new hire.
How to Make the Most Out of Your New Hire
Before your fresh-faced newbie lands in their cubicle, office, or workstation there is still a bit of work that needs to be done. Many organizations are welcoming new hires into the seams with nifty and new innovative ways. There are always those that suffer from confirmation bias that set up the new hire for failure before they ever walk in the door. This unintentional action will undermine the success of the new hire, repeating the hiring process, and wasted resources.
Change Your Mindset
- “ The last two hires I brought into this department could not perform their job to our standards; I am sure that Sarah will be the same way.”
- “Remember Jill who worked in the call center? We gave her a bonus after only six months and then she quit without notice.”
- “His recommendations could have been better. I will need to keep a very careful eye on his work.”
Have you ever found yourself thinking this after filling a new position? If so you are likely setting both your new hire and yourself up for failure. If you felt the employee could not do the work required you would not have offered the position. Feel confident in your decision and approach the new hire as you would any other employee.
Here are five ways you might be setting yourself up for failure. These will signal to your new hire that you are expecting the worst or poor performance from your new hire.
- Calling the first 30 days a probationary period
- Small or single infractions result in a formal disciplinary report
- Not allowing PTO eligibility until six months of employment
- “Proof” of illness or bereavement leave
- Restricted access to required resources or information
At this point, a few of you might be saying that those types of policies are only there to ensure consistency or serves as financial protection. I am not saying that there are some aspects of these policies that are appropriate for your particular type of business.
However, now might be an excellent opportunity to revisit your current policies, especially if they were implemented more than five years ago.
Are your company’s practices and policies designed to bring out the best in your new hires?
