COACH'S CORNER
By Barry Knepper
As Seen In Queensborough - The Magazine of the Queens Chamber of Commerce

A TAB Board member recently brought on a couple of new hires into his business. In the past, he hadn't been very successful at bringing on and keeping new employees. I emphasized that he make sure that he had a good hiring process in place but also had a solid on-boarding process so the employees could be successful. The on boarding process includes:

• Job descriptions, key accountabilities and metrics need to be defined and written down ahead of time
• A training plan needs to be developed and/or updated
• Assign a mentor to the new hire for the first few weeks, months, etc., to make sure they successfully integrate into the company culture
• The new employee needs to spend at least a half-day/full-day with someone already doing the job
  
• Take new hires out to lunch or have their mentors go to lunch with them to help with team building
  
• Have a weekly meeting with the new hire(s) asking how training is going, what they learned and answer any questions they have to ensure success
  
• Make other employees feel part of the new hire and bring existing employees into the training and mentoring process
  
• Make sure the new employee is acknowledged in the weekly staff meeting
  
• When appropriate, teach the infrastructure of the office—file naming conventions, where to store things, how to store, etc.
  
• Share everyone's core competencies so the new employee knows where to go for assistance—encourage collaboration across the team
  
• On their first morning, even if it is an hour, go through all of the HR policies— employee handbook, benefits, rules and regulations, holidays, sick time, overtime, cell phone, Internet, dress code, hours, etc.

Having a solid on-boarding plan will help you, your existing team and your new employee!