Once the applicant has gone through the interview process, and has successfully been appointed then the next step is the induction and

the orientation.

Let us look at the induction.

What is an Induction?

Contrary to most employers whom seem to think that the orientation consists of the induction, the induction program usually contains:-

v     Company Information that consists of products and facilities, organizational structure, and locations of organizations if they are a franchise or chain.

v     Job information like conditions of employment,

       salary / wage, hours of employment, annual

       leave entitlements, and superannuation, and       

v     OHS details

It is also just as important for the employee to learn about the values, goals and vision of the organization earlier rather than later, so that the organization is doing everything in their power to keep the new recruit.

Another thing that should be mentioned to the new recruit is the organizational and service mission statements, as well as any unspoken service mission statements.

For example:

The RACV Club service motto was ‘To provide exceptional customer service’ however the unspoken statement was that if a member wanted an item in the restaurant then you would do everything possible to get them the item that they had requested, without question or complaint, regardless of whether you were busy or not!

Although nothing was ever mentioned to me about this

unspoken rule, I was quick to cotton on about how things operated in the RACV Club I am however, dismayed on how many of the new recruits simply didn’t know and struggled with the very idea of having to bend over

backwards for the customers whim.

When should the Induction be held?

Many employees don’t attend an induction until 3 months after their appointment and their probationary period was up, sometimes, it can be up to a year.

The problems this can cause.

Whilst I can understand why the managers want to hold the induction after 3 months with their rationale of making sure that the employee fits into the organizational mould, however, I have seen that majority of these employees end up quitting, before they even get to the induction stage and I just wonder,  if they had the prior knowledge of the behavioral code of conduct, the organizational and service mission statements, as well as any unspoken service mission statements, would this have changed their decisions to quit.

© 2009 Sumalee Kunert - Lee

contact me at sumalee_kunert2006@yahoo.com.au