How can Employers on-board anxious new starters in the current climate?
Businesses across the UK are pulling out all the stops to continue to successfully operate during this trying time, to remain competitive in the marketplace, and deliver value. At the heart of this, as always, lies people. Organisations need to ensure that the right teams are in place, and remain in place, to allow them to not only survive but also thrive once the current crisis abates.
For growing businesses that have recently recruited new talent, an unexpected challenge now lies ahead: how to successfully on-board new starters during a time of volatility and uncertainty. Here are some practical steps that you can take as an Employer to ensure a successful onboarding process in the current climate:
Allay new job anxiety
It is perfectly natural for all new hires to be nervous before starting a new role – no matter how many steps have been taken up the career ladder, there is always a degree of hesitancy and insecurity when entering a new workplace.
At the current moment in time, it’s unlikely that many staff will actually be joining a physical workplace during the weeks ahead. As such, this anxiety can easily be heightened without the reassurance that a welcoming team and professional working environment can bring.
Employers can play a crucial role here in allaying anxiety. Create a clear induction plan for your new starter, outlining how they fit into the organisation, the role that they will play within the team, and virtually introducing them to all team members. Make sure that time is set aside for each team member to virtually get to know the new hire and build rapport.
Make focused time for your new starter
Starting a new job should be a big, and exciting, moment for any new starter. There is typically internal anticipation, and a first day will usually see a new starter being the centre of attention – especially within smaller businesses. But right now, firms have bigger issues on their mind, and new hires sadly are not going to be a number one priority.
However, it’s essential to bear in mind that your new hire will always remember their first day and the welcome that they received. It’s essential to still carve out time to welcome your new starter and make them a priority, as much as is viable. A practical way to do this may be delegating induction responsibilities to a trusted member of your team.
Manage remote working practicalities
New starters will, of course, prefer to come into a physical workplace rather than begin their new role working remotely from their colleagues. That may not be possible right now. As an Employer, you can counter this by clearly communicating to your new starter how they can get off to the best possible start by making effective use of your organisation’s remote technology and internal communication systems.
Set clear and tangible tasks that your new hire can comfortably ‘own’ and make individual headway on from day one, but with a clear support system behind them to ask any necessary questions of the team.
Above all, stay in daily contact and reassure your new starter that this is a temporary and unexpected situation – it will pass, and in the meantime, all businesses are working in extraordinary ways to ensure continuity.
Over the last 20 years, we have grown as a business to become one of the leading independent Recruitment agencies in Oxfordshire, and in 2018 we opened our first London office, to service Clients and Candidates in the capital.
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