When a new employee starts a job there is almost always some element of nervousness and hesitancy from both sides, the existing staff and the new member of staff. Here are five ways to make the first day considerably easier.
1. Organise a lunch out for all the staff (presuming this is a small firm obviously!) including the new employee. Make sure there is no alcohol served during this meal.
2. Make sure you have some work available for the new employee when they start. There is nothing worse than joining a new firm and finding that you are sat there twiddling your thumbs.
3. Give the new employee an induction into the workings of the firm but make sure this induction is not an excuse for your HR Manager to wander off for two days and not do any work. The induction should be as short as it needs to be.
4. Give the new employee their Contract of Employment and staff handbook etc. For a free Staff Handbook Download please visit http://www.businessbusstop.com and follow the link to “free resources”.
5. Be nice to the new employee as they are going to be a valuable and worthy member of your team. It has probably cost you considerable time and effort to get the person in and there is often complacency amongst employers once a new member of staff joins with almost an assumption that you no longer need to do anything for them.
Jonathan Fagan is Managing Director of Ten Percent Legal Recruitment (www.ten-percent.co.uk) and can be contacted at cv@ten-percent.co.uk
Ten-Percent Legal Recruitment - Online Legal Recruitment for Solicitors, Legal Executives, Fee Earners, Support Staff, Managers and Paralegals. Visit our Website to search or download our Vacancy Database or view our Candidate Database online.
1. Organise a lunch out for all the staff (presuming this is a small firm obviously!) including the new employee. Make sure there is no alcohol served during this meal.
2. Make sure you have some work available for the new employee when they start. There is nothing worse than joining a new firm and finding that you are sat there twiddling your thumbs.
3. Give the new employee an induction into the workings of the firm but make sure this induction is not an excuse for your HR Manager to wander off for two days and not do any work. The induction should be as short as it needs to be.
4. Give the new employee their Contract of Employment and staff handbook etc. For a free Staff Handbook Download please visit http://www.businessbusstop.com and follow the link to “free resources”.
5. Be nice to the new employee as they are going to be a valuable and worthy member of your team. It has probably cost you considerable time and effort to get the person in and there is often complacency amongst employers once a new member of staff joins with almost an assumption that you no longer need to do anything for them.
Jonathan Fagan is Managing Director of Ten Percent Legal Recruitment (www.ten-percent.co.uk) and can be contacted at cv@ten-percent.co.uk
Ten-Percent Legal Recruitment - Online Legal Recruitment for Solicitors, Legal Executives, Fee Earners, Support Staff, Managers and Paralegals. Visit our Website to search or download our Vacancy Database or view our Candidate Database online.
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Comments
I would maybe add one more, which is to make sure that your IT systems are all set up ready for the new employee to start using them!
Not only is it irritating if you cannot access IT (how can I do any work even if I have been given some?) but it is far from welcoming (did they not know I was coming??!)
Mine is a smaller firm and thankfully we have a low turnover of staff. I believe that alot of this is down to how we treat staff from the moment they send in an application to join us. We don't have particularly flashy recruitment packs, but we try to treat everyone with respect and humanity from that stage on.
And it doesn't stop as the ink it still drying on the contract!