A Training Program for Supervisors on New Staff Orientation - Case Study Example

A Training Program for Supervisors on New Staff Orientation Introduction A restaurant business receives new employees almost every other day. In a recent survey conducted by Kennedy School of Business in the US, three factors were found to be the reason why most companies lose their staff (Cadwell, 1988, pp. 24 – 27). The third one was poor orientation and job matching after low motivation and low career prospects respectively (Cadwell, 1988, pp. 24 – 27). Restaurants cannot afford to have high employee turnover because these employee usually establish relationships with many clients and it will be a disruption if the business has to hire new employees every season. The training costs and other recruitment costs will also be too high (United States Department of Agriculture, 2007). There is an urgent need therefore, to ensure that employee do not resign just months after being signed on, simply because they were not properly inducted to the company. This paper describes a training program for our restaurant supervisors to sensitize them on the need for new employee orientation. Having received complaints from some new employees on some supervisor’s refusal to orient them to their new job stations and to the company, the office of the Human Resource Manager, Staff Training Section realizes that the company’s supervisors need to understand the value and the requirement of the orientation program. In this paper therefore, the current situation will be appreciated before the orientation requirements are analyzed in details. This will help in identifying the required materials for new employee training. The paper also details the appropriate initiatives that the supervisors should take upon themselves during such orientation programs. It is important that besides passing a directive on orientation, the company also facilitate the training of supervisors on how to implement that orientation program (Gerber and Lankshear, 2000, pp. 24). As such, the paper terminates with recommendations on the appropriate supervisor training methods that will help sensitize and equip all supervisors with the appropriate knowledge for as far as orientation is concerned. Background Information As a chain up-market restaurant business, we have 817 employees in various sectors of operations. Among these employees are managers, supervisors, waiters, porters, chefs, cleaners, accountants, marketers and many other task-specialized workers. We have a centralized recruitment policy where all new employees are hired at the headquarters and sent to any of our 17 restaurants countrywide after a day’s orientation at the head office. Once they arrive at their respective restaurants, they are entrusted to a supervisor in that restaurant who orients them to the company, to the restaurant and to their job stations. Some of them require re-training in the respective job descriptions to orient them to the way we do thing is the company, which might be different from what they learnt at college or what they have doing in other companies. Waiters especially have to be trained on our company policies and service standards, for they are the ones who directly interact with our clients on a daily business, the very face of our corporate establishment. Recently, we hired a group of 45 college leavers for the waiter positions in 15 of our restaurants. These waiters were recruited in a countrywide drive in which we selected the best and most promising young talents who were just about to graduate college. After graduation, the waiters reported to our head office and were officially welcomed to the company by our board chair, CEO and managing director. The human resource department conducted proper registration for each of the waiters and then assigned them duty positions in the 15 restaurants. On the next day, they were taken to the restaurants and introduced to the supervisors who would initiate requisite orientation. At the head office, we assumed everything was going on well until one of the trainees called the human resource office and informed them that she was about to quit simply because she had not been oriented into the job she was expected to do. Understandably, without the information necessary for her to perform her job description, the tools and guidance, she must have been having a hard time coping (Winfred, Winston, Edens and Bell, 2003, pp. 234–245). The human resource manger contacted the training office and we initiated an immediate survey for the 45 trainees to establish the effectiveness of their orientation. 10 of them placed in two different restaurants had not been oriented, 15 were totally dissatisfied, 2 had already expressed thy desire to quit and only 3 were satisfied with the orientation. When questioned, the supervisors in charge gave a variety of reasons for their poor performance. Lack of time to trainee the waiters due to other pressing tasks, disinterest of other employees to orient the new employees, a belief that orientation was a waste of time and unnecessary, lack of orientation materials, unclear company policy on orientation and finally lack of knowledge on what proper orientation procedures. It is on that basis that the head office, office of the Human resource Training section decided to facilitate a company-wide supervisor training on the role, necessity and procedures of new employee orientation as a company policy (Gerber and Lankshear, 2000, pp. 24). Orientation Program for New Staff The first thing that the supervisors will be trained on is the appropriate orientation program for each employee. The orientation program will feature five phases, lasting up to six weeks after recruitment. During the first week, proper registration of the employee at the headquarters and at the worksite restaurant will be conducted to ensure that all official documents are signed, employee details filed and any other prerequisite protocol to identify the new employee as part of the company. During the same week, the employee should be introduced to the personnel of the entire restaurant in all departments. The purpose of the first week (dubbed Welcome Phase) is to make the employee feel welcome to the new environment and to give him or her a feel of the company (Derouen and Kleiner, 1994, pp. 13 – 16). The second phase will ensue in the second week of orientation and will be dubbed the Company Policy Phase. During the week, the employee will be introduced to the company, our values, our objectives and our way of doing things. This week will be targeted at inducting the employee to the organisation culture of the restaurants so that she or he can know what is expected of her as part of the entire organisation. During the week, the employee can be given relevant keys, pass words and security passes he or she requires to access various resources in the worksite. If the job position requires an office, the office, work station, uniforms, vehicle or any other employee resource will be allocated during this week. It is important that the employee be fully equipped for his or her job description in this phase in readiness of the third phase (Derouen and Kleiner, 1994, pp. 13 – 16). The third phase will also ensue sometimes at the end of the second week up to the end of the fourth week, comprising two weeks of Task Orientation Phase. The supervisors will appoint members of staff to properly induct each trainee to his or her job position. This will be the week in which the job description of the employee will be introduced and detailed and he or she must be thoroughly trained before being given any responsibility. If the employees are less than five in the restaurant or when all the employee are in different sectors, supervisors will appoint experienced staff members in the appropriate section to personally orient the new employee. For that staff member, his or her usual responsibilities must be reduced by half for the entire duration of the orientation to facilitate his or her time with the new employee (Sims, 2004, pp. 134 – 153). It will also be at the prerogative of the senior supervisor in each restaurant to determine when it is suitable to orient new employees as a group, such as when they are more than five and in the same section of operation. At the end of the third phase, the new employee will go through an Evaluation Phase during which he or she will be given three detailed questionnaires to fill at their own time, and given a day off to be fill their questionnaires at leisure. The first questionnaire will seek to establish how the employee is motivated to join the company, what he or she feels about the company and particularly the restaurant in which he or she is assigned. The second questionnaire will detail how the employee feels about his or her job description, the responsibilities of his or her position and the demands placed on him or her. The questionnaire will seek to establish whether the new employee feels able to match her skills, abilities and talents to the responsibilities of the position and whether he or she feels like the position is right for him or her. The third questionnaire will be used to solicit for comments, suggestions and requests from the new employee on their personal improvement. The questionnaire will provide an opportunity for new employees to request for further induction in the areas they are not yet conversant with, areas they need further assistance or areas on which the induction did not suffice (Sims, 2004, pp. 134 – 153). Once the questionnaires are completed and submitted, the employees will be taken through the fifth phase of training dubbed the Assimilation Phase. In this phase, the trainee will be taken to the job position and given the normal tasks of that position under that close watch and guidance of a supervisor. The aim of the face is not to enact maximal production on the new employee but to introduce the employee to the job description practically and to gauge whether orientation has been successful. It also determines whether the employee matches the job description and whether the employee will be easily and effectively assimilated to the position without hitches (Winfred, Winston, Edens and Bell, 2003, pp. 234–245). As the fifth phase ensues in the work site, the supervisors and representatives of the HR department from head office will be meeting to discuss the filled questionnaires filled by the new employees and initiating appropriate action as deemed fit by the panel. Only when the five phases are complete and the questionnaires adopted in full as determined by the panel, will an employee be determined fully oriented this will normally be allocated six working weeks or any time as required by individual employees to fully fit into a job position (Winfred, Winston, Edens and Bell, 2003, pp. 234–245). Pedagogy and Training Materials All documents necessary for orientation will be prepared by the head office, Human Resource Department. Among these will be the checklists for the entire induction process for the supervisors and the new employees. The checklists should include all stages of the orientation process, activities in and aims of each phase of orientation (Derouen and Kleiner, 1994, pp. 13 – 16). For the initial orientation phase during which an employee will be registered and welcomed into the company, necessary documents will include the contact, tax returns forms, benefits forms, job description booklets, company policies and more importantly the code of ethics written down and explained in details. The employees will also be provided with three questionnaires for the fourth stage of orientation (evaluation). Complementary Training Initiatives There are some small things that mean a lot to new employees. Some of these things are frequently overlooked due to their seemingly unimportance, but they impact negatively on the orientation process. Introducing a new employee to other members of staff, giving the employee access codes, passwords, keys and other tools of trade early enough in the orientation process makes their initial days easier (Wanous and Reichers, 2000, pp. 435-451). Having a staff member take the new employee around the work place and spend time with him or her means a lot to new employees. A lunch with senior management where they are welcomed and made to feel important to the company takes very little and means very much (Winfred, Winston, Edens and Bell, 2003, pp. 234–245). The employees may not know the area in which he or she has been posted for the job. Showing the employee around, ensuring that they know where to take lunch and giving the time to take it as well as breaks is important. More important is ensuring that the new employee has settled in the area assigned, has a residence and transport means. If the employee has not yet relocated to the area and needs to, it is the mandate of the company to facilitate not only the relocation, but also the temporary accommodation before they are settled. Distant as that may seem, it is part of the orientation (Anthony, 1988, pp. 107 – 121). One mandatory requirement for the company is that never should an employee be given forms to fill without somebody at hand to help them do that. The new employee is not in school or the military. They should be assisted to make the orientation easy. They must be helped understand the need for each document and its usage. All information required by the forms must be explained on why it is needed and how securely it will be treated. These are the small things that every supervisor must have the foresight to include as part of the orientation program. Supervisor Training Methods It is our company policy that all employees must only be expected to do what they have been trained and equipped to do. The expectation on supervisors to orient new employees must at all times be accompanied by necessarily training and equipping for such orientation programs (Lawson, 2006, pp. 94). During training, the supervisors will be trained on the importance of training, which includes reduction of training and recruitment costs, better performance of the new employees in their work stations, reduced stress on supervisors, reduction of turnover rate and more importantly job satisfaction for the new employees (Lawson, 2006, pp. 94). Secondly, the supervisors need to be trained on how to facilitate the orientation process by being patient with new employees, empathetic, motivating and forbearing (Lawson, 2006, pp. 94). They need to be trained to appreciate the needs of each new employee and envision the orientation activities and procedures that might serve those individual needs. Orientation must be seen as the single most important time of an employee’s life at the company and one worth time, effort and resource commitment (Lawson, 2006, pp. 94). To attain these objectives, three types of training will be necessary for the supervisors. First, they need role playing type of training where they act pout the roles of new employees and supervisors or other staff members, to simulate the real situations that accrue in the work place. This will equip them with knowledge of how to respond to occurrences in their day to day operations (Kraiger, 2002, pp. 312 – 344). The second type of training will be brainstorming where grouped supervisors will be given a topic such as ‘importance of orientation programs’ to brainstorm and present their consensus to the entire class of supervisors. This will help the supervisors actively discover the important issues of the orientation program (Anthony, 1988, pp. 107 – 121). Thirdly, supervisors will be taken through a case study training approach where they will be given a typical problem-scenario that accrues in the work station involving a new employee and then be required to solve the problems themselves and provide the best solution (Kraiger, 2002, pp. 312 – 344). At the end of the training session, the supervisors will have learnt the importance of orientation for new employees, but most importantly, how they can facilitate such orientation themselves (Anthony, 1988, pp. 107 – 121). As a company, we also realize that training is not a one-time engagement. The supervisors must be committed to an ongoing/continuous process of training (Noe, 2010, pp. 344 – 352). Towards this end, the final type of training offered the supervisors will be occasional seminars and conferences covering orientation issues facilitated by the company or by other companies and industry professionals. By attending such functions, the supervisors will keep in touch with the demands of such a program. Conclusion Having new employees quit from their place of work due to poor orientation, one which does not equip them with information and skills to perform the expected tasks is not to be tolerated by any company (Sims, 2004, pp. 134 – 153), more so a restaurant business. There is need to train the facilitators of such inductions on how to orient the new employees into the company and their work stations. In our company, new employees must be taken through a 5-phase orientation program starting with registration, company culture induction, task orientation, evaluation and assimilation. The aim here will be to fully equip and train a new employee to perform his or her job description efficiently, effectively and satisfactorily to both the company and him or herself (United States Department of Agriculture, 2007). To facilitate this orientation program in all restaurants, the supervisors will be trained using such types of training as case study, role playing, brainstorming an ongoing conferences and seminars. The aim here will be to equip supervisors in facilitating the most successful orientation for individual employees (Anthony, 1988, pp. 107 – 121). References Anthony, W et al 1988, Envisionary Management: A Guide for Human Resources Professionals in Management Training and Development, Quorum Books, London, pp. 107 - 121. Cadwell, C 1988, New employee orientation, Crisp Publications, New York, pp. 24 – 27. Derouen, C and Kleiner, B 1994, New Developments in Employee Training, Work Study, Vol. 43 (2), pp. 13 – 16. Gerber, R and Lankshear, C 2000, Training for a Smart Workforce, Routledge, London, pp. 24. Kraiger, K (ed) 2002, Creating, Implementing, and Managing Effective Training and Development: State-of-the-Art Lessons for Practice, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, pp. 312 – 344. Lawson, K. 2006, New Employee Orientation Training, Elsevier, Burlington, pp. 94. Sims, D 2004, Creative New Employee Orientation Programs, McGraw-Hill, New York, pp. 134 – 153. McNamara, N 2008, Field Guide to Leadership and Supervision in Business, Authenticity Consulting, New York, pp. 68. Noe, R 2010, Employee Training and Development, McGraw-Hill, New York, pp. 344 - 352. United States Department of Agriculture, 2007, New Employee Orientation Program Guide, Agriculture Research Service, available online at < http://www.afm.ars.usda.gov/hrd/empdev/neopguide.pdf>. Wanous, J and Reichers, A 2000, New Employee Orientation Programs, Human Resource Management Review, Vol. 10 (4), Winter, pp. 435-451. Winfred A, Winston, B, Edens, P and Bell, S 2003, Effectiveness of Training in Organizations: A Meta-Analysis of Design and Evaluation Features, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 88 (2), pp. 234–245. Read More