Training and Mentoring in InterClean - Essay Example

 Training and Mentoring in InterClean InterClean is a company that is going through a lot of chances due to the fact the firm recently merged its operation with EnviroTech. The jobs description of the workers changed because InterClean shift the focus of its sales strategy into selling all inclusive solutions. When companies such as InterClean faced imminent change it is imperative for the human resource department to get involved in the process. Two effective ways to help the employees adjust to their work requirements is through the use of training and mentoring. Training can be defined as a planned program designed to increase the performance of the members of an organization (Cascio, 2005). This paper discusses different applications of training and mentoring at InterClean. Since two different cultures are being integrated there are going to be some employees that might get a bit confused and overwhelm by these changes. The employees are not sure how to approach their jobs due to the fact that they are now selling something different. They need to learn how to perform their jobs correctly. The employees need training to learn new selling techniques to become more effective at all inclusive solutions. They also need greater knowledge of the industry. The utilization of generic benchmarking can help the managers decipher how other companies in different industries approach selling a product that have all inclusive services. The managers also have to determine which employees need greater attention due to the fact that they are inexperienced. The younger employees and the employees with lower educational attainment are the ideal candidates to participate in a mentoring program. The objective of the training program is to improve the skills and capabilities of the salesman. It is important for these employees to have good interpersonal skills because the workers are going to have to explain and convince the customer base that the new all inclusive solutions are worth the added costs. The training should also focus on ways to improve the corporate culture at InterClean. Two sales team forces are joining forces which may cause a clash of ideas and working styles. All the employees have to accept that InterClean is a new company with a fresh purpose. The mentoring program primary objective is to bring special assistance to group of employees that need the support of the company and their fellow coworkers to improve as professionals. New performance standards must be developed to evaluate the work performance of the sales team. The past results of the workers are no longer relative since the company’s product offering has changed. One of the first things that must be measured is contact activity. The salespeople have to inform the firm’s clients about the changes that InterClean has undergone and how these changes are going to affect them. It is important to for the employees to emphasize the positive aspects of the changes and the extra value the customers are going to receive. The managers must clearly establish a metric to determine how many outgoing calls each salesperson should be making per hour. Another aspect of the performance that must be measured is the quality of the service. A simple way to evaluate the employees work as far as their interactions with customers is by sending the clients a short feedback form so that the customer can express their experience and level of satisfaction. The training program at InterClean should utilize a wide variety of delivery methods. The reason that the company should use various delivery methods is because the program is going to cover multiple objectives and there are different timeframes for the implementation of each objective. An effective way to train employees is by taking advantage of online learning tools. Online trainings have many benefits such as lower costs, faster implementation speeds, and the ability to customize the training to meet the specific needs of the user. Companies can create online training courses so that the employees can take the training during their own time. Whenever a company asks its employees to take online training at home it must consider the opportunity costs the employees is incurring. A way to create greater motivation for the employees is by offering financial incentives once an employee completes an online training course. The incentive should be worth at least the equivalent of the employee’s hourly pay rate. Another delivery method that can be used to train employees is to hire a human resource consulting firm to administer the trainings. The good thing about bringing in outside help is that it helps bring credibility to the process. If the employees respect the credentials of the people training them they are more likely to absorb the information better. A third mechanism that can be used to train employees is for the human resource department or the managers to provide training to their employees in group settings. For example the HR specialist could gather all the salespeople on a Friday and give them four hours of training during working hours. A fourth delivery method is for HR department to give one on one training to each of the employees individually. The problem with this delivery method is that it is time consuming and requires a lot of resources. The mentoring program also needs a delivery method. Before the company establishes the delivery method it must first determine which employees are going to be part of the mentoring program. The mentoring program has two types of participants. There are mentors and protégés. Ideal candidates to become mentors include managers, employees with masters degrees or higher, and employees with ten or more years of experience. The employees that could benefit from the program include employees with only a high school education and employees with less than one year of experience. In order to test the program the company will start with three groups of mentors and protégés. The mentor has to meet with the protégé three times a week for a period of thirty minutes. During these meeting the mentor will help the protégé improve professionally. InterClean has to establish a timeframe for the execution of the training program. Since there are going to be several training initiative each of them is going to have a separate timeframe. All the deliveries of the training are in the short term which means any program cannot exceed one year. One of the most urgent trainings is the corporate culture training. This training must be completed within two weeks. The delivery timeframe of online training course is three months. The internal trainings given by the human resource staff has a timeframe of one to three months. The mentoring program must also have a timeframe. The protégé in this program can only participate once, but the mentors can stay in the program forever. The delivery time frame of the program is six months. After completion of the program three new protégés will enter the program. During the second cycle the program the firm will increase its protégés to six participants. It is important to evaluate the effectiveness of both the training and mentoring programs. A good way to evaluate the mentoring program is by performing a one hour exit interview after the protégés complete the program. The mentor has to provide the company with a report that gives information about the learning that took place with the protégé. The managers of the company can process the information given in the report to prepare a test for the protégé to evaluate the learning that took place. If the protégés do not pass the test then the company the person accountable for the result is the mentor. The mentor would be taken out of the program under such circumstances. The use of feedback mechanism can help as well. During the six month program the mentor as well as the protégée should submit two feedback reports every month. The mentoring program can help determine if certain employees might need special accommodation. For example an employee that shows a lot of potential should receive added educational benefits such as reimbursement of tuition of college level courses. In the business world of today change is constantly occurring. Companies have to adapt to the market changes in order to stay competitive. InterClean is an example of a business that realized that the sanitation industry was heading in another direction. When changes occur it is essential to prepare the different stakeholders group. A stakeholder groups that needs special attention is the employees. Two tools that can help companies change the behavior of employees are training and mentoring. Training is a mechanism that improves the quality of the human capital of a company. Mentoring can help protégés gained personalized help from a person with greater knowledge and experience. References Cascio (2005). Managing Human Resources: Productivity, Quality of Life, Profits (7th ed.). New York: McGraw Hill Company. Read More