Month: April 2021

Staff turnover is an inevitable part of running a business, but there are ways to make it a smooth and successful process, which will save you money and improve staff happiness and retention rates.

A recent PWC study found that 23% of Australian employees leave their jobs within their first year of work. The cost of this high staff turnover and poor employee retention was estimated at $3.6 billion in lost productivity and $385 million in recruitment costs annually.

Research by Glassdoor found that organisations with a strong induction process improve new hire retention by 82 percent and productivity by over 70 percent. Conversely, employees who had a negative new hire induction experience are twice as likely to look for new opportunities in the near future.

There are clear motivations for making your employee induction a positive and effective experience, beyond just enabling new recruits to become productive as quickly as possible.

Why a good induction process is needed

Staff retention and validation – investing time and money into induction training for your new employees shows that you value them, which can improve staff loyalty and retention, saving big money in subsequent turnover and training.

Minimising risk of fines or legal issues: Educating employees about your company’s policies such as safety, discrimination, and sexual harassment helps protect your business by preventing incidents and provide better defence of any claims. In many industries, costly fines or other legal implications can also be imposed on businesses failing to ensure essential compliance training is completed.

Workplace culture: New employees need to understand the values and behaviours that are acceptable within your organisation. Inductions help establish an employee’s role in the organisation, and embed customer service and other standards.

How to do it right

Have clear objectives – this helps ensure the learning is aligned to required outcomes and what is needed for each new employee in their respective roles. Making sure employees are given the right information at the right time also improves the chances of knowledge retention.

Set the scene – outlining organisational structure, contacts, strategy and location of information sets the basis for good communication. It’s important for new employees to understand the purpose, direction and values of the organisation. This allows them to put their job/contribution into perspective and gives them a greater purpose for work.

Customise for the role – increase efficiency and tailor to the new recruit’s role. Add or remove modules depending on what they need to know and when. Don’t forget visitors and contractors – what vital knowledge do they need to know about their responsibilities and site health and safety procedures?

Consistency is key – don’t let new employees learn bad habits from exiting staff. A well-planned process ensures everyone gets the same important information, and doesn’t include irrelevant material.

The easier the better –  a well-developed induction program can be easily replicated and updated for each new employee and added to with new information or customised courses as needed.

What do your current employees think? – the experience and insights of your current employees can be invaluable. What did they wish they’d learnt on their first day?

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AVELING has put together a selection of induction course packs which give a broad overview of the necessary skills and knowledge to suit most industries. You can switch out courses to create a bespoke course pack that best suits your needs, or work with our team of specialists to develop customised training to suit your organisation’s objectives.

Contact our team to discuss your induction training needs at courses@aveling.com.au or on 08 9379 9999.