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Induction Procedures

Induction manuals or handbooks are basic human resources tools used for communicating information to employees. There is no law that requires you to provide an induction programme for your new employee. There are a number of good reasons why you should.

A well thought out induction manual and programme will answer most of the questions that any new employee would want to ask.

Publishing the company rules and policies leaves nothing to doubt and will reassure an employee that everyone is treated fairly and consistently.

Certain information must be provided to employees by law. An induction manual can easily fulfill some of these needs.

The manual should summarise the relationship between you and your employee and briefly describe what management expects. They should be given to and read by all employees.

The manual should contain general information about:

The company and its mission;

The rules and procedures an employee needs to know to be successful in their position,

The salary, pay issues and benefits.

The manual should also provide a framework for the orientation of new employees to help them better understand the company’s operations and structure.

An example of the structure of an induction manual could be:

Introduction
About this handbook
Equal employment opportunity
Company structure and mission statement

Employment
Job description
Probationary period
Performance appraisals
Code of conduct
Company policies such as phone use, computer use, smoking and drugs and alcohol
Disciplinary procedure and the complaint and appeal procedure
Sexual harassment and the complaints procedure
Health and safety information and policy
Occupational health information and procedure

Leave entitlement
Holidays
Special and sick leave
Jury duty
Parental leave

Work environment
Salary/wages and payroll information
Office phone and extension numbers
Staff list
Emergency evacuation procedures
Parking
Arranging travel and accommodation
Dress code
Who is the health and safety representative
Benefits such as health insurance
Identification cards
Stationary supplies

The induction process should begin as soon as the selection decision is made and should continue for a period after the employee starts work. An effective programme would include:

Physical orientation - where everything is and how to use the equipment

Meet the team - how they fit into the company, key staff

Their role – job description, what’s expected and terms and conditions

A well designed plan can be amended to suit each new employee containing areas specific to their role as well as more generic company information. You might want to break this down into day, week and monthly elements. A check list for each part of the induction plan will ensure that all necessary parts of the induction have been covered. In particular the mandatory areas such as health and safety, policies and procedures, and the job description.

At the end of the induction programme you should ask the employee to sign an agreement confirming that they have read and understood the information. You might like to add a feedback questionnaire to help you improve the process and if you are really keen you could ask the employee to complete a quiz testing their knowledge.

An induction programme and more information can be found on this site. For more personal assistance contact info@hughesdirect.com

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IMPORTANT NOTICE AND DISCLAIMER
This document and all other documents on this website are provided as resources only. They do not purport to constitute or substitute for legal advice. Hughesdirect.com (Pat O’Shea & Associates Limited) do not accept responsibility for the consequences of use of this document nor for any errors/omissions or misdescriptions of any kind. This disclaimer shall be a term of use of this and other documents on this website.