Employee adaptation: features, stages and recommendations

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

For every person, a new job is a kind of stress. He must get used to absolutely original settings, get to know and get used to the circle of unknown people, learn the behavioral norms and rules of the company. To simplify, facilitate and speed up the process of adaptation of employees, to help them start working with maximum efficiency, we suggest that management use the tips given in the article.

Warning

For an organization, the adaptation of a new employee is a process of familiarization with the activities of the company, behavioral norms, dress code.

If you are a manager, then you need to take the concept of employee adaptation more seriously. In most cases, directors, managers and heads of departments let everything take its course, hoping that the team itself will find a common language and familiarize the newcomer with all the rules. But oftenthis is not the case, which subsequently causes problems such as loss of concentration and attention, slowness in the workplace and lack of interest.

What is this

Adaptation of employees is an important and integral process in every company. It represents the adaptation of people to a certain structure, conditions and rules in the organization. The adaptation of employees does not change their personality, but helps them quickly get used to a new place, get to work, perform it extremely efficiently and be productive.

Two sides of the same coin

Also, don't forget that this is a two-way process. On the one hand, the fact that a person started working in a company speaks of his conscious choice, based on motivation and responsibility for the decisions made.

On the other hand, a company implements some specific commitment by hiring an employee for a specific job.

Statistics provided by Western companies prove that a quality onboarding program can reduce employee turnover by more than 20 percent per year.

What is it for

Employees are an integral and important part of any organization or industry. Without them, no business can flourish, no company is able to achieve its goals.

Employees are those who do something for their company, produce the desired result, work through various operations and set standards. In fact, profitability can never besecured without workers.

There are many things to consider when hiring new staff. Adaptation of workers should occur on a regular basis, even if new leaders appear, company owners change, staff turnover occurs, new rules are introduced and office policies are modified.

Therefore, it is very important to help your staff to easily adapt to all kinds of changes in order to get a good, qualified and responsible employee in return. There are many cases in the world when large business empires collapsed just because they could not help their staff or underestimated their people.

We invite you to listen to advice that will help simplify the process of onboarding employees.

How can organizations help workers adjust to change?

An employee onboarding plan could be as follows:

• The first step. Help your employee understand the changes or new conditions. It is important to analyze the current situation in order to explain each change. This way the employee will be in a better position and aware of what is happening.
• Second step. Help the worker to understand that he does not lose stability. When you explain to the employee about all the changes, you will need to add that his position is saved, and the changes will not affect the salary and / or position in the organization. Most employees are simply afraid of losing their jobs.
• Third step. Help your employees adapt to change with appropriate training. Notmake your employees feel like they are not fit to change or are not educated enough to continue working in a revamped organization.
• The fourth step. Keep your employees highly motivated. Motivation is an important point in the employee adaptation program, as it helps the employee to easily adapt to changes. Tell them how effective and beneficial the change will be for their future.
• The fifth step. Cash rewards are the best form of motivation. Almost everyone in this world works to get as much money as possible. Altruistic people practically do not exist, and slavery has long been abolished. When you see that an employee is interested and striving for change, can fight hard and for a long time to get the desired result, then do not hesitate to offer him a monetary reward. In this way, the person will be more motivated, will work harder, and it will be easier for him to adapt to some of the new initiatives taken by the organization.

Examples of employee adaptation

We propose to analyze two common cases that often occur in various organizations:

1. A sales manager has taken a job in a multi-sectoral group of companies that is engaged in industrial commercial activities. The man quit his new job after two days. It turned out that the employee was not provided with a job, he did not have a desk and a telephone, but most importantly, no oneexplained to him why these things were not there. The fact was that the director of the sales department, in whose subordination this employee was, after a few minutes of conversation with him, left on a business trip on the very first day in the morning, without giving any instructions to anyone. The situation could not be resolved, the person did not return to the company, and the organization regretted it very much. The retired employee very quickly found a new job and a few months later he was already in a good position, receiving a decent salary.
2. A transportation department manager has been hired for a large food processing plant. After the first day, the person left the company, because at the end of the shift at the exit, the security asked him to show the bag for inspection. The employee viewed this as an insult, although it was a natural process in the enterprise that also applied to the management team. It's just that no one told the newbie about it. If the organization had informed the employee in advance about their rules, then the conflict could have been avoided.

These examples of adaptation of a new employee will help him get used to a new place, quickly get used to the routine and rules of the organization, understand all working moments and accept the nuances in order to become an indispensable and highly paid staff.

Organization order

Here is another list of tips for the professional adaptation of employees. It is recommended to start the introductory day of a new employee a little later than usual, so that all people take their places, and it will be possible to get to know each other without fuss. As a rule, someone from the personnel department meets the newcomer, and first of allthey start filling out important and necessary documents. After all the procedures, the person is handed over to the curator (not necessarily the director), who is responsible for the implementation of plans for the implementation of the position.

First, the employee receives the equipment necessary for his work. Then he heads to his workplace and introduces himself to his colleagues.

List of possible topics for discussion

The social adaptation of employees is no less important in this process. When people communicate with each other, share stories, they begin to trust each other. This creates a favorable environment within the company. So, we present to your attention a list of possible topics for getting to know the organization:

• detailed history of the company and its development;
• the most important details of the organization;
• description of the company's business and customer service policies;
• content and job description, responsibility;
• acquaintance with labor protection at the enterprise (instructions, routine);
• list of documents that a new employee should be aware of first of all;
• job list.

On the first day

Before you meet a new member of the company, you need to prepare. An example algorithm is as follows:

• together with the new employee, study his job responsibilities, let the employee ask leading questions;
• explain the rules for reimbursement of potential expenses;
• explain requirementsprivacy policy;
• explain house rules;
• discuss management style, culture, traditions, organizational norms;
• introduce him to basic HR procedures and policies, organizational and reporting lines (if necessary);
• prepare work safety rules and actions in case of evacuation, draw up first aid instructions;
• introduce the order of communication, the requirements for appearance, the rules for opening and closing the office, caring for the workplace;
• give him personal information: the location of the canteen, toilet, lounge, smoking area.

Until the end of the adaptation period

Feel free to hold meetings or surveys about what employees think can and should be changed in the organization. This will definitely make them feel more comfortable. Also:

• acquaint him with special procedures, the specifics of work in the department and in the organization as a whole, with the requirements and standards of work, with the reporting system;
• do a competency analysis and develop an individual program of advanced learning;
• explain how the organization's administrative system works.

Talk to your employees, no matter what's going on

Let your workers know that you will be with them all the way. New changes can be quite difficult for them, but it will be much easier for employees when the employer providessupport and assistance.

Tell them that you are ready to provide any information and assistance to make it easier for them to accept the change. This will certainly make onboarding easier for both you and your employees.

Create new teams and projects

Arrange new couples. Try to connect young professionals with older ones so that they can exchange experiences and technologies. Creating new teams can re-energize an organization.

It is important to understand that companies are nothing without employees. Make them feel they are important and valuable to management.