Let’s talk about how to successfully transition your new hires into your store. We all wish our newest employee could just walk in the door and begin to work at the level of our most seasoned staff. Unfortunately that is the exception—not the rule! No matter how much experience a new employee brings with them, they still need to be introduced and trained in the way your company operates.

I highly recommend a structured, documented orientation and training program that all employees must go through in order to work in your establishment. Several positive things are accomplished with such a program:

• Your customers receive the consistent service they have come to expect from you, no matter who helps them in the store.
• You ensure that employees truly know your rules, processes, and quality standards, so they can make routine decisions, take initiative and be proactive.
• You have documentation that they know, understand and accept your policies. Keep a training log in each employee’s personnel file that you and the employee sign as training is completed.
• You make the employee feel valued and important right from the start; you have set a tone of doing things right.
• You are carrying out your commitment to ensuring success for your employee, which in turn generates commitment from your staff towards you and your business.

Not enough hours in the day to make this happen? Remember delegation is a wonderful tool to use. Have some fun with the process. Here are a couple of different ideas for sharing the new hire training.

• Take your best employee(s) and have them develop an orientation program based on what they feel is most important for a new person to master in the first week, two weeks and one month. After you approve the plan, put them in charge of making it happen.
• Develop your own plan, then break it down into small tasks and assign it to several people to carry out. Schedule your new person to work with each of these individuals in the order in which they need to learn the tasks until they have worked through the whole program.
• Assign the new employee a list of questions that they must find the answers to (in writing) within the first 2 weeks they work for you. The answers are to come from asking the people they work with in those two weeks. They learn the information and get to know their co-workers quickly.

The first day at work is critical for you and the new employee. Don’t just throw them into the ring and see what they can do. The following are things to consider for the first day on the job; you might devise a checklist to make sure everyone gets the same information and you’ve covered all your bases:

• Filling out W-4 and I-9 forms
• Reiterating their wages and benefits as agreed upon during the hiring process
• A tour of the store, which includes introductions to all other employees
• Go over your employee handbook, policy manual or whatever you have that tells the employee about the rules they must follow when they work for you
• Their work schedule along with how and when they are to let you know if they are going to be tardy or absent
• Your customer base demographics, customer service philosophy and standards
• Go over the training program and how they are to participate in it successfully

Now you’ve set the tone for what you expect. Your new employee feels more prepared to help you achieve your goals. You’re ready for your on-going training program. Have fun and enjoy the process of helping someone become successful!