Attract and Retain Positively Great Employees - An Action Plan for Employee Training

Everyday a business owner, CEO, or manager somewhere is complaining about the lack of good employees. On the same day, in a break room, employees are complaining about the lack of good jobs. Thinking that they can alleviate the problem with finding good employees, many employers have opted for lengthy applications and endless interviewing. In the process, the employee-to-be becomes frustrated before even starting the first day of work. The employer has spent a bit of money and the orientation process hasn't begun yet. It becomes a vicious cycle that you or your company may be experiencing. Here are four suggestions from other managers that might help.

Start your employee training in the interview process. A manager was hiring. She needed to fill quite a few positions but she did not want to fill them with just any-bodies. She wanted ones that were going to be long-term employees, motivated to do a great job. She had made a commitment to an employee training program for her department and decided to share the reason for the program as well as the plan for implementation during interviews. In the end, she hired employees who worked hard to be part of the department's goals.

Think of your training program when hiring an employee, not after. A department had three shifts of employees who needed specialized technical abilities that not every new hire would be competent or familiar but could be trained. By just adding two weeks of additional training specific to their department to the general orientation, it paid off. The department ended up with employees open to training, were more self-confident, and able to perform well independently quicker than those employees who had started before the extended training program was initiated.

Supplement training during the 90 day probation period to accurately assess the employee's ability to perform to expectations. During a probation, a manager was receiving reports from co-workers of a new employee. Benefit of the doubt was given to the new hire and the probation period ended. When the department's usually high morale plummeted because for the employee's poor performance despite counseling. Knowing that the department's training program had been delivered consistently to all new hires with the same trainer, the manager terminated the employee. It was a messy situation that could have been avoided if the manager had evaluated this properly during the probation.

Training that meets the needs of the department and/employee should continue in some form as long as a person is employed. An employee shared with a manager during their review, two years after hire, that they were thinking of applying for a transfer to another department. They felt that they wanted to expand their knowledge base in another area. The employee had done an exemplary job during the time of employment in their current position. They told the manager that the depth of the department training had led to their level of self-confidence and experience.

Historically, most employee training:

* starts after hiring has occured.

* is generally an overview of the company with an optional component specific to a new hire's job description.

* usually lasts from one day to 2 weeks.

Attracting and retaining positively great employees requires an action plan that utilizes employee training from the interview through to attrition or termination. With commitment to a simple but effective plan, the employer/employee relationship can be satisfying for both parties.

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