Employee On-Boarding—30-60-90 Days
Written by Michelle Wachtel, SPHR
There are a few main objectives key to a successful on-boarding program: make the new employee feel welcomed into the culture and team and get them working and productive as quickly as possible while assessing their skills and fit within the company are what you perceived during the interview process.
Determine some milestones the new employee should reach during their first months with your company. Discuss these milestones and objectives with the new employee and monitor their progress to achievement. Make sure the new employee clearly knows and understands your day-to-day expectations and has access to you for questions.
During the first week, a daily recap meeting is a good way to give the employee a venue to ask questions and update you on their progress for the day. After the first week, it may make sense to move to semi-weekly (2 Xs a week) or weekly touch base meetings. I recommend sticking with weekly meetings for the first 90 days, even if the meeting is brief and becomes a short chit chat getting to know your new employee personally.
During all training, continue with the theme of asking for the new employee’s feedback when (s)he observes work by others as a way to learn and be trained on what (s)he will be doing in the future. Empower your new employee to take initiative and seek out their own answers to questions to develop independence. Check in with the new employee to make sure their expectations are being met. I’ve used electronic surveys at 30-day increments to check in with the employee and watch for red flags that (s)he is feeling comfortable and productive and receiving the proper guidance and training from their manager.
We all make bad hires. Sometimes we’ve misjudged a candidate and sometimes they’ve misrepresented themselves. Don’t make hasty decisions during the early phases of their employment but don’t let glaring issues go. One of my first bosses and great mentor once told me “Fail your failures fast.” In other words, own up to the mistake and do something about it. This is crucial to hiring. If the employee is not a culture fit or clearly does not have the skills (s)he led you to believe, talk to your Human Resource professional as soon as possible to determine how best to handle the situation. In some cases, terminating the new hire is the best course of action.
