Starting a business relies on so many different components coming together that, when the time comes to start bringing more people into the fold, there is a lot that we should bear in mind. It’s more than just getting them ready in terms of skills; they need to be able to hit the ground running. Preparing an employee for a role within your business shouldn’t just be about the initiation process, but actually a whole lot more.
Assessing Their Current Fitness
Mentally and physically, a candidate should have the ability to perform the duties, ensuring they can meet the essential requirements of the position without posing risks to themselves or others. In industries such as the railway medical examinations can be fantastic tools to detect a variety of risk factors. This is not meant to deter an employer, but rather allow them to make fair and reasonable accommodations or preventative measures to protect employees’ health while also reducing workplace risks. This, in turn, has a positive impact on lowering the employer’s exposure to a variety of other problems, such as workers’ compensation claims or lost productivity.
Developing Soft Skills
There is one often-bemoaned component of Generation Z workers: they don’t have the same level of communication or problem-solving capabilities as their older counterparts. Of course, this can be a broad generalization, but when we look at the fact that many younger employees have grown up in a more isolated way due to social media and the internet in general, we should provide training on essential leadership skills like problem-solving, decision-making, and communication. We should also encourage the employee to take on assignments to practice these soft skills within a supportive environment and empower the employee to take initiative and solve these problems. This won’t just give them the skills to do their job, but will make them a far more rounded individual.
Address Skill Gaps
Determining the key skills needed for the target role is one component, but we also need to look at the employee’s current capabilities and provide targeted support, either in the form of coaching, training, or mentorship, to help them build the necessary skills. There will always be skill gaps, but in the current job application market where there are more applicants than there are roles, employers can be picky and choose someone who is nearly 100% perfect. However, this can be very myopic because if they end up picking someone who is perfect for the role but not necessarily a good cultural fit, it’s very likely the hunt will be on for a new employee in six months to a year.
Aligning Development Plans With Employee Goals
Understanding what the employee’s career aspirations are should be one of the first conversations we have, and giving them responsibilities and projects that help them achieve their professional goals while also aligning their development plan accordingly can mean you are not just getting an employee ready for their role right now, but you are giving them the space in which to develop and stretch themselves.
Getting an employee ready for their role is not just a workplace induction; in fact, it is a whole lot more!
