We’ve all seen the industry statistics of the number of employees who leave a company because of poor new hire training. With the labor shortage, it’s even more important to properly train the new employee to improve the odds of retaining them. These new hire training tips are focused on the training required for the specific job, not the HR side of onboarding, explaining healthcare, 401K, etc.

10 Practical New Hire Training Tips

You are already carrying a heavy workload while you look to fill an open position. Save time on your new hire training with these tips.

1. Be Prepared

The first tip is to be prepared. This may sound obvious but not all companies make it a priority. Early in my career, I worked for a cable company. I referred a friend who was hired as an Internet Marketing Manager. Her job was to create the company’s first website (this was the 1990s) and launch the company’s internet service. Personally, she had no access to the internet for the first week of her job and her desk was in a hallway because her office was not ready. Needless to say, this ridiculous experience did not inspire years of unwavering loyalty.

How you treat a new employee in their early days is indicative of the company culture. Do your best to make a positive impression and set the tone for expectations moving forward.

Those first days of a new job can be painfully boring and empty if there is no plan. Prepare resource materials, checklists, sample project reports, etc. This blog post will give you the helpful tips you need to be prepared for a successful new hire training experience.

2. Set Up Access Credentials

Think through all the tools you use, make a list, and make sure the new employee has the login links and credentials with proper access on day one. You will likely start with a temporary password and work with the employee to update as needed. This might include:

• Shared documents: Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.
• Project management: Teamwork, Basecamp, JIRA, etc.
• Marketing platforms: HubSpot, Marketo, Eloqua, etc.
• ERP software: SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics
• Communication platforms: Slack, Chatter, Jabber

3. Explain Online Tools

As you set up access to each tool, provide a tour and overview of the program. Have examples of tasks or projects so you can demonstrate the tool with a real-life example.

• Create a new project or task in the project management tool
• Set up a new blog post or a web page in the content management tool
• Explain hierarchy and naming logic in the file sharing tool

Any of these services and platforms likely have their own help and training center so be sure to direct your new employee to those resources as well.

4. Explore Company Training

If you are working with a company like HSI, you have access to a full library of training content. Show the new person how to find assigned/required training courses in your LMS and how to search for topics of interest.

Talk to the new employee about skills they may want to explore on their own and show them how to search for related topics. As their manager, you may want to assign courses related to their own responsibilities.

HSI has a New Hire Group with a demo video about our LMS and courses like understanding harassment, ethics for everyone, active listening, and more.

5. Print Resource Documents

As a contingency, if technology fails and for future reference, pre-print resource materials to support your new hire training. I am not suggesting the old two-inch binders of the early 2000s but a few key documents they can read on their own. This might include:

• Samples of reports
• Marketing collateral
• Checklists for processes
• Company/industry jargon and acronym definitions
• Phone extension list

6. Re-Explain Their Role

It might be obvious, but you should take the time to explain their role, responsibilities, and day-to-day. It may have been weeks or months since you first interviewed them and explained the position. You might use the job description as an outline for the conversation.

Go beyond their job tasks and give them a vision of the bigger picture. Explain how their role plays an important part in the company reaching its goals. Give them more pride in their work, and create more dedication and urgency in their role.

7. Explain Roles of Co-workers

As you hand over the printed phone list, you can highlight specific employees the new employee may interact with and explain roles and responsibilities.

• Who will they go to for certain types of questions?
• Who will they collaborate with on special projects?
• Who has been with the company the longest and has all the tribal knowledge?

If your company has a receptionist or front desk team, be sure to include them. They can be a wealth of information.

8. Set Up “Meet and Greets”

Choose a few people in key roles that you want your new employee to meet and proactively schedule the meetings. Include 1:1s with their new co-workers. Set up a team lunch. This is especially helpful for a more shy or introverted person who may be intimidated to reach out to total strangers and ask for a meeting.

These meetings will help to improve the understanding of the company or department operations. Preschedule the meetings and give yourself a break so you can do a little work while the new hire is with someone else. It’s comforting for new employees to have an agenda for the first week. Ideally, this will help them immediately connect with the organization.

9. Identify External Resources

Create a list of websites, documents, and reports, for the new employee to explore on their own during downtime until they are fully trained and working on their own. This might include:

• Industry association websites
• Competitor websites
• Professional organizations

10. Transition the Role

While the position has been open, you and other employees have been covering the workload. Now you can begin transitioning active projects and ongoing tasks. Depending on the experience level of your new employee, you may need to handle this process slowly, allowing the new person to shadow the work. Don’t just “dump and run.” A more experienced employee may be able to take over projects immediately. Be patient and be flexible. Hopefully, these tips will help you give the new hire a solid foundation for success.

Additional Resources

• Gresham, Smith, and Partners Streamlines Onboarding and Training with HSI Content Case Study
• Welcome Aboard: Benefits of Using Video for Employee Onboarding
• How Off-the-Shelf Training Content Can Support Your Employee Onboarding
• 5 Tips to Improve New Hire Training