According to the CIPD, “the purpose of induction is to ensure the effective integration of staff into or across the organisation for the benefit of both parties”. However, I believe that induction is also a golden opportunity to undertake some employer branding activities. You need to show your new employees that they made the right decision when they joined your company!
And still most of companies either has been structuring inductions the same way over the last decades, do not have induction programmes or schedule them one month after their employees join the company. Either way, your inductions are failing with your Millennial joiners.
In my last post (First day really counts) I talked about the importance of causing a good impression to Millennials during their first day at work. But this first memorable day need to be followed by an engaging induction. We don’t want to sit down during eight hours listening to boring ‘lectures’ about how the company works. Plus, we don’t want to live that experience weeks after joining the company. It’s just pointless!
We understand that it would be really cost-effective for the company to start the induction programme just right after an employee joins the company and it’s more logical to wait until four or five people get on board. However, there are some things that you can do in the meantime. For example, why don’t you create a Facebook group for new joiners in which other recent joiners can make comments about how is like to work in the company, what are the different departments, useful tips about the premises, and talk about their experiences in general? They can encourage new joiners to ask preliminary questions and transmit them enthusiasm and security.
Once you are ready to conduct the ‘formal’ induction programme, please, take into account the following main learning features that all Millennails share:
– We possess very short attention spans (that is why three hours talks are not our thing).
– We love interaction and teamwork (put us into groups).
– We embrace the culture of immediacy (we need to see tangible outcomes right away).
– We are tech-savvy (make use of new technology).
– We want to know all about your values, strategy and your community involvement.
Every company is different and unique, but there are a few indispensable activities that you could use to enhance your induction programmes. The first one consists of starting the journey with icebreaking exercises about your company culture, mission, values and CSR activities. Put the new joiners to work together and to share how much they know about your company!
Another essential thing that you need to do it is to ask them about their opinions and views after the obligatory videos and talks that form part of any induction programme (e.g. health and safety). Make it interactive!
The third item that I consider vital is to bring peers from the organisation to talk about their careers, functions and how they understand the business and make the company grow. We love storytelling!
Finally, why not designing a game at the end of the programme which tests the most important information that you want your new joiners to keep in mind? You can record it as well and make photos which could be uploaded later in the new joiners Facebook group.
I would like to end this post asking my Millennial cohorts to provide with examples of some activities that they enjoyed during induction in order to illustrate my thoughts and discuss this topic further.
