Induction on the shop floor: what has to happen in week one

Almost every bad first day starts here: the person turns up and nobody knew they were coming. It is a coordination problem between whoever hired them and whoever receives them, and it gets fixed with a list.

• Who is meeting them, by name, and what happens if that person is off sick. There is always a deputy.
• Locker allocated, workwear in their size, and the PPE for the job.
• The specific role and shift for the first week, not 'we'll see'.
• An account on the internal communications channel, or the code they will use to sign themselves up on day one.
• The team they are joining told they are coming. Even if it is one sentence at the previous day's handover.
• The paperwork to be handed over and signed, ready and in its current version.

The first day is not for telling the story of the company. It is so the person can work on their own tomorrow. The story of the company gets told in week two, when they can actually take it in.

1. 01

   The physical walk round

   Changing rooms, canteen, first aid point, fire exits, where you clock in, where their workstation is and where their supervisor is. Half an hour on foot is worth more than any presentation.

2. 02

   Health and safety training for their job

   The specific risks of what they will be doing, the protective equipment, and what to do if something happens. It is a legal duty, and it is also the only thing in the day that could prevent an accident that same week.

3. 03

   The four people they need to know

   Their supervisor, their buddy, whoever runs payroll, and the safety rep or the employee representative for their site. With a name and a face, not on an org chart.

4. 04

   Handing over the paperwork

   What has to be signed gets signed on day one, not when somebody remembers. And it gets logged, with the version of each document.

5. 05

   The internal communications channel

   Have them sign in while you are standing there, and check it works on their phone. A sign-up left pending on day one never happens at all.

Ask anybody who has been on site for two months what they wish they had known on day one. The same three things come up every time, and none of them is in the induction pack.

1. 01

   How to ask for a shift swap

   Who to ask, how much notice, and whether you have to find your own cover. It is the first bit of admin they will need to do, and the one that generates the most misunderstandings.

2. 02

   Who to call if you cannot come in

   A specific number, from what time, and what to do about self-certification and a fit note. Either this gets explained on day one or it gets learned on the day it is needed, badly, and with somebody upset.

3. 03

   How to read a payslip

   Shift premium, night rate, bank holiday rate, and where each one shows up. A five-minute explanation saves three trips to the payroll office and a lot of suspicion.

Put all three in writing somewhere the person can go back to on their own. Explained out loud on day one they are forgotten, because almost nothing sticks on day one.

The thing that changes induction most on a production site is not HR: it is the person on the same shift who is asked to look after the new starter. Different companies call them a buddy, a mentor or a workplace coach. The name does not matter; what matters is that the role exists and that the person knows they are it.

• Ask them in advance and let them say no. A buddy who was volunteered does not look after anybody, they put up with them.
• Give them real time: you cannot mentor somebody and hit the same production target as usual.
• Same shift. A buddy on days is no use at all to somebody starting on nights.
• Make it a month, not an afternoon. Most of the questions turn up in weeks two and three.
• Have somebody ask the buddy at the end of the week how it went. It is the best thermometer you will get.

And one thing that costs nothing: introduce the new starter on the site's internal channel, with their name, their job and their shift. It is the cheapest way to get twenty people recognising them in the changing room the next day.

In hospitality, in retail and in care, a lot of people start precisely when the office is shut. If your induction plan only works Monday to Friday mornings, it is not a plan: it is an exception.

• All the induction material has to be available without anybody having to open anything up for them: on the internal channel, reachable from a phone.
• The health and safety training has to be deliverable by whoever runs that shift, with the same content.
• Somebody from HR calls or writes on the next working day. Not the following week.
• The sign-up code for the internal channel has to be in the folder on site, not in somebody's inbox at head office.

After a month, a fifteen-minute conversation and one written question. Not a twenty-question survey: one question.

'What would you have needed to know in your first week that nobody told you?' The answers to that question, collected over a year, are the best induction plan you will ever write, and they cost nothing.

If you collect them in writing and anonymously, you also get something that is useful for another purpose: spotting which site or which shift has an induction problem before it turns into a turnover problem.