What new employees need
Former student Linh (pictured), who proposed Far East Distribution, has a summer job that got her thinking:I think the head teller (manager) is great, but she is busy because she has to do [lots of different jobs] and is not really there [all the time] because she is planning to get married; therefore the other tellers helped me out.Linh is making a point I hear often: young people on their first job assignment need guidance. Sometimes they hear conflicting messages. It's not that the co-workers are confused themselves, and it's not that nobody can communicate effectively; it's that nobody does.
One person will tell me that if a person wants to cash a 500-dollar check you need [to see] an ID; others will will me that it has to be a 1000-dollar check [before you check for ID]. I cannot really ask the head teller because I do not want to bother her... she has other things to do. If she finds time to communicate with me and talk me through things, instead of me having to listen to the other [tellers], then I would not be so confused. She is the head teller, and if something goes wrong, at least I will know that I did what I have been asked.
I occasionally hear gore stories about interns who come to an office and don't have a place to sit. How can this happen? Simple: everyone thinks someone else is handling it.In my first professional assignment, at the NASA Glenn Research Center, I found that my mentor (who turned out to be a brilliant, valuable mentor) was on vacation for two weeks when I arrived for work, and had left me a stack of manuals to read. Oh, how I wish I'd had a "shepherd" (pictured, with an artist's conception of "me") then.
The lesson to be learned is that a new employee costs money to train and get up to speed. The way to minimize that cost is to make sure that any teaching that doesn't actually involve creativity or direct experience be in place before the new hire gets there:
- Have an employee manual, and make sure it's up-to-date.
- Have someone assigned to show the new hire around on the first day.
- Have someone designated to answer questions until the new hire gets up to speed.
- Have some kind of social set aside to make the new hire comfortable. Get the gang to take the kid to lunch, at least.
Labels: office space
posted by Ron @ 3:24 PM
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