In a context where attracting and retaining the best employees has become very essential, a well-developed induction programme plays a vital role in making the employee begin to contribute to his job. The time to introduce the new hire to the organization and its culture is usually limited. In that limited time, it has to be ensured that the new hire completes his joining formalities even if other activities have to be reduced. Therefore, the challenge is how to make the best use of the time available.
The majority top-quality organizations have distinct career paths and hence very structured induction programmes for entry-level employees. For example, most worldwide companies (MNCs) in India conduct year-long management trainee programmes that convert fresh, young trainees into well-groomed managers.
But lateral hires or even some entry-level personnel in some organizations do not have structured induction programme. In most cases they are made to go through some curtailed rituals that assert to “introduce” them to the organization and its culture and processes. Many a times, such introductions leave an employee feeling short-changed or even out-and-out bitter. While it may be a reasonable expectation on the part of any new employee to expect a warm (and extensive) introduction, it may also be true that organizations may not posses the resources to do so.
In the case of lateral hiring particularly, some obstacles regularly faced by HR managers are:
• Unscheduled nature of lateral hiring due to which detailed induction programmes cannot be planned.
• Introduction to people holding relevant responsibilities (CEO, Directors, Business Heads, etc.) is an important part of any induction programme. Unscheduled programmes may not allow for such meetings.
Sometimes the constraints are not so much from the organization’s side as it is from the lateral hire’s side:
• Self-pressure to join their jobs immediately and demonstrate quick results.
• Pressure from...