Newbie-havior

Last week we wrote about channeling your new employees’ motivation while helping to develop them. A reader pointed us to an article from a few years ago by Nadira Hira that offered some useful ideas for helping your new employees make the transition into your organization.

Getting your newbies used to their new environment and helping them find their place in your office culture is an important early step for them, and one that too often gets neglected. We often leave people to figure it out as they go along, and as a result they may come in with one set of expectations that do not match reality, leading to embarrassing mistakes or misunderstandings that can provide an initial setback or even hang around their neck for their entire time with your firm. You can help your new employees be more productive sooner if you introduce them to the culture and the expected behaviors in your company sooner rather than later. This is especially true for people who are just entering the workforce for the first time when they come to you. You should not expect people to “just know,” because even if they do figure it out on their own, you are losing productivity while they do.

Nadira Hira suggested five key things for newbies to consider, and you as a leader should think about how to help your new employees in these areas…as well as any others you think are important. Hira goes into more detail, and you should go read her article, but here are the basics:

1. Consider their surroundings Your new employee needs to understand the expectations of the workplace. Levels of familiarity, styles of dress, due dates, interoffice romance…all of these things can lead to early problems if they make a misstep.

2. Think tact Make sure they understand they should treat others, especially supervisors, with a certain degree of respect. If they disagree, they should address those disagreements out of the public eye and do it in a way that can lead to resolution, not to more conflict.

3. Get managed Encourage your newbie to develop relationships with experienced employees who can provide them with insights and perhaps inspiration. Your new employees need someone to talk to about workplace issues, both good and bad.

4. Aim for friendly, not familiar Do not let them assume they should communicate with co-workers the way they do with their friends who know all their quirks. Professional interaction will help create the mutual respect that is essential for cooperation between employees. And they probably should not add all their coworkers to their Facebook and Instagram on their first day.

5. Listen Seriously. Make sure your new employees understand that, while they were hired because of their skills, they are not yet the master of the universe. They need to listen to others, not simply demand to be heard themselves.

Recent graduates may be especially susceptible to problems. We expect employees, especially in knowledge fields, to be somewhat independent and have unique personalities. Obviously, this is in part what you are paying for, but equally obvious is the need to have them fit into your firm in a way that contributes rather than being unnecessarily disruptive.

And do not pay too much attention to the Gen Y vs Gen X vs Baby Boomer divide…ANY new employee can mess up early on, so help them out no matter how much real-world experience they seem to have.

If your newest employee is calling you “sir” or “ma’am” and that is not the norm, you should break them of that soon. But still let them call the Big Boss “sir” or “ma’am” if that’s the way you do things.