Train New Employees Thoughtfully

New business owners don't have an HR manual that details how new employees should be oriented and trained. When they need to hire employees, they bring on someone with the skills that will supplement what the owner does, and they show the person what to do. This is all well and good, but key information and instructions are rarely written in a small business. There are so many other things to do, it seems it would take too much time.  This leaves the owner vulnerable to potential problems:

• The new employee may not have taken notes during training and forgets a key detail that jams a machine, ruins a product, or creates a customer service issue.
• The employee may not work out and when fired files a complaint about not having been adequately trained or work rules not having been explained.

Do yourself a favor. Take the time to write an employee manual that is detailed enough not to leave critical questions unaddressed.  It doesn't have to be exhaustive, but cover the points that could make a big difference. Once you have a training program together, it will be much simpler to train the next employee, and the next, as your business grows. In the end, the thought that goes into managing your employees will pay off in many ways.

Deborah Brown at Small Business Trends offers links to some good articles on training, including some resources you can use to create your own training program.