Training employees has become more important than ever before. As more Baby Boomers either retire or cut back on their hours, employers hire more workers to take their place. However, it’s difficult to find new hires experienced in manufacturing. That means they need training, and training a new employee correctly and quickly is key in getting them to stay with your company. With all this in mind, what’s a manufacturer do to? The short answer is: your shop needs a great training manual. To get a great training manual, you need to find out what a new employee does and doesn’t need to know and if there’s anything new to add.
1. What don’t they need to know?
When training a new employee, you want them to get started as quickly as possible. It doesn’t help anyone if that employee is trained on things they’ll never use. The first place to start with training a new person is to talk to people who either currently have that job or who have done that job recently. These people are experts in what someone in that position needs to know. Talking with them will help you cut out unnecessary information from the training materials and make sure you’re teaching the best practices.
2. What do they need to know?
While it’s important to leave out things that new employees don’t need, it’s essential to teach them everything they do need to know. When you’re talking with the experts, you’ll probably learn additional things that new hires need to know that aren’t covered in the training materials. There’s nothing more frustrating than thinking you’re done with training and realizing you still have questions. Look for these gaps in the training materials, make sure you fill them and write down the best way to do any processes that new employees need to know.
3. Is there anything new?
Sometimes, after talking with everyone about this position, you realize there are more things a new employee would need to know. Maybe there’s a process that’s split up between multiple people that should be completed by one. Or maybe your shop has made larger changes to the workflow, and you’ve realized the new position will need to cover part of the process. There are many reasons to add responsibilities to a job description, and the best time to do so is before you hire a new employee. If there is anyone currently in this position, you’ll need to make sure to train them on these new duties as well.
To make sure you’re training new employees on the right things, you’ll need to find out what has changed in that position and what is imperative for a new employee to know. Training a new hire from the beginning makes their transition into the company easier and makes them more likely to stay. You don’t want to have to train new employees often because it takes time and money.
To get a clear picture of what your employees spend their time on, it’s helpful to have a data collection module as part of your ERP system. When you have your employees clock-in and out for different jobs, you know exactly what a new hire would need to do. To learn more about what the E2 Shop System’s Data Collection Module can do for your shop, click below.
