Selecting and hiring new employees is one of the most difficult tasks that small business owners, managers, and supervisors encounter. It is easy to understand why.

One reason is that hiring new people for most small businesses is not an everyday occurrence. Months or sometimes years could pass between hiring an additional or replacement employee. Even the most organized and thorough hiring and training process will become challenging if not done often. skyemetalcoating

Another reason is that small businesses typically do not have a trained or experienced Human Resources person on staff either full-time or part-time. Routine H.R. duties usually fall upon the owner or someone in the Finance or Sales departments.

The good news is that almost every small business has an employee manual. Almost without exception, the employee manual will state that the first ninety days of employment for new hires are considered as probationary. What this means is that a new employee can be dismissed or terminated at any time during this ninety day period if performance or behaviors are unsatisfactory or contrary to company policies.

The bad news is that the owner or manager must then advise the new hire that he or she is no longer needed. In other words, the owner or manager must then perform the most unpleasant task of telling someone he or she no longer has a job.

So how can the business owner or manager avoid both the difficult and the unpleasant? That’s easy. The business must develop a new employee orientation and performance process plan to guide new hires during the first ninety work days so they can be both beneficial and successful.

The orientation process begins on the new employee’s first day on the job. The owner or general manager will meet with the new employee to welcome the new employee to the firm as well as to review and to explain company policies and procedures as well as complete required paperwork and forms. It is appropriate at this session to describe the company’s daily routines and to let the new hire know the location of and the time for breaks, meals, dress codes, and other daily business items. Pay related information and associated documents should be reviewed at this session as well as routine and established company rules and procedures. The new hire should be encouraged to ask questions. receptek

Not the second day, but on the third day of the new hire’s employment, the owner or general manager will meet again with the new hire. A brief review of the material covered on the first day meeting is essential. The new hire has heard so much from so many in the past two days that a short meeting to review is not only appropriate but essential. Daily routines, pay rates, along with company rules and policies will probably need some clarification. This meeting is also the time to explain the company’s goals and objectives as well as to emphasize the importance of teamwork, cooperation, and internal communication.

Before ending the session, the owner or general manager should encourage the new hire to ask questions or provide observations for discussion or clarification. It is also the time to advise the new hire that his immediate supervisor will meet with him in a day or two to provide more details regarding the new hire’s job classification and expectations.viz-es-futes

On the first Pay Day for the new employee, the immediate supervisor will meet with the employee to review the paycheck to assure all is correct. The supervisor should be prepared to answer any questions related to pay, paid time off, employee benefits, and other related items.

On or about half-way through the ninety day probationary period, the immediate supervisor will meet with the new hire to complete a Performance Review.

Why complete a Performance Review half-way through the Probationary Period? The value of a Performance Review at the midpoint of the Probationary Period will show management if the new hire is performing satisfactorily or not. izomautok

If the new hire is performing okay, but could do better with some guidance and direction, then management has some time to provide the new hire with some on-the-job training by working with some experienced employees before the next Performance Review near the end of the ninety day period. Typically the new hire will prove to be worth every penny of this investment and more! zarban

If the Performance Review is not satisfactory and there is little hope of improvement, villanyt-szerel then the new hire probably should be terminated. Sometimes the new hire is not doing well because the new hire may be a wrong fit in the present department. Maybe a change in assignment or task will be beneficial for both the company and the new employee. Nevertheless, unpleasant as it is,  there is no reason to continue to keep someone on the payroll who is not neither a good fit nor a good performer. epit-esz