Problems with inductions

More than 5,700 people were asked by recruitment site reed.co.uk about their own induction experiences.

The results revealed that too many employers forget just how important it is to help employees settle into a new job.

Not only do they risk losing new starters altogether, but nearly all workers (93 per cent) believe that a poor induction has a continual effect on their productivity.

Employees in both the media and public sectors are most likely to leave their job after a poor induction, with the figure rising to one in 17.

Across the regions, those in the Thames Valley and North East were more likely to have walked out after a bad induction.

In these regions, one in 17 have walked out, compared with workers in Scotland, Wales and the South West, where only one in 50 have left.

Problems with inductions included:

Too short

One new starter was simply told: "Here are the keys, here is my mobile number, good luck."

Another had "a five-minute induction and then left to find out everything on my own".

Too hasty

This was a common complaint. One person turned up for "a quick jaunt around the departments and then into the fray".

Another new recruit's manager took them on "a 10-minute brisk walk, showing me the toilets and a door, which was apparently a fire exit - nowhere near my office".

Boring

It doesn't look good when the induction is given by "a team manager that was not engaging enough to keep the troops awake".

Impersonal

As one person said: "Induction meant teaching myself from a manual left on my desk."

Another new starter was "left alone in a room for four hours with a pile of videos, then someone came to ask me if I was ready to start".

Too personal

One irritated starter reported: "The HR officer who gave the induction was more interested in the male inductees' private lives."

Neglectful

Some employers leave out the most basic things. One woman started a new job only to find that "the manager didn't know I had been recruited".

Isolated

Far from integrating people into the organisation, new recruits were left out. One cited that the induction "left me feeling separate from the rest of the employees".

Embarrassing

Inductions can be uncomfortable. One starter was "told to hop on one leg and sing Yellow Submarine on my own in front of 20 other new starters".

On average it took more than seven weeks for an employee to feel at ease in a role where they had been subjected to a bad induction.

More than a third of inductions (35 per cent) only lasted for a day, a further one in five (18 per cent) lasted for a week and 14 per cent of job induction periods lasted for two or more weeks.

When asked how long the induction period should be, almost one in three (30 per cent) said it should last for a week and more than one in four (26 per cent) felt that the ideal induction period was two weeks.

Martin Warnes, head of reed.co.uk, said: "Many employers have realised just how important it is to attract the right people, and invest time and money in recruiting them.

"Yet all that effort can be wasted if there is no structure in place to help a new starter make the transition and become productive.

"The best inductions are a process, not an event. They combine ongoing support to bring people into the culture of their new team."