One of the common issues faced when starting a new business is that of taking on, training and then assessing new employees. As a small business it is unlikely that the enterprise possess a large, details and structured recruitment, training and assessment mechanism which can be used to objectively identify the progress an individual employee is making.
In many start-up businesses, one of the more pressing constraints frequently observed is that of the entrepreneur’s time. They are constantly attempting to strike a balance between working in vs working on the business and often are at full capacity in terms of their varying duties and workload.
Training new employees is essentially an investment of time and money and therefore for every period spent in demonstrating and teaching organisational tasks, an opportunity cost exists.
One of the most worrying aspects for a business owner is whether their time spent in training a new employee is worthwhile. At what point do they conclude that their investment in the member of staff and the resultant loss time will in fact lead to a more productive business.
Conversely, at what stage does the entrepreneur decide that the employee they are training does not have what it takes and that they should limit their exposure to further losses.
Adequately assessing new employees can be a very difficult task to accomplish, particularly as the business owner will likely have a full diary of pressing engagements and duties to perform.
In an ideal world new employees would hit the ground running so to speak. They would quickly grasp the salient mechanisms which govern the business and be able to perform various tasks with limited instruction. Their contribution towards the business would therefore start almost immediately and vindicate the entrepreneurial decision to recruit them in the first instance.
This rarely happens in reality and whilst some new employees may demonstrate an aptitude for certain areas of the business, they will in all probability take time to comprehend other functions within the organisation.
To strike a balance between communicating what levels of achievement and general standards a business owner expects from a new employee and providing the space, time and encouragement for them to be attained can represent new challenges.
In situations where too much time and leniency is provided in assessing the new employee, this might only be construed by the staff member that their current performance is satisfactory and that there is no need to improve.
Whilst the entrepreneur patiently waits for an increased output and quality of work, it in fact never arrives as the new employee believes they are already there.
At the other end of the spectrum there is the entrepreneur who pushes performance form the first day, setting real-time tasks and critically assessing the new employee on each in detail.
Whilst they might gain an insight and understanding in to the member of staff’s initially capabilities, the pressure felt be the employee might actually result in a counterproductive learning regime.
An employee who feels stress and diminished self-confidence who concludes that they are unable to complete the expected tasks may never improve in the short term and may leave.
It is frequently the case that new employees who have previously worked for larger organisations or smaller ones for a long time find the transition to a newly started business a shock to the system.
Whereas they were comfortable with their duties or received courses, guidance notes and timely structured feedback on the performance, they find the “hands on” approach necessary in a new business demands more from them in terms of learning, commitment and initiative.
In terms of the best way forward, one must rely on their instincts to gauge what is required for training and assessing new employees.
