I recently dropped in at a local powersports store. This shop has five different lines, a huge storeroom and does many millions in sales every year. When I went past the parts counter on my tour, I noticed the prominently displayed business cards on the counter.
They had a line where the name was supposed to be, and the employees had written their names on the line. There were two employees at the parts counter where these cards were on display. One employee had just started a month before, but the other one had been there for two years.
I asked what was going on with these cards. They didn’t know, but the owner had given them the blank cards. They had to write their name on each card in between helping customers. Which meant that they were wasting a lot of time filling out the cards. I just shook my head and moved on.
The first thing I always did when I had a new hire was order business cards with only their first names on them (I never want someone stalking one of our employees on social media). The commercial printer I use had thousands of premade cards already printed; all they had to do was print the name and the email address for that employee. We usually got the cards in two days at most. It was a pretty simple system, and didn’t cost a lot.
This got me thinking about new employees. Do you have a system to integrate someone when he or she is hired? I’m not talking about all of the paperwork — government forms, insurance, etc. And of course, I’m sure you get them to sign the Policies and Procedure manual and give them copies. If you don’t have one, you should get one — now!
After all that is done, it’s all about the human side: making sure that they feel comfortable and welcome. I set up an email address for them right away. I order the cards. I give them company shirts — enough for a week. And I take them around and make sure that they’re introduced to every other employee present. For those employees who are off that day, I ask the department manager involved to make sure the new person gets that introduction as soon as possible.
Once upon a time, when I worked at another shop for someone else, a fellow employee had a problem. I told him to go talk to (let’s call her) “Sarah.” He had no idea who I was talking about. He’d never been taken around and introduced to any of the other staff, even though he’d been there for six months. He was a bit introverted and had never made an effort to do it himself. I took him around to all of the departments and made sure he knew everyone. One fellow made the comment that he’d “seen him around” but had never been introduced. As you may have guessed, this was a large shop with many employees. However, there is no excuse for not making sure a new hire was introduced to all of the other employees.
I also found out this was normal standard operating procedure (SOP) at that shop; if you didn’t do it yourself, no-one was going to make sure you got an introduction. The owner believed that new employees would just figure it out themselves.
In one way, working for other shops was a good thing; I learned many things by examining what other shops did poorly and used those lessons when I bought my own dealership. You get a pretty good idea what to do when you see the good, the bad and the ugly.
This rant began with me seeing employees without proper business cards. How valued would you feel when the boss won’t even get you proper business cards? When no one takes you around and makes sure you know everyone you are working with?
It’s all so sad. Don’t be a sad employer — be a leader. Your employees will be glad to be working for you.
