MRO: Are onboarding and mentorship really that important?
by Excellence in Manufacturing Consortium
None of the plastic that washes up on Aldabra comes from the islands themselves.
Photo: iQoncept/ adobe stock.
We’ve all experienced the ambiguous emotions that the first day on a new job can bring — the excitement, the anxiety, and the uncertainty of working in an intimidating environment with unfamiliar people. There are questions to be asked, tasks to be learned, and good first impressions to be made. As leaders, we should recognize these difficult emotions, and take efforts to ensure that newly-recruited employees are able to feel comfortable and work confidently in their roles.
Effective onboarding and mentorship helps workers establish strong professional bonds that can provide them with the benefits of time-tested experience and wisdom, encourage self-assurance and pride in their work. While eliminating feelings of reservation, simultaneously maximizing productivity and employee morale.
Integrating a new employee into an existing work environment is never an easy task. When working co-operatively (or simply interacting with other team members on a regular basis), employees must build and maintain effective lines of communication and mutual support, or risk becoming overwhelmed with responsibilities they are unprepared for. Negative onboarding experiences lead to poor retention, which increases time spent recruiting and training new labour.
This article originally featured in MRO Magazine. Read the full version here.
