The importance of being inducted

Starting a new job can be both exciting and daunting, whatever our state of mind. To some individuals, participating in an induction programme can seem tedious and frustrating even though they are designed to be informative and useful, says Paul Mulligan

Why are induction programmes important?

Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust has worked hard to ensure its induction programmes are relevant, meet different learning styles and are enjoyable to all participants. The trust believes that it is vital that all new staff feel valued and that we begin the process of creating a sense of shared identity at induction. It is important for new staff to understand the trust values, policies and procedures and to start to adopt our ‘way of doing things’. We therefore spend considerable time and resources ensuring our induction programmes are up to date, relevant and meet the needs of both the organisation and new starter. The induction programmes also give us an excellent opportunity to promote the development activities occurring in the trust while the sessions on mandatory training ensures staff go into the workplace with their basic mandatory training requirements met.

Our range of induction programmes

All new permanent members of staff attend a two-day corporate induction programme with the only exception being junior doctors who attend a specifically designed induction programme. New staff normally attend induction on their first two days in trust, which may be followed by profession specific induction programmes. These include nursing and midwifery induction’ (8 days) and administration and clerical induction (2 days).

All the induction programmes are then followed by a compulsory local induction which occurs in the individual’s place of work.

Corporate induction programme content

We try to ensure that the induction sessions are as interactive as possible and the days involve considerable group work, the groups consisting of staff from all professions. We also use a number of trust profession leads as speakers, show trust specific DVDs and conduct quizzes to reinforce the learning experience.

Subject areas covered by the programme include:

Trust values

Basic knowledge of the organisation - i.e. where things are

What the organisation expects from new staff

What new staff can expect from the organisation

What we do to promote the health and wellbeing of staff

Mandatory training including risk management, fire, health and safety, infection control, hand hygiene and child protection awareness training.

The promotion of learning opportunities

Promotion of learning opportunities

The induction programmes stress the importance of the continued professional development of all staff and promote the wide-ranging opportunities available regardless of seniority or staff group. These activities include:

National Vocational Qualifications

Profession specific CPD

Management qualifications

Knowledge & Skills Framework (KSF) appraiser training courses

Attendance of corporate induction

The attendance rates on corporate induction are excellent and so far this financial year is running at 99%. To emphasise the importance the trust places on induction, the signing on process for payroll is completed at corporate induction. This means in effect that new staff cannot be paid unless they have attended and completed the induction programme.

Feedback from the programme

If appropriate, feedback is used to enhance our programmes. Feedback from our induction programme is excellent both at the end of the day and from verbal feedback. Our success can also be measured by the fact that we get enquires from other trusts about our induction programmes.

Paul Mulligan is change agent and acting head of training and development, Guys and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust