257: Onboarding and Training Staff
Summary:
Once your employee has signed on the dotted line to join your company, what happens next? It’s now time for you to bring your new hire into your company and help them feel like they belong. You need them to feel valued and part of your company, which takes time and intentionality on your part. Onboarding and training staff can feel daunting, but planning out the first six months to one year for them will help you make sure they’re on track and you don’t miss anything that will leave them hanging. Then, Natasha answers, “How do I become a better manager?”
Main topics:
Onboarding vs orientation
Setting expectations
Answering staff questions
Growing culture
Ask a pet biz coach
Main takeaway: Training staff is more than a one time event. It’s a continual process of teaching them your company vision, culture, and why you provide quality pet care.
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Previous Episodes in series: 247, 249, 251, 253
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
employee, hire, staff, company, onboarding process, important, client, greet, business, training, understand, review, process, pet, breakdown, new hires, questions, goals, onboarding, teach
SPEAKERS
Meghan, Collin, Natasha
Meghan 00:10
Hello, I'm Meghan I'm Collin and this is Pet Sitter confessional an open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter. Ah Hi, welcome to episode 257. Thank you for joining us today. Hello. Thank you also to our wonderful Patreon members for supporting the show financially. Your support means so much to us, we really do appreciate it and we enjoy doing the show and we are able to do it because of your financial support. If you are not already a Patreon member and you'd like to become one you can do so at petsitter confessional comm slash support at the end of episode 256 Fear free petsitting with McKell Becker it was a great episode if you've not listened to it, go back and listen. Call it actually misspoke. It did. And it said that the code P SC 10 was for $10 off that is not true. The code the code P SC 10 is for 10% off of the course. So if you have any interest in becoming fear free certified as a pet sitter, you can go to their website and sign up and use the code PSD 10 for 10% off
Collin 01:22
percent off and both Megan and I have gone through that process. It takes a little bit of your time and focus. But it is really beneficial. You'll learn a lot of techniques, I'm sure you'll know many of them, but it's applying them in different ways and just being more observant and learning more about body language to which is always helpful.
Meghan 01:39
So far in our hiring series, we have covered knowing when it's time to hire the actual hiring ad, having an effective screening process and what it means to become an employer. Those episodes are 247 249 251 and 253. So today, we are addressing what happens after you've made the job offer after all of those steps. You've done all of this work to get someone on your team, but the work isn't over just yet. Your employee is going to be looking to you for guidance, and what's next.
Collin Funkhouser 02:13
Yeah, we're going to cover the training as part of onboarding process for your business. And training and onboarding will definitely overlap. And there was a lot of connection between these. Remember that this is your process, make it your own, there's no right answer for any of this of how to bring in an employee and how to train them in your methods. Onboarding is the process by which our companies get caught up to speed and they access everything that they'll need. As a team member with you. Basically, you're trying to integrate them into the company. And it's a much longer term process than many of us. Consider when you think of the word onboarding, I'm sure you have an idea of sitting down filling out paperwork, and then going and doing stuff. That's actually more orientation. That that's, that's really important for doing that paperwork, understanding the routine tasks. But onboarding is a much more comprehensive process that involves you. It involves other employees that you have any, and it can last upwards of 12 months or longer, depending on the things that you're working with.
Meghan 03:19
new hire orientation is more of a formal event. And it really introduces the employee to your structure, your vision, your mission and your values as well. So you'll review the employee handbook, and you'll highlight major policies that you have in there, you'll complete any required paperwork that you need them to sign, you will review pertinent administrative procedures, and then you'll provide a mandatory training as well. And this process can really overload a new employee with information. And so it's really best done over a few days or a week, if possible. But you should use your onboarding process to teach your company values and your vision. You want to set the tone for your expectations and the relationships that you will have throughout this
Collin 04:05
onboarding process. You're going to want to help your new hire, understand what sets your company apart, what's unique about the culture, the mission, the brand, and any other relevant foundational issues and pillars of your company that your new hire is going to need to understand so they can do their work so that they can live and they can convey that consistently in all that they do. Now, of course, this is overwhelming. So your new hire is not going to absorb this in the first day of the week, or that first month really, it can take up to many months to learn and really apply all of these things. And naturally, every employee is going to have questions when they start a new position. I'm sure when you had jobs in the past you had questions about your purpose and other things that were going on. So the onboarding process should really make sure and address five big questions that every new hire has The first one is what does this company believe this is where the the values the mission statement really come in and helping them understand how they can connect with that, then the employee is going to ask what are my strengths? Many people come into a new job, and they think they know what's irrelevant skills. But you as the employer, you, as the manager and their mentor, now get to help them foster their strengths and help them see how they can excel in this new position. And then as the position what is my role? What are the exact definitions and boundaries of what I am supposed to do? Help them understand what they do? And what they don't do? Help them understand what that chain of command is. And that goes into this fourth one? Who are my partners? Who's going to be helping them? Who are they supposed to work with? Who are they supposed to reach out to? I know, in small companies, the org chart is really non existent. But as soon as you start adding two or three or more employees, they need to know who they're supposed to work with, and what their relationship is to the next person. And then what does my future look like here?
Meghan 05:59
That's a big one, considering everything that happened with COVID. People are wanting to know, how do I fit in here? Can I see myself here in five or 10 years?
Collin 06:08
Yeah. So this onboarding process, give them expected timelines, show them how they can work from one thing to another talk about pay scale advances, win rate changes happen, how they can take on new skills and new tasks, and empower them to do that from day one. So that they know this is a place where I can invest where I can grow, because what we don't want to do is look up in six, seven months, and have a dissatisfied employee because they don't see themselves they don't understand how they can move anywhere, or do anything else in the company.
Meghan 06:37
If you already have other staff consider pairing this new hire with an existing staff. So have a buddy or a mentor system. You know, mentors offer this new hire a connection to someone who can really guide them, but they're not in a position of direct authority or acting in an official capacity. The buddy or mentor is really going to be responsible for going with this new staff or the first few meet and greets or walks if that's what you choose to do. And depending on your training process and what you require of them. The mentor can partner with them for you know, just the first day or the week or month, depending on what type of relationship you want them to have. But remember that this is not just a one time thing, especially when it comes to the visions and goals for your company, you will need to reinforce those over a long period of time, if you have weekly or monthly staff meetings go over your vision and goals and the future of the company regularly so that they can be involved in that process and see how their day to day interactions are getting them to the goals of the company and where they want to be within the company. Onboarding is not just what the new hire is doing. But you've got work to do to and part of that process includes adding them to your insurance. So usually, it's not tied to the person, specifically their name. But you do have to tell the company to now cover an additional person. And this goes for both workers compensation and your business insurance as well. You know, they won't deny coverage to an employee, they'll assume that you've done your due diligence and have vetted them and are willing to take on that risk. You also need to add them to your software and train your employees on it. A lot of software's are not necessarily intuitive. And they take a lot of time kind of figuring out what's what and where things are and how to do things. And so it's important that obviously, your staff, they're gonna be the one sending the updates and having client interactions on your software, so it's necessary for them to know,
Collin 08:34
I'll also add the t shirt at least briefed them on what it looks like for the client to book and what the clients process is. That way if they get any questions from a client doing a meet and greet or anything like that they're prepared to answer those questions.
Meghan 08:45
If you have specific shirts, or hats, or leashes or whatever that is branded with your logo and your company's info by them that gear, they are now representing you and your company. So when they go to a visit of meet and greet, they need to be wearing some of your things. At least that's what we do. We require them to have at least a shirt or hat on whenever they are on company time. You will also need to give them access to your Canva or your social media stuff. And let them start making some of those posts if you choose to cross train them. Finally, review periods are important. So you know if they're staying on track, and they do as well. Most hires will have a training period or promote probationary time. So set the review meeting on their first day so you don't forget it and they don't either. You may choose every month or every three months. But make sure that it's consistent and relatively often so that grievances on either side don't build up. As with some things in the hiring process. The employee handbook can be kind of dry. So when you do review the employee handbook with your new hire, don't just read through it, because they should have already read through it before they signed it. So use this opportunity to explain why it exists. So for example, what led you to develop your policy on attire and required footwear that they should have. Why is it important to not be on your phone excessively during a visit? You know, you want to humanize the process. So our manual includes sections on expected conduct and etiquette. It includes safety concerns for both the team member and the pet. And it includes weather considerations. There's obviously a lot more that goes into the manual. But those are just some of the basic ones. We did spend a lot of time discussing how to handle emergencies with the new hire, so who to notify, administering first aid, those kinds of things. Our handbook also details out our expectations for an open and inclusive and really a harassment free workplace. Some of this is required by law to include but we also feel very strongly about making sure that our staff know that we take it very seriously, we aren't flippant about it, we also let them know that we hold clients to the same standards, and we will 100% fire a client for breaking these no exceptions. There is no client worth keeping if they're harassing and hateful to our staff members.
Collin 11:10
Yeah, no thanks at all, at all. Throughout onboarding, we are taking notes about the team member, what are their interests? What are their strengths? What are their particular goals? That way, when opportunities come up, we can pass them along to the staff or we know who to reach out to with questions or help. So as an example, just for us, we hired an employee with a background in grooming. So guess what, when we had an idea or thought about new services, we asked him about putting together an SOP for IN HOME nail trims ear cleanings and brushing teeth. That's his experience. That's his knowledge base that we can lean on in utilize. And he had an interest in writing and helping people do better and be better parents. So we were able to partner with this and use this to accomplish the goals that both of us have. We need to be good at acknowledging our staff's expertise. And we need to be able to use that to make the company better, because it also helps them see how they can have an impact and be part of something bigger, which Megan alluded to earlier about what staff what people are looking for these days, they want to be part of a big vision, they want to be part of something important. They want to know that what they do matters and is helping other people. What better business to be in than pet sitting and dog walking and pet care. But what that means is that we need to listen to our staff, use their expertise, use their interests, to help them see where they can be invested and help our company be better. When
Meghan 12:37
it comes to being better. And learning training is crucial. We provide several opportunities because a lot of training is going to be taught in the field. You know, there's that saying more is caught than taught. And it's very true, especially for dog walking and pet sitting there is only so much that you can cover verbally in a manual. How do you properly hold a leash? How do you get a stubborn dog out of a crate. So the hands on training is invaluable? We do on the job training by having them shadow us for five meet and greets, and five in home visits. The first one we lead and the rest the employee leads and we're kind of just guiding only if we need to. And then after those five of each we assess how are they feeling? how confident we are in starting to let them on their own. And we can gauge if it's time for them to fly out of the nest or if we need to be a little bit more mama bird or papa bird.
Collin 13:34
Yeah, and that's just really different conversation. So we do what we prepare before the meet and greets. We review all the forms with them. We conduct the mean greet and then we debrief. We see how they feel, what additional questions they had and what we saw what we observed. And we go through that process each time. And then at the end of those five, we just straight up ask them. How are you feeling about this? Are you ready to do the next one all by yourself? We let them answer and then we give our honest assessment as to whether we think they're ready or not. And then we work from there.
Meghan 14:03
We also provide them with pet first aid and CPR training because that is crucial. You're coming into a home you don't know what is happening inside there. Once you open the door, and you need to be ready for anything. We also have them take specific petsitter online training, we pay for the course and we pay for the time it takes them to complete it.
Collin 14:20
If you're part of a professional organization, add your staff add your employees to be a member as well if they're not already, obviously. But that way they get access to all that additional education, all those additional resources and can start taking specific certification courses that are going to help them be better pet sitters, and help your company look better as
Meghan 14:40
well. Our company holds weekly virtual meetings still
Collin 14:43
sounds weird when we say our company, just definitely.
Meghan 14:47
Our company holds weekly virtual meetings on Mondays. We spend our time answering questions going over everything that's happening in the coming week and we present a short lesson on a topic something that we are probably Gonna start implementing and soon is having the employee be more a part of that in terms of having them prepare a lesson that they want to teach everybody else
Collin 15:08
yet we recently covered, understanding how to read body language in dogs and cats for their level of fear and stress and what we can do about it, giving them some tools and tips that they can use when they're out doing the services.
Meghan 15:20
There are an infinite number of things you can train your staff on. But we feel the biggest ones are canine and feline body language, administering medication, client communication, like sending updates, pet first aid and CPR, safety, and then obviously how to conduct an a walk, or a visit or a meet and greet, those are crucial. So the training never stops. Really, it can seem overwhelming at times. But even you as the pet sitter as the owner, I'm sure even if you've been in this business 30 years, you are still learning things each day, which is why preparation is key, you won't be able to prepare for everything, but do what you can, you can start by putting together all of the things that you've had to encounter over the years so that you can preemptively inform your staff about them. So for example, explain how doors can open differently in the winter versus the summer and how that impacts us being able to enter a home. A jammed door isn't uncommon during the changing of the seasons, it's just something that we've learned along the way. So letting them know that as well put all of your
Collin 16:25
documents in Google Drive and make it freely accessible to staff for them to review whenever they have time. Or you can share out one a week or month and review that with them. You may even consider inviting a vet or a local trainer to a team meeting to present on a certain topic, make it an ongoing thing and have your team bring questions. So we've gone through the orientation and team training, how about culture, as a business and as a company? How can we use onboarding to help our team understand our culture? First, do you know what your culture is? Big, big, big question for yourself. Just as an example, if you value prompt communication and precision, that can be part of your culture. But are you prompt with communication? And are you precise? Do you show the culture? Or is it just something that you talk about? So before we bring on staff, and before we start trying to teach them these things, write down what you value write down what you want your company to be known as and how you want it to operate, and then start sharing that with them. So in order to teach culture, remember a couple things. The first one is culture starts before the start date. Make sure that your offer letters are professional and individualized to the candidate so they know that you're taking this seriously communicate with new hires between their acceptance and start dates to build a report and address any questions or concerns that they may have. Use your new hire packets and handouts to allow employees to complete paperwork before their start date, so that their first day can be spent on more important things, review important information like your mission, your values, and your vision for the company so that again, they can see where they fit part of that. The other thing we need to do is provide detail, teach new hires the definition and more importantly, hear the reasoning behind your mission, your vision and your values and how you actually live those out and apply those on a daily basis. So if you have a vision and a mission to see well equipped pet parents living their best life possible with their furry family members, how does an employee know what that means? Well tell them, we do this through the walks in the peace of mind, and equipping them with knowledge and education through our interactions together, teach new hires, the attitudes and behaviors that are also encouraged, and also important to hear discouraged in your workplace. That's why we said that we really focused on what it means to be an inclusive, open, hate free workplace. Those are things that we value, and we expect to see those in our employees as well. Part of providing detail is telling your story. What's your background? What are some of the struggles? What are some of the successes that you have experienced as a company up until this point? Why was it important for you to hire? And how can they help you and the company reach those goals that you have? Bring them in and help them again, see the why behind everything that you do. And then the last step here with helping our new hires understand our company's culture is repeat and be consistent. After you've gone over the details after you've shared them the why after you've given them and set that expectation and given them the resources, make sure that to do it consistently and and on an ongoing basis, not overbearing, and not in an oppressive manner, obviously, and overloading them with detail, but allowing them to see that this is really important to you because it consistently comes up and to remind them of these things and then take interest in their response and how they can get plugged in.
Meghan 19:50
So speaking of overloading my detail, that was a lot.
Collin 19:55
There's so much in all these topics,
Meghan 19:58
and that's why we had several episodes on this So feel free to go back and listen to them at any time. But don't stress about this, remember that you don't have to be perfect Nope. First of all, nobody is perfect. That's part of our culture, we let staff know that we have never done this before. If this is your first hire, you will have never done this before either. But we have done our homework. And we're working very hard to make this work to make our company the best it can be. And we do that by bringing on exceptional people. And you as the new hire are an exceptional person. And we have brought you on to meet these company goals and our vision. So it is also important to ask for their input as well be a little bit malleable with what they say. But at the end of the day, it's your business, but they need to be heard and felt and seen as well. And don't be afraid to make changes. As soon as you spot a problem with your onboarding process. If you see something that could be more efficient, or if your new hire says, I didn't really like this, I felt like this could be better ask for their input and see where you can make it better. If you have ever hired somebody, we would love to know what your onboarding process was like. Is it similar to ours? Or is it completely different? You can let us know on social media at petsitter. confessional somebody who is hired many times is Natasha urbania. And she is a business coach. And she's going to answer the question, How do I become a better manager,
Natasha 21:23
becoming a better manager, I would say is becoming a better listener, and becoming more aware of your staffs needs. I like to do certain personality profile tests. Because the way I learn and the way I understand things is not the way my staff and anyone else around you understand. So I like to make it a habit of maybe maybe a monthly or quarterly meeting with my team. Hey, how are you feeling? How things going? What's an insight that you've learned so far? What are some things that we can implement that you things that you believe can make your job easier? So I like to just keep the lines of communication open? I find when you do that, and also setting a time, you know, don't just pop up and like yeah, I texted her yesterday, or Yeah, I just called him two days ago, no set a meeting, he did harsh. I want to speak with you next week, Thursday, if that works for you around such and such time, I want to kind of just do an evaluation with you get your feedback and see where we can move you along in the business. When you just keep those lines open. And they know that you're willing to sit in meetings with them, they're more likely to communicate back with you. I also find when they're looking for a new job or going to college or having definite family or having more goals. They started telling me oh, you know, I'm thinking about traveling the world, you know, in six months? Oh, that's good to know. Right? So if you don't start keeping those lines open, you may not get pertinent information that could have really helped you. But managing in better is listening to them and taking their feedback wholeheartedly. One thing I hear a lot is, you know, it's hard to find good people or, you know, they interview well, but then after a few days they leave well, you know what, that's usually an internal breakdown with ourselves, not necessarily our applicant, because they interviewed well, they came on well, but we want to find the breakdowns. And that's how we can is by communicating and talking with them and being in front of them, letting them know that hey, I'm here to lead you. How can I help you
Collin 23:24
right here, when you say that it's we have to be a little bit vulnerable ourselves in those moments to be open to receiving that kind of feedback and not getting defensive about protecting policies or procedures or things like that, so that we can continue to make changes and make it better for our staff.
Natasha 23:38
Yeah, I genuinely believe being a great leader or manager is always looking with it anytime something bad happens. Anytime there's a breakdown. I'm like, you know, what, what could I have done personally to fix that? What could I have done to avoid that? What did I do or the company do to make them feel that way? Any single time there's a client breakdown or SAP breakdown, it's always me first, oh, I didn't do this. Oh, I didn't provide them this. Oh, I didn't think ahead for this. It's always me, never them. And when I made that mindset shift, hiring and managing became so much easier because where Suzy is knocking it out of the park and being a self starter. Well, Amanda may need more assistance and me being like, well, Amanda, Susie, does it Why can't you get it? That's the problem is we always look to our top dogs to decide the measurements of our business, but it's really the dogs that are coming in new, or the ones who are not as outspoken that you really want to assess not the ones who will figure it out on their own. They can move on their own. Those are the ones who may want to think about bringing them into different level positions. But listen, why didn't I set my business success for both players with both personalities with both learning styles? That's what I think about when I'm managing.
Meghan 24:59
If you I'd like to join Natasha's monthly membership group you can do so at start scale sale calm and use the code P SC 20. For 15% off.
Collin 25:08
We know all this is so much as Megan said, but we really wanted to share our experience and our thoughts on this process. So thank you so much for listening and we really appreciate you taking the time out of your busy week to do that every single week. We wish you all the best and we'll talk to you again soon. Thank you
