Having some kind of protocol or guidelines in place for how your business operates is important, and getting your new employees up to speed and on the same page is even more so. Training manuals are essential to make sure your new employees are doing things the right way and things are handled consistently, but it goes a lot deeper than just that. Here are a few reasons why training manuals for new employees are so important.
Streamlining Onboarding
The onboarding process can be long and somewhat confusing, especially for new employees trying to take in all the new information. Training manuals can provide a streamlined and logical flow to taking in all the new information, introducing new employees to what they’ll be learning over the course of training, breaking down policies and job duties, simulated training with software or equipment, safety regulations, and interactive skill checks to make sure they’re retaining the information, etc.
Consistency in Training
Having a manual and training protocols will make sure every new hire gets the same kind of training. Simply passing the new hire off to a more seasoned employee from the get-go could end up passing on bad habits or ways to cut corners if your employees aren’t always following protocols. This can lead to problems down the line, especially if those cut corners can lead to more troublesome issues like not performing proper QA on parts in an assembly line or unsafe behavior when using machinery.
Accountability
This is probably the most important reason to have a training manual, or even just a general business operations manual for that matter. If you don’t have your company’s policies and procedures written somewhere, you have nothing to refer to when bringing up disciplinary action with employees when they break protocols or knowingly take shortcuts, or just don’t do their job properly. Having a training manual and a sign-off that they have completed and understood the training gives you proof that they should know how the process works and gives you grounds to move forward with disciplinary action. Without this, dealing with certain problems employees can have is an absolute nightmare.