Swiftclean’s commitment to induction and training
We recently overhauled our induction process as part of our strategy plan, ‘4 Growth’, more specifically under the pillar ‘4 People,’ which focuses on our employee engagement and retention.
As a result of this strategy project, we made several company-wide changes to promote well-being and employee happiness. For example, we introduced an annual company celebration, usually including a BBQ and social, Annual Employee Awards, and an annual employee engagement survey.
We also looked at our employee retention, and more specifically our onboarding process, to see how we could improve this, as part of the strategy project. We felt that our previous induction process wasn’t working as successfully as it could have and that a full overhaul was in order.
The team worked to lengthen the induction process, and this has been especially beneficial for those who are field-based in more remote areas of the country. It now ensures that they meet as many people from different departments as possible and understand the variety of roles within the company.
Additional time has been added for training purposes, including internal and external courses, as well as on-the-job training on a one-to-one basis. We also include workshop-style training sessions.
To make this training more accessible we have created a series of training videos in-house, available to all employees in a training library. This means they can undertake training whatever their location – or even refresh themselves on the training whenever they choose.
We have recently implemented an induction checklist to ensure consistency across all our departments and the management team at Swiftclean, so everyone gets the same opportunities and benefits.
“We have had feedback from new starters that our induction program has been better than they have received in previous jobs, and they like our personalised approach to training and induction,” explained Julie, our HR Assistant who hosts new starters, “They added that they are made to feel like a person not just a number, which is nice to hear”.
We have also introduced a mentoring program, for all new starters. A mentor is usually chosen for their length of service and knowledge of the company, and we try to allocate someone who isn’t in the same department, again to ensure that new starters can find out more about the wider company.
“Our mentoring program is important because it can help people grow personally and professionally in many ways, including career development,” explains Abbey, Head of Shared Services, “mentors can help mentees with their confidence, identify and achieve goals, and assist them in identifying and addressing skill gaps early on in their careers at Swiftclean.”
At Swiftclean, we do not underestimate the importance of mentoring. We keep up regular communication to make new starters feel welcomed into the company, with the program running for at least the first six months of an employee’s inception into the company.
We have had some brilliant feedback from our new starters in the last year or so that we have been updating our induction and mentoring program and most recently, received some fabulous feedback from our new starter Technical Sales Consultant, Lee Smith:
“It’s the best induction I have had in over 21 years and the best training I have received during the induction process in 21 years. Swiftclean has made me feel valued by investing in me.”
Our commitment to training does not end after induction. We hold monthly workshops on various aspects of training, for our managers, hosted by our HR team. We also ensure our field staff have training to ensure they are aware of the safest processes of working, these can be externally attended courses or in-house at our own Swiftclean Training Academy.
