Discover what you should cover during month one of your induction to help your new starter feel they can make a positive difference in their role.
By the end of the first month, your new starter should have had the opportunity to gain a good understanding of their workplace, their team, and their role.
It’s important to remember that induction doesn't end here, and it may take new staff up to six months to be fully effective and confident in their role. It's the responsibility of the manager to continue to engage, support, manage and enable the new member of staff to succeed.
During month one you should focus on:
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This list can be used to ensure your induction plan covers all the recommended aspects during their first month.
Learn more about what we recommend you focus on around:
At the one-month stage, it’s important to look at the peer support arrangements and any reasonable adjustments you’ve set up to see if they’re working effectively. Check how they’re working for everyone involved and if anything needs changing.
- Is the buddy or mentor available enough to support your new starter?
- Is your new starter confident accessing the support or are they hesitant to call on their time and expertise?
It’s a chance to consider alternative arrangements if needed.
It’s also an opportunity to review and reflect on how your new starter is actively engaging with and demonstrating your values, behaviours and culture. This will help you explore whether they’re enjoying the role and building positive relationships and networks. Where there are any concerns, it provides an opportunity to discuss how you can support them in addressing these. You can use the safety net conversation to help you.
Make sure you take note of all aspects of their wellbeing and explore with them how they’re both looking after their own wellbeing and anything you can do to support them now that they’ve been in role for a month.
During the first month it’s important for supervision to focus on ensuring your member of staff knows what is expected of them and how to be successful in post. It’s also the opportunity to identify and manage any early concerns about their conduct, behaviour, and suitability for the post.
Supervision and one to ones should take place regularly, in line with your processes and probationary review time scales. Progress and performance should be reviewed against the completion of probationary and induction goals.
Supervision at one month provides an opportunity to explore with your new starter their:
- workload and time taken to complete tasks
- skills and knowledge gaps and what they need to develop further
- reflections and feelings about how things are going, what do they need to succeed, how do they see it happening, how are they going to get there - empowering them early on will allow for a stronger workforce
- learning styles and any reasonable adjustments needed to support them to meet expectations
- understanding of positive as well as negative performance and behaviour.
Document your supervision meeting. Give examples and evidence of any positive or negative behaviours observed aligned to your workplace values, behaviours, and the conduct you expect from them. Taking time to recognise, praise and reinforce positive behaviour motivates and values new starters. Share concerns about conduct or performance and provide opportunities for them to respond to and address concerns, and to feel supported to improve.
Month one is a good time to work with your new staff member to create a personal development plan - an action plan including aspirations for personal and professional development. To be useful it must be:
- personally ambitious and relevant to the person
- a live document which can be changed
- accurate, relevant and realistic.
You can use the Care workforce pathway to help your new starter to plot their future direction.
At the one-month stage it’s useful to review and reflect on the following areas as you begin your new member of staff’s next three-to-six-month induction plan.
- Has the new starter completed the tasks set and met their key performance indicators (KPIs)? Do they fully understand what is being asked of them?
- Continue to prioritise one-to-one sessions and supervision.
- Ensure that relevant policies are made available, discussed, and regularly revisited.
- Reflect on how the person is understanding and beginning to display behaviours and actions aligned to your organisation’s culture and expectations and the communities you support.
- Review any reasonable adjustments and ensure they are working as anticipated.
- Recognise and consider how to make them aware of implicit rules, such as mobile phones in meetings, or when to go for a drink or a break.
- Ask about any emerging interests and career aspirations and look to support these.
- Celebrate milestones and achievements and give regular positive feedback. Set realistic, clear expectations, and continue to focus on the early identification of concerns.