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Induction of a new employee

Employee induction

To help new employees adapt themselves as quickly as possible to your company, a brief induction training programme is useful. Its purpose is to provide basic information about the company and the job. Some of the following may be relevant:

  • Location of toilets and clothes lockers
  • Safety rules
  • Protective clothing issue
  • Canteen
  • Payment of wages
  • Bonus system
  • Trade union arrangements
  • Introduction to supervisor and department

At this stage you should ensure that the new employee understands the terms and conditions of employment as set out in the written statement, the company's rules and the procedures used for dealing with disciplinary matters and grievances. You may find it helpful to produce a brief description of the job and responsibilities you expect the employee to perform, in addition to the written statement of terms and conditions. This helps the new employee to know exactly what is expected of them, and rules out the possibility of a claim at a later stage that they did not know the company's rules and procedures.

Personnel records

Once an employee has been engaged, open a personnel file and keep on file the job application form, job description, a personnel record card and all correspondence with the individual relating to their employment. These records should be kept according to your business's own retention policies and then securely destroyed.

You have additional obligations under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act. For more information see our Data protection section or the Information Commissioner's Office's Guide to the GDPR.

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