One of the most useful tools of any business is the quintessential employee manual or handbook. It is a manual that is given to new employees on being hired, as a means to acquainting them with the company procedures, functions and policies. It is the most essential communication tool between the company and the employee.

The employee manual should be designed with a lot of thought and only those policies that are specific to the organization should be given and not general policies, making sure it is in an easily readable compact form.

Some of the main policies that may be included are:

Welcome Statement

To make new employees feel at home, most companies start with a warm welcome note from the CEO, which includes important details about the company; the creation, mission statement, goals as well as the role of employees in achieving those goals.

Orientation Process

Orientation process may include having the employee read the manual completely and some companies also allow new employees to use some office time in the first few days for reading it and schedule a conference to answer any questions they may have. Many employers also get an acknowledgment signed by the employee stating that the employee manual has been read and understood.

General Policies

The employee manual should contain the following basic policies of the company:

Attendance: This can be included to avoid any confusion over attendance expectations. Every company expects employees to arrive at the work place prior to the scheduled start time and be engaged with their work by the start time. Details of how time off should be requested and sick leave details are also outlined in this manual. Attendance is considered by many companies as an important facet of job performance. (more…)

The person who can make hard things easy is the trainer.

Training needs analysis is the first step in the training process, and then we start setting learning objectives whereby we answer the following critical questions :

1. What must the training achieve?

2. How will the trainees be affected ( i.e., improved )?

In order to design an effective training programme, we have to translate performance deficiencies into training needs. If you know that salespersons do not sell well, and you have discovered that this deficiency is due to lack of product knowledge, then your learning objectives must address this issue

Why Write Learning Objectives? —— Five valid reasons:

1. Objectives give you a clear direction for training activities. As a trainer, you know where you are going an how will you reach there. Your time on designing a training programme is properly utilized.

2. Objectives give direction to other co-trainers who focus on the same direction. Consequently, they bring about uniformity in the training programme.

3. Learning objectives also motivate trainees to grow as they clearly see WIIFM (what’s in it for me ) that keeps them interested, involved and motivated. (more…)

Training needs analysis process is a series of activities conducted to identify problems or other issues in the workplace, and to determine whether training is an appropriate response.

The needs analysis is usually the first step taken to cause a change. This is mainly because a needs analysis specifically defines the gap between the current and the desired individual and organizational performances.

Who Conducts Needs Analysis & Why?

An in-house trainer or a consultant performs a needs analysis to collect and document information concerning any of the following three issues :

1. Performance problems
2. Anticipated introduction of new system, task or technology
3. A desire by the organization to benefit from a perceived opportunity

In all three situations, the starting point is a desire to effect a change. Given this, you must know how the people who will experience change perceive it. In the absence of a needs analysis, you may find employees resistant to change and reluctant to training. They may be unable to transfer their newly acquired skills to their jobs because of the organizational constraints.

A needs analysis often reveals the need for well-targeted training areas. However, we must keep in mind that training is not always the best way to try to close a particular gap between an organization’s goals and its actual performance. Those conducting the needs analysis must get a clear idea of the problem, look at all possible remedies and report on their findings to management before deciding on the best solution. (more…)