Inductions

On the balance between in-office and remote working, Andy Jessy, CEO of Amazon, may be going against the grain. By telling his staff to get back to working full time in the office from January onwards, outsiders are not surprised that this has caused a ‘soft quitting’ revolt within Amazon. Their employees don’t want to lose the benefits of the better work-life balance they’ve enjoyed since the aftermath of Covid.

Current data from Owl Lab’s ongoing study on working patterns indicates that 25% of workers are still opting for remote work. Hybrid working setups have increased by over 15%. Traditional office work has decreased by almost 25% - as opposed to Jessy’s instruction to increase it to 100% at Amazon.

When a new employee joins any organisation (and it sounds like they will need to recruit some more at Amazon) these variations in working patterns lead to a key question.

How can they all be successfully inducted in ways that accommodate these variations?

A superficial solution is the suggestion that inducting remote workers can mainly be done online. By contrast, in office workers can be inducted through more face-to-face engagements.

But these channels are invariably used on a ‘push’ basis – content is pushed towards these new employees.

A much more effective way to induct them is by creating ‘pull’.

This involves inviting new employees to use their initiative by actively seeking out what will help them in their role. And, in turn, it will lead to them feeling more motivated to play their part in making their organisation successful.

This way involves two important criteria for success.

First, all suggested activities must be brand-focussed. As the DNA of the organisation, everything should revolve around the brand. More of this in a moment.

The second criteria is to create an induction journey. This will give new hires a structure to follow when they are seeking out what will help them.

This journey should cover four C’s. Here are examples of questions that new hires should ask under each C.

Culture – Why do we do what we do? And how do we do it? What do customers value in us? What’s our future ambition?

Clarity – How does my role help to fulfil this ambition? What will success look like – for both me and the organisation?

Connections – What is the network I need to create to get things done? And how does this impact on customers – either directly or indirectly?

Compliance – Are there any dos and don’ts on regulations to be followed? What policies do we pursue on essential practices such as sustainability?

All this will involve new employees seeking out those who can answer these questions. And many of those people may be outside of that employee’s immediate function. This is all part of the ‘pull’ approach. It will lead to faster integration and a better understanding of the overall culture across the organisation.

If an employee is struggling to answer any of these questions, they can ask themselves a question instead.

If the brand was a person, what would that person be like and do?

For instance, how would that person behave? What would their values be? How would they describe themselves? Why would others be inspired by them?

By rapidly understanding what the brand that they represent is all about, any new employee will be on the fast track to effectiveness. Whether they are working from home. Are in the office. Or combine the two.