In recent blogs, we’ve talked about attracting top talent for your positions. Now let’s move to the next phase, training your new hire. You spent the time interviewing them, conducting behavioral tests, and at the end of it, determined this person would be the best fit for the position.

Now comes the part you may have neglected to budget time for yet is crucial to ensure your new hire has the company experience they expected when they accepted your job offer, training. Managing your workload while creating an environment that is ideal for your new hire to be trained correctly takes planning and is a team effort. Remember this for later, it’s truly a team effort, and ignoring this can be costly.

If your new hire is assuming an existing position, you may have projects right off that bat that you need to them to get started on. If this is a new position, then your first point of business is to outline your project vision and roadmap. Plan to review the outline of projects day one and be ready to help them to prioritize the projects and set time expectations for each. Allow time for your new hire to provide their own project perspective and work to garner their buy-in during this time.

Next, determine how much of your time is needed for each project to help the new hire ramp up. Consider a daily stand-up, a set two-hour meeting every other day, or some other arrangement that is consistent and easily doable. By having this time set aside, both you and your new hire can look forward to these times, where questions, suggestions, and ideas can also be shared.

Ensuring your new hire has positive interactions with the team they’ll be working with is critical in the first 30 to 90 days of their employment. Consider a new hire buddy, someone who has been with the company that is considered a team player and is not tainted by those few downers in the office. One, it will offer the new hire an opportunity to uncover the personalities on the team, and they’ll likely feel more comfortable during the next group interaction. The buddy on your team will take pride in knowing that you picked them, and with that, you’re showing the new hire that you willing to empower and trust others, which goes a long way.

The most significant part of the new hire training is communication. Communicating with the new hire, setting clear expectations, and having an ongoing dialog sets the tone for their future performance. Don’t overlook team communication when you bring on a new hire, it is essential that the team understands the new hire’s role, how they fit into the team and your expectations on team collaboration. By budgeting your time, rallying your team and displaying trust, your efforts will be rewarded. The time and energy you put into a new hire now pays high dividends, the longer they are with the company.