02 Oct How long does training take for new hires?
While there is variability across the sites, it takes about four to six months before new team members can contribute significantly. For less common processes, such as those that may only occur once or twice a year, it can take up to 12 months because of lack of exposure to the process and the cost of executing processes solely for training processes. The experience of the incoming team member and the bandwidth of the team to train can have an impact on this time frame.
We have found that there is a value to staged training approach. Using this approach, a team member may complete training on one procedure and be signed off to operate, while still undergoing training on the other processes specific to their role, rather than all-or-nothing skill acquisition where an operator is not signed off to operate until they have completed training on all role specific procedures. While the staged training approach can extend the overall training timeline, it allows new team members to contribute earlier by taking some limited tasks from more senior team members. Such an approach also improves engagement by allowing team members to contribute earlier to the team’s operations.
Training often begins organically and evolves into a standardized training program with milestones for completion as the team grows. The benefits of a more standardized program include clear communication of training process flow and trainer/trainee responsibilities. Refinement of such a program is only gained through learning from trainer and trainee experiences and so is difficult to develop without ongoing hiring and growth.