Samson Leung
Manager, learning and staff development, Delifrance
Importance
Delifrance's management believes that all new hires should be properly trained before being posted to retail stores.
We have operated in Hong Kong for more than 23 years and we expect that the orientation programme can help new employees grasp a general understanding of Delifrance's history, business development, key milestones and core values.
Orientation
All new hires for the head office and stores are introduced to head-office staff, including the country manager and heads of departments.
All frontline new hires will be inducted to receive quality service training.
Managerial grade frontline staff will undergo training on food and beverage station skills, operations theory, shift and floor management. New head-office executives will go through a tailor-made familiarisation programme.
Delifrance believes that we are not offering new hires jobs just to earn bread and butter, but providing them a career with personal development and career advancement.
Orientation is a golden opportunity to clearly explain career paths to new hires, so that they will be motivated in their jobs.
Follow-up
After probation, store managers need to enrol new hires into training programmes that help their career development. The training courses include beverage training, hygiene training, complaint handling and other soft skills.
Louisa Chiu
Human resources manager, H&M
Importance
Before new hires come on board, we will look for a suitable mentor or trainer for them and come up with a training plan. We will prepare everything they need before they are on board.
We believe that by giving a good impression to new hires, they will have a stronger sense of belonging. This may sound simple, but it does play a very important role in staff retention. After all, everybody wants to work in a fun, friendly and harmonious working environment, and we try to build that up on their very first day at work. On top of that, it's very important for us to have orientation for the new hires so that we can provide them information that they need at work.
Orientation
We welcome every new hire and show them around the office to make sure everybody knows there is new colleague. As mentioned, a sense of belonging is very important and we also prepare everything they need at work, including their workstation, telephone and e-mail address, before their first day. These are small things, but they help to increase their sense of belonging.
At stores, we also introduce new colleagues and assign mentors to them. The mentors will show them around and help them familiarise with the workplace. Mentors are also responsible for training new hires and making sure they are able to adapt to the company's environment and culture.
Follow-up
We follow up with new colleagues and ask them for feedback regularly. Through this, we can learn their thoughts and feelings about the orientation programme and their mentors.
