Increasing attrition rates – Lack of Induction(Reason 1)

We humans are very sentimental about new things that we take care of very judiciously, at least in the beginning! such as phones, cars, house and even household items. Having said that, are the new joiners in a hospital taken care of and provided with enough breathing time (Induction period) to understand the culture & processes of the organisation to get started with? We are afraid NOT!

Though the HR team recruit the suitable candidates for the position, it is important not to presume that since he/she has already worked in the same field doesn’t require any induction, ending up posting in duty straightaway. On the contrary, the process is supposed to be welcoming and preparing them for their roles.

Why do they need an induction?
Usually, people who migrate to a new job will face cultural, environmental and work-related adaptation difficulty which might make them mentally not ready to kick start their roles for a while as everything/everyone including doctors, colleagues, infrastructure, culture, behaviour, working hours, process & procedures are possibly new yet perceivable in a short span of time.

For example, a B.Sc qualified staff who showed interest in moving to another hospital for the position of staff nurse, had been selected and posted in the casualty department to treat critical care patients because she had a couple of years experience in the same area. However, she couldn’t perform well as she was not trained & inducted to the hospital’s clinical practices, understanding with the doctors, lack of acquaintance in the process of flow & understanding with colleagues, hence couldn’t get proper support as well. Hence, she left the job quickly simply because of the lack of induction plan, although capable enough with reasonable experience.

In another case, a guy was deployed in a typical role in the admin department where he had to interact with patients most of the time, and yet not educated on the basics of how & what to interact with patients. He was from a non-medical background with very limited knowledge of the clinical processes and needs of patients. He was trying his best to cope up to the his best of his knowledge. However lack of understanding of patients needs and without adequate support and guidance, his output was unsatisfactory causing the patient’s dissatisfaction, thus, he was terminated from his job!🙄

It is not that most employees are intrinsically bad, they are bad because of a lack of guidance and education. Unless the new joinees are properly inducted in the initial days it’s unlikely to expect them to perform towards the hospital’s vision & mission hence causing dissatisfaction on either sides. The employees keep shifting and the hospitals keep searching …

To summarise, induction is not a privilege, it’s a fundamental rights of all new employees to enable them to become effective ASAP.