Training New Employees

We read recently at a business web site that a leading research and management consulting firm had found that “67% of employees learn about their jobs from co-workers and not from their bosses.”

For in-home domestic employees, they are often (in fact nearly always) the only employee in the household, and for better-or-worse, have no co-workers to turn to for advice, guidance & training.

This is one of the many reasons that Town + Country places so much importance on our candidates’ prior in-home work experience. But even with significant prior training, you and your household will have your own individual and unique needs and expectations. In order for your new employee to execute their job appropriately and to your expectations, you will need to spend actively explaining, training & guiding. This includes conveying details of the job description.

It can be daunting to hire an experienced employee, then try to “train” them to do a job you had expected them to be able to do on their own. You should not assume that a new employee will know what to do in your home just because they are experienced in a private home. What they do know is how to run the last home that they were in and how to be of service to their last employer. Your desires and needs are unique to you this should be conveyed to the new employee.

A few suggestions:

• Communication is key. Review the job description you originally put together to recruit your new hire. You have the list of what needs to get done, but give some thought to how it should be done in your home.
• Check in frequently in the early days. At a minimum, a conversation at the end of the day about how things went can help prompt questions and answers for you and your employee that can quickly help them to become more effective.
• Annual reviews are the norm, but in the first year, more frequent feedback will pay dividends later. Consider detailed feedback at the one month and six month marks.
• For childcare positions especially, also talk to your kids or others in the household.

Training takes time. By taking the time to properly train your employee, will help to create a better experience with your employee and help to create and foster a long term relationship.