The highest turnover time is in the first two months of hiring an employee. The first couple months with a new employee are key in determining their long term success with a company. You want to make sure you are there for your new hire as much as possible, which is why the best time to hire a new employee is during a slow time where you can really take the time to mentor and train them. It is hard enough coming to a new company, learning new systems, getting acquainted with new people and learning the company's way of doing things. This becomes so much worse if the new employee is thrown into the weeds of things without a hands-on trainer or manager really showing them the ropes the first couple months.
Employers, it is crucial that you have the time for your new employee after hiring them. Here are some ideas to implement to ensure success:
Have weekly meetings to see how they are doing. Measure progress and set expectations for them to work up to each week.
If they do something wrong, come to them right away and address the issue so it does not happen again. Remember new company, new way of doing things, you can not reprimand, if the employee did not know the correct way of doing something or even worse if they make a mistake and nothing is said.
Get them emerged with other employees; have a group lunch, happy hours, or something that they can do with the team the first month. This creates a good culture and gets them a little more comfortable with the current team.
Praise them for performance! If they think outside the box, make a great suggestion, stay after hours...let them know you notice these things. This goes a long way and they will want to go above and beyond again. Everyone likes to be noticed for the great things they do!
If you are a hands on manager in the beginning and take the time to care for and groom your employees into what you want them to be, then you do not have to be a micro-manager in the future! This will ultimately save you time and money :)