Hiring Junior Employees: What Employers Need to Know
Nov 18, 2024Do you hire junior staff? Here's our Employer best practice guide when hiring first time workers
Everyone starts somewhere in the workplace and joining a company as a junior employee can be extremely daunting.
Employer’s play such a pivotal role in ensuring workplace best practice is followed and first time or young workers enter a workplace that is inclusive, fair, supportive and psychologically safe.
We’ve put together a guide to assist employers in welcoming young workers, as they transition from school to the workplace.
Here’s how you can best approach employing young workers!
Support and guide
Starting a new role can be daunting. As an employer your support and guidance is crucial to helping employees grow and gain confidence in their skills and ability.
Here’s what you can do:
- Check in with new workers regularly to see how they’re going.
- Cross check their understanding when you give an instruction. Ask them, in their own words, to repeat it back to you.
- Don't assume they know what you're talking about. There's a lot of everyday work jargon that is simply a foreign language for first time employees.
- Also remember the basic professionalism 101 / how to act in a workplace is completely new to them. Remember to step out workplace practices, especially for common things like leave, breaks, running late, phone usage, dress/uniforms, answering phones... the list goes on!
- Encourage them to think! Don't provide answers straight away. Support them to reach their own answers, by asking coaching questions to get them thinking about possibilities, alternatives, risks and more.
- Actively listen to concerns and be proactive in finding solutions. Remember to invite them into the conversation, as they may not be confident to speak out first-go.
- Celebrate the wins! This is likely their first time doing this.
- Show your appreciation and connect how their efforts contribute to the bigger company goals.
Rights and Responsibilities
A lot of the time young workers aren’t aware of the laws that apply to their employment. Take the time to explain the basics of the employment relationship.
Here’s what you can do:
- You must provide the relevant Fair Work statements as soon as they begin the job. This only applies to employees in the Fair Work system. Not sure if this is you? Contact us to find out.
- Fair work information statement – click here
- Casual information statement – click here
- Fixed term contract information statement – click here
- Provide employees with a copy or link to the relevant award or enterprise agreement.
- Explain what it means to be a part time, full time or casual employment.
- e.g leave entitlements, hours of work
- Provide policies, general information and be ready to answer common questions regarding:
- Work hours
- Breaks
- Duties
- Uniform
- Probationary periods (if applicable)
- Leave entitlements and the process for applying for leave
- Explain information relating to pay, such as:
- When is pay processed
- How do they receive their pay slip
- How to check their pay slip and why this is important
- What to do if there's an error with payment
Workplace bullying, harassment & discrimination
All employees deserve to feel safe and treated with respect at work. It is unlawful for anyone to be treated in a way that intimidates, offends, insults or humiliates them.
Here’s what you can do:
- Establish clear expectations around acceptable and unacceptable behaviour.
- Instill a ‘no bullying’ culture.
- Encourage employees to speak up if they see or experience any form of bullying, harassment or discrimination.
- Ensure clear processes are in place if this does occur and employees are aware of what to do and who to speak to.
Encourage good communication
Often the style of communication at work is different to how someone may communicate at home or at school. It’s important to educate young workers around communication expectations from the start.
Here’s what you can do:
- Explain the different communication platforms the company uses and which one is appropriate in certain circumstances.
- Explain why good communication is important.
- Explain how to communicate professionally and what is reasonable.
- e.g it is not considered reasonable to text your boss at 3am
Invest in training
Most junior employees likely haven’t performed this role before. Take the time to establish a variety of formal and informal training methods. Providing thorough training is more likely to lead to increased productivity, motivation and a safer workplace.
Here’s what you can do:
- Create training guides.
- Hold group demonstrations.
- Buddy up a junior employee with a more experienced employee.
- Hold staff meetings.
- Conduct training through observation.
- Assign online modules.
- Complete regular evaluations to determine progress.
Set clear expectations and manage performance
Take the time to explain performance standards and set clear expectations, to avoid bad habits forming early. If you don’t tell them, then don’t assume they know!
Here’s what you can do:
- Raise issues as they arise, reinforcing the expected behaviour.
- Set job expectations from the beginning.
- Recognise good performance.
- Communicate any changes directly to employees.
Stay tuned for our next blog post where we’ll discuss all things apprenticeships!
If you have any questions please feel free to reach out to Employii via [email protected] and one of our HR Consultants will be in touch.
Author Jess Roughsedge (HR Officer)
