Analyse Plan Do Review

Discover how you can use the Analyse-Plan-Do-Review approach to identify what is effective in your current induction process and any gaps or areas for improvement.

Enhance your induction process using these key steps: 

• Analyse
• Plan
• Do
• Review
   

Analyse

Think about where you can find information about how effective your induction process is and gather it all in one place.

Use these questions to identify what is working well with your induction and what you could improve.

• What do you already do to induct new staff and who does it?
• What do the numbers and your analysis tell you about turnover and retention in the induction period and the first year of employment?
• What do you think are the main successes with your induction process?
• What are the issues and what does not work well?
• What do you not cover in your induction that needs to be included?
• What have recent new recruits appreciated about their induction? What do they think could be improved? Use the ‘induction review feedback form’ to gather this feedback.

Reflect on the information

• Are the results what you would have expected?
• What conclusions can you draw from your analysis?
• Do you need any further information to identify any areas for improvement or gaps? 
  
  

Plan

Use your analysis and this toolkit to plan your induction for all new members of staff.

Some elements of the induction process can be standardised, but for different roles, responsibilities and experience some elements will need to be tailored. For example, someone new to care may need very different support from someone who is established, qualified and confident.

This toolkit contains checklists and additional links to enable it to be fully customised to your needs.

Areas to include in an induction plan 

Practical aspects: 

• An introduction to the organisation, department, and team. 

• An overview of the role and responsibilities. 

• Practical information to get started – e.g. what to wear on day one, how they are paid, what if they are sick/late, when and where they are expected to attend their induction. 

• Introduce key online systems, including digital care planning, digital social care records and online communications systems 

• Key policies and processes, including safeguarding and raising concerns and digital security. 

• Team meeting and team communication. 

• The skills or qualifications they need to achieve, including the Care Certificate, data security or perhaps accountancy exams. 

People aspects:

• Explaining support arrangements.  

• Opportunities to meet the people they will support. 

• Wider roles they may need to work alongside. 

• An overview of different careers in social care including examples of people with similar backgrounds who have completed the induction. Think about providing mentoring to people from different backgrounds as part of the induction plan. 

• Making reasonable adjustments to ensure that the person has everything they need to succeed, including thinking inclusively about the impact of language. 

Top tips for creating an effective induction plan 

• Organise the most time sensitive elements first - this might include prioritising arranging meetings with people who always have busy diaries or the most important aspects of the induction. 

• Avoid your new starter joining on your busiest time/day. Set a date when staff have time to give them a quality induction and be present. 

• Communicate the induction plan to all relevant staff so they know how to support and welcome the new starter. 

• Plan supervisions – they'll need to be greater for a new starter as they’re an opportunity to observe and assess their competence before they work unsupervised. Direct supervision should be maintained until they’re assessed as safe to work independently.  

• Include how, by whom and when supervision and performance management will take place.  

• Plan breaks - it can be a lot to take in and it’s important not to overwhelm your new starter.  

• Include activities that can be completed without supervision - reading websites, completing forms or online learning. This can be helpful when there is no-one available to provide close supervision.  

• Schedule time for individual personal reflection, as well as catch-ups, to reflect on how things are going, what has been useful and what could be better. 

• Organise introductions to the team and the people they will be supporting to help shape their early experiences.  

• Ensure a familiar face meets the new starter early in their induction, such as the person that recruited them. 

• Have a plan B in mind in case things change operationally during a person’s induction period.  

• Share what learning and development is expected, how to access it, and things that will end after their probation so your new starter can consider what is the most important and urgent training as they start their role. 

• If you’re recruiting from overseas, consider what additional information they may need to help them adapt and settle in. For more information on overseas induction see page 33-43 of our international recruitment toolkit. 

• Bring your experienced staff onboard for peer support and discuss the importance of it. Find out more about peer support.   

• Plan for flexible working requests, risk assessments or reasonable adjustments needed for the new starter to undertake their role effectively. 

• Don’t forget the tech - consider the digital needs of your new starter. For more information and support see the Digital Skills Framework and the Digitising social care website.  
  
  

Do

Implement your new induction process for every new starter. Give them an induction that is inclusive, collaborative, and compassionate and make the time to give them a positive first impression of your workplace. 

This toolkit supports you to develop your own bespoke induction plans for each stage of the induction process from pre-arrival to the end of induction and probationary period. 

A comprehensive induction plan will include:

• an induction timetable and schedule of induction activities
• supervision - when, where and how is it done
• peer support - mentoring, coaching, or buddying
• learning and development - both mandatory and optional, to develop skills and knowledge
• where to go for help - building a network that can provide support
• realistic expectations - always give staff realistic expectations of the role.

Review

Regularly reviewing the effectiveness of your induction process ensures you can learn from what works well and improve any areas that are not working well, so you can do everything possible to retain new staff.

You could carry out reviews by:

• encouraging line managers to seek feedback from new starters and staff involved in induction at the end of every induction
• gathering information from all new starters every three-six months to identify any learning and areas for improvement
• annually reviewing your approach to induction alongside other policy and process reviews, and as part of your resource planning process to identify changes that need to be made to meet operational and strategic needs. 

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