Managing Freshers at Workplace

Every leader of today was a fresher at one point of time in his career. That is why we know what our attitude at that time was. We come across many freshers at our workplace who are tough to handle, and everyone is different so need to be handled in a different way. Let’s talk about some of the ways that we can use to make our lives easier with the freshers.

Remember that we were also at that place at one point in time:

Every student who comes out of college life wants to work but also wants to enjoy working. Do not overload them with a lot of work from the first day of their joining. The office environment would be very different for them for the first few days. So let them just understand the work but also give them time to adjust to the work environment. Some kids might need more time than others to cope with the environment. Especially the kids who are coming from tier 3 and 4 cities to tier 1 and 2. For them, it would be a whole new world and they might be struggling more. Some of the folks would be more inclined towards enjoying the freedom that they have got after student life. These folks need to be controlled a bit otherwise they might just keep enjoying and would think that they would be getting the salary for that only.

Giving Taste of corporate is also important.

While independence after student life feels great, to sustain that you need to work as well. So, after the first few days, you need to explain to the newbies why they are there in the office and they need to work as well. Need to explain to them their work responsibilities, organizational culture, and discipline. Also, we need to make them understand the importance of continuous learning, getting industry ready and sustenance in their careers.

Be ready to accept the blunders.

Do not expect them to be right on the first attempt. We need to accept a lot of mistakes and be patient at the same time. Having said that, there might be times when the mistake can also turn into bunders, but the resource has done it unknowingly and he sincerely accepts that, in those time one should not lose there cool. We should understand that he is in a learning phase and we need to help them correct it. If we support our fresh recruits in these kinds of situations and help them navigate well through them and prepare them in a way, that they do not repeat it and become better in their skills, they can come out in flying colors.

Proper training and Motivation.

However, Training and Motivation is an important aspect for everyone’s growth. It is most important for kids who have just entered the industry, and they have very little or no information about the growth aspects and different ways in which they can grow. They need to be provided with proper guidance in terms of their current work and we need to inform them about different prospects for how they can progress further. To make sure their progress is continuous and sustainable they need to be continuously motivated. So that they can be full of energy and can perform at their best every time. Also, we need to continuously encourage them to accept better opportunities as they come and push them further to outperform their goals.

Some special scenarios.

However, most of the new recruits will be able to understand the importance of growth and will be able to work to their best. But still there will be a few who will still throw tantrums and will not work as expected. These resources can be tricky to handle at times and, in this case, each one of them needs to be handled differently.

Let’s talk about few scenarios and probable solutions:

1.??????David is a fresher and has been working in an organization for the past 1 year. Everything was going smoothly, he is a motivated person, has a nice skillset, is working as expected and sometimes, he delivers even earlier than expected. However, in the past few months he started behaving strangely with his supervisors and managers. Sometimes he misbehaves as well, does not respond to calls, does not give any response in status calls, talks to client as well in a different way. The Team Lead is also feeling strange. She is not able to understand why David is doing it and how this situation should be handled. She has tried to talk about it to him but is again responding in a strange manner.

Now let’s understand what different reasons can be for David’s this kind of behavior and, how they can be handled:

a.??????He might be feeling overburdened with work. Not getting free time, doing lot of overtime work can lead to frustration and at times people are not able to explain their issues to the seniors: In this scenario we need to sit down with the resource and understand the gap. We need to understand how much work is assigned and the reason why he is not able to complete the work. We also need to give some free time to resources so that they may freshen up and replenish their energies. Also working overtime for longer periods is not a recommended practice. Need to have a work life balance as well so that he may be able to give time to himself and his family and friends as well.

b.??????Repetitive or monotonous work with no learning: This might be another reason. Some of us have this habit of giving their monotonous work to interns or to a junior resource. We need to understand that learning is a very important aspect for growth. And that is true for all the resources. However, some repetitive work is understandable but if there is no growth for a resource, we will not be able to retain the resources for long. So, we need to give everyone ample room for growth and learning opportunities. Especially to the junior resources, as they are still exploring and widening their horizon.

c.??????Some issues happening in personal life: Well, this might be a psychological situation. There are times when people are struggling with some issues in their personal life which they are not able to share with anyone and because of which there professional life is also being affected. In this situation we need to talk to the person in a comforting environment and, try to understand the issues and if required, a professional help can also be suggested for e.g., he may take some kind of counselling from a professional or something like that.

d.??????Resource on Notice period: This happens with most of the people when they have received a different offer and they have put down their papers. People tend to lose interest in their current work. However, this is not professional behavior. If there is a dependency and he has a pending work, he would need to complete it on time. So, this needs to be explained to the resources that it is important to complete their deliverables. Otherwise, it may also impact their release from the current organization.

e.??????Resource working on some personal stuff in office timing: Well, this can be a Disciplinary issue. Need to be handled with the company leadership. Nobody is allowed to work on separate stuff in office time. This calls for disciplinary action.

There can be more scenarios where it becomes difficult for the supervisors, Team Leads and managers to handle the resources. But, in all the situations, we should try to be calm and try to resolve issues in a way which is best for both the resource and the supervisor.

If we try to follow the above ways, we might be able to make very high-performance teams and mutually grow with each other. Also, if we are understanding and motivating to our resources, we will be able to retain them with us for longer time.

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