Imagine a new employee's first week on the job at a manufacturing plant. First comes tackling the HR checklist: completing a slew of paper documents. Throughout the week, various onboarding tasks from other departments, such as IT and Facilities, roll in—likely involving more paperwork.
How are decades of experience and institutional knowledge transferred to the new hire? Normally it happens through a thick and daunting binder, perched on the new hire’s desk, which may or may not be complete. Meanwhile, the employee starts the time-consuming task of figuring out how to do their job. It’s a big enough challenge under any circumstances—but even more so if that employee is replacing a long-tenured, recently retired worker.
Now, imagine how this transition impacts the rest of the plant. Nothing works quite as efficiently as it’s supposed to while they wait for the new hire to get up to speed on production processes and how things are supposed to work.
