BRIEFING PAPER 15

ICT Induction

It is essential that when someone joins your organisation you provide them with an effective introduction to the procedures and policies you follow both organisationally and for the ICT environment they will use.

The five key elements of any ICT induction programme are

  • Location: Where they will be working
  • Equipment and Software: Equipment they will operate and software they will use
  • People: Who they will be working with
  • Mentor: Who will be responsible for them
  • Rules: The terms of employment

Location

You should conduct a health and safety and accessibility assessment of how they use their workstation. If they have any mobility issues; you can contact Abilitynet () who can advise, provide local guidance and can assist with identifying adaptive equipment that may help.

Equipment

What ICT equipment will they be expected to use in their new role?

  • Desktop or Laptop PC
  • Printers / Photocopiers
  • Scanners
  • Digital Cameras
  • Web cams
  • Mice / Keyboards
  • Video equipment
  • Audio equipment
  • Office & Mobile phones

Ensure they are familiar with the equipment, have necessary usernames and passwords and can access them as required. Even being unable to print can add unnecessary stress for a new staff member.

People

If they have a problem with the equipment what do they do and how do they do it? “Just tell Sally”; maybe an option, but a better way would be an email copied to their manager too, this allows identification of issues, making sure they get fixed and potentially to help identify any skills and knowledge gaps early.

For Software issues who should they talk to? Training that just consists of sitting next to someone should be avoided as it is the fastest way of spreading half truths and misinformation through an organisation. At best they will learn the shortcuts that the ‘trainer’ has picked up at worst; they will be told to ignore half your induction manual because “it doesn’t work like that”. See ICT Audit and Training Needs Analysis Toolkit developed by ICT Champions at

Mentor

Each new person should have a mentor; a friendly face to help guide them through the first few days/weeks in the organisation. A person they can ask the daft questions or those that cause embarrassment to them (forgotten names of managers and colleagues).They can also help identify training needs and support the new person getting to grips with the environment and any quirks of the ICT systems!.

Software

What software will the new employee expected to be familiar with and to what level?

  • Operating system
  • Email system / account
  • Internet Browser
  • Word processor
  • Spreadsheet
  • Data base
  • Presentation package
  • Social network sites
  • Graphic packages
  • VOIP telephony
  • Specialist software
  • Accessibility Options

It is worth spending some time talking with the new person to assess their skills and identify any training needs. These should be addressed as a matter of urgency and preferably within the induction week.

Rules

Of course you will have a staff handbook and within this, or as appendices to, you should have these policy documents covering the following areas

  • ICT Induction (of course!)
  • Acceptable Internet use
  • Publication of documents
  • Security
  • Data protection
  • Email standards
  • Safe use of equipment
  • Health and safety
  • Eye tests
  • Laptop use
  • Social media sites policy
  • Mobile phone usage

These documents should be made available to the person joining your organisation. In addition the key highlights should be stressed. For example; what constitutes gross misconduct, guidelines for positive representation of the organisation on-line, can the internet be used for private use, use of the business email for personal or social matters, on-line banking; booking holidays, Facebook, Twitter use etc.

Summary

The key objective of the induction process is to introduce a new person into your organisation as quickly and effectively as possible. The ability to use technology is increasingly important in all roles in all organisations. Follow a good induction plan and you will reduce the stress on the new starter, help them feel part of your team and make them more productive for the organisation much faster.

Regional ICT Champions

There is an ICT Champion in every region, a trusted expert who can answer frequently asked questions about ICT and how it can help the third sector. The ICT Champions website tells you who they are and offers short, jargon-free answers, useful links, factsheets, sample policies to download and a calendar of ICT-related events and workshops.

Written by:ICT ChampionsIssued date:February2011

Creative Commons License: Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: EnglandWales.

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