March 17, 2025 • 29 mins
Year over year, new hires account for many on-the-job injuries. With increased turnover and higher expectations, employers often expect new hires to get right to work without proper onboarding and training. Expecting a new hire to use "common sense" while working is not a safety strategy. Learn how to properly onboard new hires and set them up for success with Sheila Schmidt, Safety and Risk Services Manager at MEM.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:04):
Hello.
Welcome to the WorkSafe podcast.
On each episode, we share conversationsabout workplace safety strategies,
work comp expertise and storiesto help you on your journey
to a safe, healthy and strong workplace.
The WorkSafe podcast is brought to youby MEM.
Before we begin, today,we want to thank you all for listening
(00:25):
and ask a favor.
We are always workingto reach more people.
So if you find our content valuable,we would appreciate it
if you would share our show with others
and give us a rating or reviewon your favorite podcast platform.
With that, let's get today's conversationstarted.
Here's our host, Heather Carl.
(00:45):
Welcome to today's episode.
Despite significant advancementsin workplace safety
over the years, new hires continue to face
a disproportionately high risk of injurieson the job.
A trend that holds true even in 2025.
At MEM, we
understand that fostering a safe workenvironment starts
(01:08):
with ensuring that every employee,especially new team members.
Is equipped.
With the knowledgeand the tools they need to stay safe.
From day one.
In this episode,we're diving into the reasons
behind this persistent challengeand exploring practical strategies
employers can adopt to betterprotect their new hires
(01:30):
and the stronger safety culture.
Joining us today is Sheila Schmidt,
one of MEM's safety and risk servicesmanagers.
Thank you for joining us, Sheila.
Thanks, Heather.
As we just mentioned in the intro, newhigher injury rates
continue to trend higher
than those of employees who has beenwith the business for a while.
(01:54):
I thought it might be niceif we kind of started off talking about
why new hires are still continuing
to experience these higher rates,even though
safety efforts have really beenramped up in recent years.
You're right, Heather.
Those new hire injuriesstill continue to climb.
They continue to be a leading groupof injured workers.
(02:17):
Workplaces are getting safer.
Technology is getting better.
But we're still seeing all these new hireinjuries.
I believe it's based on two things.
One is is math.
We have so much turnover and movementacross so many industries that
we're just seeing more and more new hiresthan we have in the past.
(02:38):
So we have more new hiresthan we're used to.
Also,we're pushing those new hires out faster.
They're usually filling vacant spots, andwe need them to hit the ground running.
And what it always goes backto is our new hires
don't know what they don't know.
How can employers improve their onboardingand training programs
(03:02):
to help prioritize safetyand then reduce those injury risks?
I know we mentioned that people have beentrying to do more with these things,
but also knowing that turnover maybe higher than it used to be.
How do we kind of meet in the middleand make sure
that employees are actually gettingwhat they need as they're onboarded?
Yep. And I would say now more than ever,
(03:25):
while employers are in
a hurryto get good people into those positions,
this is the time more than ever,to slow down.
Make sure you get the right peoplein the positions, and make sure
that they are properly onboardedso that you can avoid those those injuries
from throwing them out, possiblybefore they're ready.
(03:47):
Having a strong onboarding
process in placeis going to help you do that.
When we talk abouta strong onboarding process, of course
safety is our number one priority, butwe encourage the employer to think bigger.
You want to holistically
bring that new employeein to your culture,
(04:08):
to your workplaceand set those expectations early.
You know, customer service, productivity,
the work they're going to be completedalongside of safety.
It all needs to start on day one.
Well, I appreciate youkind of sharing a little bit about what
an onboarding processwould look like in regards to safety.
(04:29):
And I know that it's different reallyfor every business
and different industriesand those types of things.
With the issue of turnover
being something that just about everybodykind of deals with.
What are some things that employers can
or should doto kind of protect their business?
As employees come and go at a higher rate?
(04:53):
Yeah, definitely.
When you look at your onboarding program,see if it makes sense.
There are parts of itthat will need to be formalized.
There are parts of itthat you'll want structured
so much of onboarding is, you know,
done peer to peer or from a coworker.
What I encourage employers to do islook at that
(05:16):
current employeewho is doing the onboarding.
Are they your best employee?
Have they been with you the longest?
Are they the safestor are they just available?
You really want to make surethat the person
who's leading the new employeethrough the onboarding process
is goingto be a good leader and is going to be
(05:37):
a good role model, and that you'reteaching them all the right things.
They also need to be someone who caneffectively communicate with the new hire.
If they see someone doing somethingincorrectly or not.
The best way.
Do they have the toolsand the confidence to correct them?
Because we want to coax them alongthe way, not make them frustrated and
(06:00):
quit.
Otherwise, that's going to defeatthe point of our onboarding program.
So you need a strong person in that rolewho not only knows,
you know, the safe wayto do things, the right way to do things,
but you can also effectively communicatethat to the new hires.
What we have torealize is our new employees
don't know what they don't know.
(06:23):
So what that means is we need to
anticipate where problems may be,anticipate questions,
and give them the comfortto ask any questions that they may have.
One other thing to consider when we think
about new employees and new hires,that's not just,
(06:43):
you know, young peopleor people have not been in the workplace.
When we talk about new hires.
That is just anyone new to you.
They could have years of experience
doing the same thingor in a different industry.
Who knows.
What we still encouragepeople to do is treat them
as a new employee when they come to you,until you are both comfortable
(07:05):
setting them free to work on their own.
Those are some really good tips.
And you know, to your point,
if people come tojobs with different levels of experience
and perspectivesand all those different things,
and I was kind of wonderingif you could share a little bit
about the types of things that you findas you work
(07:28):
with policyholders, businesses,prospective policyholders,
any of those folks on developingsafety plans
or even walking through in the aftermathof a safety incident
that resulted in a claim or,you know, those types of things.
What do you find when you're in a scenario
where you've got a it'sinvolving the new hire.
(07:50):
So somebody that's been
and we define that as somebodythat's been on the job less than a year.
What are the types of things that you findis onboarding where things went wrong,
or what's the most common thingthat you see?
Yeah, we can learn a lot from the incidentinvestigations.
And unfortunately what we hear a lot isI can't believe they did that.
(08:10):
That's common sense,which just makes me cringe all over.
Common sense is not part of your safetyprogram.
Common sense is not part of any sort of
safety training or onboarding plan.
So we cannot simply rely on common sense.
You truly have to educate your employees,make them aware of the hazards,
(08:34):
and provide them with a safeworking environment,
and not just expect them to know betteror do better.
I can appreciate that because you know,the phrase common sense is
is an important thing, but definitely isa little bit too vague for a safety plan.
You need more specifics, specific
(08:55):
definitions and objectives,and all of those things.
So I like
and for
current employees or leaderswho've been doing something
for a really long time, maybecertain things are common sense to them.
However,that's not where our new hires are at
right now,and we need to meet them where they are.
(09:18):
You mentioned somethingin one of your answers.
Just a. Question agoabout kind of a safety culture.
And, you know, you said something about
make sure new employees are kind of inan environment
where they're not afraid to ask questionsas a new person.
(09:39):
A lot of times people arebecause then it makes it look like
you're not following alongor you don't get it, or,
you know, those types of things,but it really is important to
kind of put that asideand make sure as a new hire,
that you do understandwhat the training is and what someone's
telling you and why they're telling youto do what you do.
(10:00):
And so that feedsinto a kind of a bigger piece.
We talk about this inlots of different ways on the podcast, but
how does creating that strong
safety culture help protect new hires?
And then what are some steps
that an employer can take to really fostersomething like that?
Yeah, that's definitely important.
(10:20):
And again, it's about creatinga strong culture holistically.
So safety,productivity, customer relations
we want the culture at your workplaceto be able
to encourage any sort of questionthat a new hire might come across
ways to do that.
You know, establishing.
Expectations early on,making sure that whoever is doing
(10:44):
the onboarding is demonstratingthose expectations
and working in a way that you want othersto learn from as well,
because that's really goingto set the tone.
Often in training,the best way to do something
is for the person who knows it,you know, to demonstrate it.
Explain it.
(11:05):
And then the next timeyou have the other person
who's learning it, do the taskand explain what they're doing as well.
This shows that they understood it,they can do it.
And they're saying the reasonsfor the steps, so that whoever trained
them has a better feelingthat they truly know what they're doing.
This is so much more than simplychecking a checklist, right?
(11:29):
Well, I told him how to do that.
Well, telling somebody how to do something
is different from teaching themhow to do something.
So let's make sure
we're really teaching them.
And we make sure that they trulyunderstand the process
and what they're doing.
I can appreciate thatyou mentioned setting the tone and
(11:51):
we all
know thatreally the most successful companies
with the best cultures are oneswhere their leadership sets the tone
and really, truly leads by example.
I wonder if you could talka little bit about that,
and how you've seen that play out insome of your different experience?
(12:11):
Yeah, definitely.
And we see this a lot with say,you know, safety rules or a safety plan.
If when you introduce those rulesor the plan,
there's any winks or nodsthat go along with it, even if it's just
one part, you know, oh, this is our rule,but we don't really do it.
Well, you might as well throw awayall of your safety rules,
(12:34):
because once you startto get the feel that
that things are just in writingor they're just the things that we say,
not the things we actually do,you've cracked your culture.
You've broken it, and it'sgoing to be really hard to come back from,
because how is that new personsupposed to know what the real rules are
(12:54):
and what the real expectations arewhen they're not delivered?
As such?
Well, exactly.
And if you're not seeing other people
in that environment,actually follow those rules.
Why as a new hire, would you do that?
You know, nobody wants to seem differentor stand out at that point.
They're just really trying to,
(13:15):
you know, blend in and make sure they'redoing a good job and they're fitting in.
And so I can imagine thatif you're hired on
and you're given the safety talkand the rules and all of that, and then,
you know, you see everyone elsedoing something different,
especially thosewho've been there for a long time.
That would be, I mean, the best wayto defeat any kind of safety culture.
(13:35):
You know it.
You're going to learnfrom the people around you.
So again, that's why it goes backto, okay, how are we doing the onboarding?
Who is doing the onboarding.
And do we have the right peoplebringing our new folks on?
Can you sharesome of the things that you see
you know today and thingsthat you're expecting to see maybe in,
(13:57):
in the near future around technologyand how it can come into play
with giving employers more opportunities
to really train new hiresin a more effective way on safety.
So maybe it makes it more efficient,
maybe it's more engaging,you know, those types of things.
Are there any technologiesthat you see or know of
(14:20):
that really can help a business
invest wisely in, in waysof doing that with their new hires?
Yeah.
What I'm seeing, you know,like everywhere,
we have so much great technologyliterally at our fingertips.
We just need to make surewe're using it to work for us.
You know, just about everybody has,
(14:42):
you know, a smartphone at their disposal.
And this is really good for keeping,again, that open communication between
yourself and employees,especially if they're
out in a field or in a remote locationwhere you don't see them all the time.
So just keeping the literal linesof communication open is huge.
(15:03):
I also love seeing employerswho as part of their onboarding program,
they've made short videos,you know, recorded
somebody doing something the right way.
And this waythey can share it with the new employees.
This is our equipment.
This is how it needs to be done.
And I can show youthis is great because it's consistent.
(15:26):
It's convenient.
You can share it with people.
They can watch it and know immediatelywhat's expected of them.
Same to be said with, you know,
just even simple picturesor text messages.
Hey, I noticed this, you know,for observations are near miss reporting
making it.
(15:46):
Easy. To have that backand forth conversation.
And with the pictures
and videos of your peopleand your equipment, it's very specific.
And that's a great way to train peoplewhen they come on board.
You mentioned near miss reportingthere, and
I actually was going to ask about that.
As far as just like anythingwe do, it's important for us
(16:09):
to kind of measure the effectivenessof whatever we're putting in place,
whether it's a safety program or,you know, a new process or workflow.
And so we think about near near missesand the fact that they're
very underreported in most places,because obviously people are worried
they're going to get in troubleor those types of things, but they're also
(16:31):
one of the most valuable nuggets ofinformation, really, an employer can have.
Because in the end,it will truly save them from something
bigger happening most of the time,or at least alert them to.
How often. Something isis almost happening.
So that's just.
One, you know, one areaI was thinking about as we walk through
(16:52):
why it's important
to make sure your new hiresare trained in safety and all of that.
And then how do you measure that?
How do you measureif that program effective?
Have you seen some different ways
businesses have implemented thator has some advice for our listeners?
Yeah.
Specific to near miss reporting I love it.
And one thing
(17:13):
I like to see is, you know, encourage
it, encourage reporting those near misses,because exactly as you pointed out,
ideally we're going to catch somethingbefore it turns into something.
Right.
Because a near miss showsus that there's a hazard or a flaw.
And if we can address it before somethinggoes wrong, that's even better.
(17:33):
Another really neat thing about nearmisses is if we encourage that culture
and we encourage the reporting,
another key iswe make it easy to report those.
Right. So I can just snap a pictureand turn it in.
I don't have to fill out, you know,a 14 page document on a near miss.
But I've made it easy.
(17:53):
And now what you'll notice is peopleactually start looking for those things.
Their mind is thinking about near misses.
So they're thinking about being proactive.
They're thinking about what can be wrong.
So even an unintended consequence of nearmiss reporting
is being near miss observantand looking for those things
before they can cause problems,which is huge.
(18:15):
If I was a new employee
and you know, I've gone throughthe training, maybe I've been on the job
for a few months.
I understand the why in the whyand all of those things.
And I see something from a perspective
of somebody new coming in versussomebody who's been doing,
you know, the same thing, you know,just repetition day after day, after day.
(18:39):
If I were newand I saw something that I could see where
there would be a safety issueor it just doesn't seem right
or, you know, you're not comfortable withbecause you realize there's a risk here.
What advice do you have
to businesses with how they can encourage,
especially a new hire, to really kind of
(19:00):
speak up and say somethingin a way that's constructive
and that could really help contributeto the safety of the entire company.
Yeah.
Which is great, because reallywhat you have is a brand new set of fresh
outside eyes,you know, with a new perspective.
So there could be some really great ideas
(19:20):
and improvementson the way that you do things.
And I think it's it's going to bea two way street, one that new employee
needs to both feel, you know, empoweredand safe enough to make these suggestions.
They need to have the right avenueto make them.
And even if there's not the A properor a formal avenue or formal channels
(19:43):
that they havethe right ways to say things, you know,
the new hire is not going to show upand say you're doing it wrong.
Hopefully they say, hey,there might be a way we can do this safer.
There might be a waywe can do this better,
and that it gets to the right people.
On the back end of that, as we talk about
all the new hire training and onboarding,it's also a great way
(20:06):
to connect with your new peoplethroughout their onboarding process.
See how the progress is going,see what feedback they have.
Seek out those solutions,and encourage that dialog.
And that goes back to the safety culturepiece.
We talked about creating a spacewhere somebody feels like
they're safe to be able to bring somethingup, and it's not going to be punitive,
(20:28):
or they're not going to be seen as,
you know, causing a problem or,you know, any of those things.
And I'm wonderingif you see more businesses
looking at thingslike the trends of safety
incidents with new hires,are they looking at measuring that?
Are they paying attention to that?
You know, do they or is it just somethingthat's like, well, he's
(20:50):
new, he's going to make a lot of mistakes,you know, that kind of thing.
I do thinksometimes employers may have lower
expectationsfor their new employees, right.
Because they're new.
However, what really gets their attention
is if the new hire gets hurt,
messesup an order, makes a customer angry.
(21:12):
Those are the things that really getthe attention, which really reinforce
the ideaof having a good onboarding program.
So when we track injury rates,
we look at the first year of employment
years one through five,five through ten and ten, plus.
(21:32):
And then if people want to get evenmore specific, you can do that as well.
And we encourage employers to do thatto see if you have a certain area.
Recently we foundan employer was having new hire injuries,
and they dug and dug into the dataand discovered that it was specific
to second term apprentices,which is a very specific group.
(21:57):
This information gave them the datato go forward with extra
focus, extra trainingon a very specific group of people.
We'll know in a bit if that all worked.
I love that, I love thatthey took the initiative to really dive in
and try to understand the why thereand actually paying attention, you know,
to some of the numbers and that we couldsupport them in their efforts
(22:19):
to do that and help them with a, a plan,a safety plan to address those things.
And so I appreciate that example.
I, I was kind of hopingyou might be able to share,
you know, a couple of success storiesthat you've seen
through your years of experiencewhere companies really did
take some actionto increase their safety training
(22:43):
and then,
you know, expectations around new hireswhere they've actually had
some pretty good outcomes.
So if you had any, if you had any examplesyou could share with us,
that'd be great.
Yeah,
actually,I recently was at a health care facility
and noticed there
new hire injuries
(23:03):
had stopped.
They weren't having anymore.
So, you know, my first question was,what have you done to stop this?
And at first they were like,oh, nothing really.
And I was like, no, you know, itcan't it can't be just a coincidence.
So we dug into itand we looked back at the timelines,
(23:24):
you know, of when things stopped and said,okay, so what was happening during,
you know, the spring of 2023?
Well,this is where it got really interesting.
That location had had a really big problemwith turnover.
How familiar is that to so many of us.
So their first step was to really focuson reducing turnover.
(23:49):
They did that by being more selectivein their hiring process.
The old philosophy used to be,okay, let's hire six
and hope that to stay and go from there.
Well, this time around they decidedwe're just going to wait
a little bit longer and hirethe very best to right out the door,
which is what they did.
(24:10):
So they were very selectivein their hiring.
They had a longer onboarding process
because, you know, they really wantedthese two folks to stay.
Another thing that they didat this time was
they had another peeravailable on the floor with a phone
who was just available for questionsor available for another set of hands.
(24:33):
So any employee,the new hires or current employees
working, if they needed something,they had a direct person
and a direct number to go to.
And that person was expecting those calls,so they had additional support.
What they found is those two new hiresthat they focused all this on stayed.
(24:54):
They're still with them today.
They've
reduced their new hire injuries,they've reduced turnover.
And all of these thingscame from getting the right people
in the door,giving them a really strong onboarding.
And it has improved so many other areas
beyond just safety.
And I just thought that was super cool.
(25:15):
So they were tacklingthe problem of turnover.
But the end result wasit improved their safety.
It improved morale because they had extrahelp up extra support
and it improved turnover
and just being a good place to work.
I love that example.
(25:36):
I mean, that'show it's supposed to work, right?
And and I know a lot of businesses
are always in the situation ofwe kind of need bodies.
We need people like we can't do our runour business without some people here.
So we're just going to have to hirewhoever, you know.
And I get that because sometimesit's harder to be selective.
(25:56):
But it sounds like for themthat strategy really worked out.
Yeah, they are the perfect example of itworking out.
But you are right, so many employersright now are short staffed,
so they want that new personto hit the ground running,
which again, isn't fair to the new personor even the current employees.
This also makes it harderto give them a proper onboarding.
(26:20):
But what I'm telling youis it's absolutely worth it.
If you spend this time up front,
you're going to save it downthe road, you're going to save it in,
you know, injuriesand turnover and morale in the workplace.
So it is a timeand effort investment upfront.
But it will pay backin dividends down the road.
(26:42):
We've kind of
talked through this reallyin a lot of different ways today.
And just starting with the problem itselfand then ending our conversation
a little bit with some solutionsthat actually have had success.
So I was hopingwe usually like to end our conversations
with a piece of adviceor two pieces of advice
(27:02):
for our listeners,something that they can really take away
and that you'd like them to take away
from this conversation in this case,so they can actually maybe
make a difference in thistrend of new higher injury
rates.
Take a look
at your current onboarding procedures,
(27:23):
formalize them,
document what needs to be, and make sure
that you have the right peopledoing your onboarding.
Make sure those new employees are giventhe time that they need
to get comfortable, and that you'regetting feedback from all levels
so that you have that comfort levelthat the employee is ready to go,
(27:44):
and also that that employee is comfortableand ready to go.
So really, it's just a voting,
you know, some more time and energyinto a really good
onboarding program, which is going toleave you with a really good,
hopefully long term employee.
Well, I want to thank you againfor joining us today.
Sheila.
(28:05):
I know that our listeners are going todefinitely benefit from our conversation
and the different exampleswe shared and other ways that they can,
you know, make a differencein their injury rates in their workspaces.
So we appreciate you coming onand sharing your insights.
Thanks for having me, Heather.
And we'd like.
To thank our listenersfor tuning in as well.
(28:26):
We'll talk to younext time on the WorkSafe podcast.
Thank you for listening to the WorkSafepodcast.
Brought to you by MEM.
(28:47):
If you like this episode,be sure to subscribe
on your favorite podcast platformand leave us a review!
We love to connect with our listeners.
If you have comments, questions,or suggestions for topics, please
email us at podcast@mem-ins.com
For even more resources and
industry insights,visit us at MEM-INS.com
Hello.
Welcome to the WorkSafe podcast.
On each episode, we share conversationsabout workplace safety strategies,
work comp expertise and storiesto help you on your journey
to a safe, healthy and strong workplace.
The WorkSafe podcast is brought to youby MEM.
Before we begin, today,we want to thank you all for listening
(00:25):
and ask a favor.
We are always workingto reach more people.
So if you find our content valuable,we would appreciate it
if you would share our show with others
and give us a rating or reviewon your favorite podcast platform.
With that, let's get today's conversationstarted.
Here's our host, Heather Carl.
(00:45):
Welcome to today's episode.
Despite significant advancementsin workplace safety
over the years, new hires continue to face
a disproportionately high risk of injurieson the job.
A trend that holds true even in 2025.
At MEM, we
understand that fostering a safe workenvironment starts
(01:08):
with ensuring that every employee,especially new team members.
Is equipped.
With the knowledgeand the tools they need to stay safe.
From day one.
In this episode,we're diving into the reasons
behind this persistent challengeand exploring practical strategies
employers can adopt to betterprotect their new hires
(01:30):
and the stronger safety culture.
Joining us today is Sheila Schmidt,
one of MEM's safety and risk servicesmanagers.
Thank you for joining us, Sheila.
Thanks, Heather.
As we just mentioned in the intro, newhigher injury rates
continue to trend higher
than those of employees who has beenwith the business for a while.
(01:54):
I thought it might be niceif we kind of started off talking about
why new hires are still continuing
to experience these higher rates,even though
safety efforts have really beenramped up in recent years.
You're right, Heather.
Those new hire injuriesstill continue to climb.
They continue to be a leading groupof injured workers.
(02:17):
Workplaces are getting safer.
Technology is getting better.
But we're still seeing all these new hireinjuries.
I believe it's based on two things.
One is is math.
We have so much turnover and movementacross so many industries that
we're just seeing more and more new hiresthan we have in the past.
(02:38):
So we have more new hiresthan we're used to.
Also,we're pushing those new hires out faster.
They're usually filling vacant spots, andwe need them to hit the ground running.
And what it always goes backto is our new hires
don't know what they don't know.
How can employers improve their onboardingand training programs
(03:02):
to help prioritize safetyand then reduce those injury risks?
I know we mentioned that people have beentrying to do more with these things,
but also knowing that turnover maybe higher than it used to be.
How do we kind of meet in the middleand make sure
that employees are actually gettingwhat they need as they're onboarded?
Yep. And I would say now more than ever,
(03:25):
while employers are in
a hurryto get good people into those positions,
this is the time more than ever,to slow down.
Make sure you get the right peoplein the positions, and make sure
that they are properly onboardedso that you can avoid those those injuries
from throwing them out, possiblybefore they're ready.
(03:47):
Having a strong onboarding
process in placeis going to help you do that.
When we talk abouta strong onboarding process, of course
safety is our number one priority, butwe encourage the employer to think bigger.
You want to holistically
bring that new employeein to your culture,
(04:08):
to your workplaceand set those expectations early.
You know, customer service, productivity,
the work they're going to be completedalongside of safety.
It all needs to start on day one.
Well, I appreciate youkind of sharing a little bit about what
an onboarding processwould look like in regards to safety.
(04:29):
And I know that it's different reallyfor every business
and different industriesand those types of things.
With the issue of turnover
being something that just about everybodykind of deals with.
What are some things that employers can
or should doto kind of protect their business?
As employees come and go at a higher rate?
(04:53):
Yeah, definitely.
When you look at your onboarding program,see if it makes sense.
There are parts of itthat will need to be formalized.
There are parts of itthat you'll want structured
so much of onboarding is, you know,
done peer to peer or from a coworker.
What I encourage employers to do islook at that
(05:16):
current employeewho is doing the onboarding.
Are they your best employee?
Have they been with you the longest?
Are they the safestor are they just available?
You really want to make surethat the person
who's leading the new employeethrough the onboarding process
is goingto be a good leader and is going to be
(05:37):
a good role model, and that you'reteaching them all the right things.
They also need to be someone who caneffectively communicate with the new hire.
If they see someone doing somethingincorrectly or not.
The best way.
Do they have the toolsand the confidence to correct them?
Because we want to coax them alongthe way, not make them frustrated and
(06:00):
quit.
Otherwise, that's going to defeatthe point of our onboarding program.
So you need a strong person in that rolewho not only knows,
you know, the safe wayto do things, the right way to do things,
but you can also effectively communicatethat to the new hires.
What we have torealize is our new employees
don't know what they don't know.
(06:23):
So what that means is we need to
anticipate where problems may be,anticipate questions,
and give them the comfortto ask any questions that they may have.
One other thing to consider when we think
about new employees and new hires,that's not just,
(06:43):
you know, young peopleor people have not been in the workplace.
When we talk about new hires.
That is just anyone new to you.
They could have years of experience
doing the same thingor in a different industry.
Who knows.
What we still encouragepeople to do is treat them
as a new employee when they come to you,until you are both comfortable
(07:05):
setting them free to work on their own.
Those are some really good tips.
And you know, to your point,
if people come tojobs with different levels of experience
and perspectivesand all those different things,
and I was kind of wonderingif you could share a little bit
about the types of things that you findas you work
(07:28):
with policyholders, businesses,prospective policyholders,
any of those folks on developingsafety plans
or even walking through in the aftermathof a safety incident
that resulted in a claim or,you know, those types of things.
What do you find when you're in a scenario
where you've got a it'sinvolving the new hire.
(07:50):
So somebody that's been
and we define that as somebodythat's been on the job less than a year.
What are the types of things that you findis onboarding where things went wrong,
or what's the most common thingthat you see?
Yeah, we can learn a lot from the incidentinvestigations.
And unfortunately what we hear a lot isI can't believe they did that.
(08:10):
That's common sense,which just makes me cringe all over.
Common sense is not part of your safetyprogram.
Common sense is not part of any sort of
safety training or onboarding plan.
So we cannot simply rely on common sense.
You truly have to educate your employees,make them aware of the hazards,
(08:34):
and provide them with a safeworking environment,
and not just expect them to know betteror do better.
I can appreciate that because you know,the phrase common sense is
is an important thing, but definitely isa little bit too vague for a safety plan.
You need more specifics, specific
(08:55):
definitions and objectives,and all of those things.
So I like
and for
current employees or leaderswho've been doing something
for a really long time, maybecertain things are common sense to them.
However,that's not where our new hires are at
right now,and we need to meet them where they are.
(09:18):
You mentioned somethingin one of your answers.
Just a. Question agoabout kind of a safety culture.
And, you know, you said something about
make sure new employees are kind of inan environment
where they're not afraid to ask questionsas a new person.
(09:39):
A lot of times people arebecause then it makes it look like
you're not following alongor you don't get it, or,
you know, those types of things,but it really is important to
kind of put that asideand make sure as a new hire,
that you do understandwhat the training is and what someone's
telling you and why they're telling youto do what you do.
(10:00):
And so that feedsinto a kind of a bigger piece.
We talk about this inlots of different ways on the podcast, but
how does creating that strong
safety culture help protect new hires?
And then what are some steps
that an employer can take to really fostersomething like that?
Yeah, that's definitely important.
(10:20):
And again, it's about creatinga strong culture holistically.
So safety,productivity, customer relations
we want the culture at your workplaceto be able
to encourage any sort of questionthat a new hire might come across
ways to do that.
You know, establishing.
Expectations early on,making sure that whoever is doing
(10:44):
the onboarding is demonstratingthose expectations
and working in a way that you want othersto learn from as well,
because that's really goingto set the tone.
Often in training,the best way to do something
is for the person who knows it,you know, to demonstrate it.
Explain it.
(11:05):
And then the next timeyou have the other person
who's learning it, do the taskand explain what they're doing as well.
This shows that they understood it,they can do it.
And they're saying the reasonsfor the steps, so that whoever trained
them has a better feelingthat they truly know what they're doing.
This is so much more than simplychecking a checklist, right?
(11:29):
Well, I told him how to do that.
Well, telling somebody how to do something
is different from teaching themhow to do something.
So let's make sure
we're really teaching them.
And we make sure that they trulyunderstand the process
and what they're doing.
I can appreciate thatyou mentioned setting the tone and
(11:51):
we all
know thatreally the most successful companies
with the best cultures are oneswhere their leadership sets the tone
and really, truly leads by example.
I wonder if you could talka little bit about that,
and how you've seen that play out insome of your different experience?
(12:11):
Yeah, definitely.
And we see this a lot with say,you know, safety rules or a safety plan.
If when you introduce those rulesor the plan,
there's any winks or nodsthat go along with it, even if it's just
one part, you know, oh, this is our rule,but we don't really do it.
Well, you might as well throw awayall of your safety rules,
(12:34):
because once you startto get the feel that
that things are just in writingor they're just the things that we say,
not the things we actually do,you've cracked your culture.
You've broken it, and it'sgoing to be really hard to come back from,
because how is that new personsupposed to know what the real rules are
(12:54):
and what the real expectations arewhen they're not delivered?
As such?
Well, exactly.
And if you're not seeing other people
in that environment,actually follow those rules.
Why as a new hire, would you do that?
You know, nobody wants to seem differentor stand out at that point.
They're just really trying to,
(13:15):
you know, blend in and make sure they'redoing a good job and they're fitting in.
And so I can imagine thatif you're hired on
and you're given the safety talkand the rules and all of that, and then,
you know, you see everyone elsedoing something different,
especially thosewho've been there for a long time.
That would be, I mean, the best wayto defeat any kind of safety culture.
(13:35):
You know it.
You're going to learnfrom the people around you.
So again, that's why it goes backto, okay, how are we doing the onboarding?
Who is doing the onboarding.
And do we have the right peoplebringing our new folks on?
Can you sharesome of the things that you see
you know today and thingsthat you're expecting to see maybe in,
(13:57):
in the near future around technologyand how it can come into play
with giving employers more opportunities
to really train new hiresin a more effective way on safety.
So maybe it makes it more efficient,
maybe it's more engaging,you know, those types of things.
Are there any technologiesthat you see or know of
(14:20):
that really can help a business
invest wisely in, in waysof doing that with their new hires?
Yeah.
What I'm seeing, you know,like everywhere,
we have so much great technologyliterally at our fingertips.
We just need to make surewe're using it to work for us.
You know, just about everybody has,
(14:42):
you know, a smartphone at their disposal.
And this is really good for keeping,again, that open communication between
yourself and employees,especially if they're
out in a field or in a remote locationwhere you don't see them all the time.
So just keeping the literal linesof communication open is huge.
(15:03):
I also love seeing employerswho as part of their onboarding program,
they've made short videos,you know, recorded
somebody doing something the right way.
And this waythey can share it with the new employees.
This is our equipment.
This is how it needs to be done.
And I can show youthis is great because it's consistent.
(15:26):
It's convenient.
You can share it with people.
They can watch it and know immediatelywhat's expected of them.
Same to be said with, you know,
just even simple picturesor text messages.
Hey, I noticed this, you know,for observations are near miss reporting
making it.
(15:46):
Easy. To have that backand forth conversation.
And with the pictures
and videos of your peopleand your equipment, it's very specific.
And that's a great way to train peoplewhen they come on board.
You mentioned near miss reportingthere, and
I actually was going to ask about that.
As far as just like anythingwe do, it's important for us
(16:09):
to kind of measure the effectivenessof whatever we're putting in place,
whether it's a safety program or,you know, a new process or workflow.
And so we think about near near missesand the fact that they're
very underreported in most places,because obviously people are worried
they're going to get in troubleor those types of things, but they're also
(16:31):
one of the most valuable nuggets ofinformation, really, an employer can have.
Because in the end,it will truly save them from something
bigger happening most of the time,or at least alert them to.
How often. Something isis almost happening.
So that's just.
One, you know, one areaI was thinking about as we walk through
(16:52):
why it's important
to make sure your new hiresare trained in safety and all of that.
And then how do you measure that?
How do you measureif that program effective?
Have you seen some different ways
businesses have implemented thator has some advice for our listeners?
Yeah.
Specific to near miss reporting I love it.
And one thing
(17:13):
I like to see is, you know, encourage
it, encourage reporting those near misses,because exactly as you pointed out,
ideally we're going to catch somethingbefore it turns into something.
Right.
Because a near miss showsus that there's a hazard or a flaw.
And if we can address it before somethinggoes wrong, that's even better.
(17:33):
Another really neat thing about nearmisses is if we encourage that culture
and we encourage the reporting,
another key iswe make it easy to report those.
Right. So I can just snap a pictureand turn it in.
I don't have to fill out, you know,a 14 page document on a near miss.
But I've made it easy.
(17:53):
And now what you'll notice is peopleactually start looking for those things.
Their mind is thinking about near misses.
So they're thinking about being proactive.
They're thinking about what can be wrong.
So even an unintended consequence of nearmiss reporting
is being near miss observantand looking for those things
before they can cause problems,which is huge.
(18:15):
If I was a new employee
and you know, I've gone throughthe training, maybe I've been on the job
for a few months.
I understand the why in the whyand all of those things.
And I see something from a perspective
of somebody new coming in versussomebody who's been doing,
you know, the same thing, you know,just repetition day after day, after day.
(18:39):
If I were newand I saw something that I could see where
there would be a safety issueor it just doesn't seem right
or, you know, you're not comfortable withbecause you realize there's a risk here.
What advice do you have
to businesses with how they can encourage,
especially a new hire, to really kind of
(19:00):
speak up and say somethingin a way that's constructive
and that could really help contributeto the safety of the entire company.
Yeah.
Which is great, because reallywhat you have is a brand new set of fresh
outside eyes,you know, with a new perspective.
So there could be some really great ideas
(19:20):
and improvementson the way that you do things.
And I think it's it's going to bea two way street, one that new employee
needs to both feel, you know, empoweredand safe enough to make these suggestions.
They need to have the right avenueto make them.
And even if there's not the A properor a formal avenue or formal channels
(19:43):
that they havethe right ways to say things, you know,
the new hire is not going to show upand say you're doing it wrong.
Hopefully they say, hey,there might be a way we can do this safer.
There might be a waywe can do this better,
and that it gets to the right people.
On the back end of that, as we talk about
all the new hire training and onboarding,it's also a great way
(20:06):
to connect with your new peoplethroughout their onboarding process.
See how the progress is going,see what feedback they have.
Seek out those solutions,and encourage that dialog.
And that goes back to the safety culturepiece.
We talked about creating a spacewhere somebody feels like
they're safe to be able to bring somethingup, and it's not going to be punitive,
(20:28):
or they're not going to be seen as,
you know, causing a problem or,you know, any of those things.
And I'm wonderingif you see more businesses
looking at thingslike the trends of safety
incidents with new hires,are they looking at measuring that?
Are they paying attention to that?
You know, do they or is it just somethingthat's like, well, he's
(20:50):
new, he's going to make a lot of mistakes,you know, that kind of thing.
I do thinksometimes employers may have lower
expectationsfor their new employees, right.
Because they're new.
However, what really gets their attention
is if the new hire gets hurt,
messesup an order, makes a customer angry.
(21:12):
Those are the things that really getthe attention, which really reinforce
the ideaof having a good onboarding program.
So when we track injury rates,
we look at the first year of employment
years one through five,five through ten and ten, plus.
(21:32):
And then if people want to get evenmore specific, you can do that as well.
And we encourage employers to do thatto see if you have a certain area.
Recently we foundan employer was having new hire injuries,
and they dug and dug into the dataand discovered that it was specific
to second term apprentices,which is a very specific group.
(21:57):
This information gave them the datato go forward with extra
focus, extra trainingon a very specific group of people.
We'll know in a bit if that all worked.
I love that, I love thatthey took the initiative to really dive in
and try to understand the why thereand actually paying attention, you know,
to some of the numbers and that we couldsupport them in their efforts
(22:19):
to do that and help them with a, a plan,a safety plan to address those things.
And so I appreciate that example.
I, I was kind of hopingyou might be able to share,
you know, a couple of success storiesthat you've seen
through your years of experiencewhere companies really did
take some actionto increase their safety training
(22:43):
and then,
you know, expectations around new hireswhere they've actually had
some pretty good outcomes.
So if you had any, if you had any examplesyou could share with us,
that'd be great.
Yeah,
actually,I recently was at a health care facility
and noticed there
new hire injuries
(23:03):
had stopped.
They weren't having anymore.
So, you know, my first question was,what have you done to stop this?
And at first they were like,oh, nothing really.
And I was like, no, you know, itcan't it can't be just a coincidence.
So we dug into itand we looked back at the timelines,
(23:24):
you know, of when things stopped and said,okay, so what was happening during,
you know, the spring of 2023?
Well,this is where it got really interesting.
That location had had a really big problemwith turnover.
How familiar is that to so many of us.
So their first step was to really focuson reducing turnover.
(23:49):
They did that by being more selectivein their hiring process.
The old philosophy used to be,okay, let's hire six
and hope that to stay and go from there.
Well, this time around they decidedwe're just going to wait
a little bit longer and hirethe very best to right out the door,
which is what they did.
(24:10):
So they were very selectivein their hiring.
They had a longer onboarding process
because, you know, they really wantedthese two folks to stay.
Another thing that they didat this time was
they had another peeravailable on the floor with a phone
who was just available for questionsor available for another set of hands.
(24:33):
So any employee,the new hires or current employees
working, if they needed something,they had a direct person
and a direct number to go to.
And that person was expecting those calls,so they had additional support.
What they found is those two new hiresthat they focused all this on stayed.
(24:54):
They're still with them today.
They've
reduced their new hire injuries,they've reduced turnover.
And all of these thingscame from getting the right people
in the door,giving them a really strong onboarding.
And it has improved so many other areas
beyond just safety.
And I just thought that was super cool.
(25:15):
So they were tacklingthe problem of turnover.
But the end result wasit improved their safety.
It improved morale because they had extrahelp up extra support
and it improved turnover
and just being a good place to work.
I love that example.
(25:36):
I mean, that'show it's supposed to work, right?
And and I know a lot of businesses
are always in the situation ofwe kind of need bodies.
We need people like we can't do our runour business without some people here.
So we're just going to have to hirewhoever, you know.
And I get that because sometimesit's harder to be selective.
(25:56):
But it sounds like for themthat strategy really worked out.
Yeah, they are the perfect example of itworking out.
But you are right, so many employersright now are short staffed,
so they want that new personto hit the ground running,
which again, isn't fair to the new personor even the current employees.
This also makes it harderto give them a proper onboarding.
(26:20):
But what I'm telling youis it's absolutely worth it.
If you spend this time up front,
you're going to save it downthe road, you're going to save it in,
you know, injuriesand turnover and morale in the workplace.
So it is a timeand effort investment upfront.
But it will pay backin dividends down the road.
(26:42):
We've kind of
talked through this reallyin a lot of different ways today.
And just starting with the problem itselfand then ending our conversation
a little bit with some solutionsthat actually have had success.
So I was hopingwe usually like to end our conversations
with a piece of adviceor two pieces of advice
(27:02):
for our listeners,something that they can really take away
and that you'd like them to take away
from this conversation in this case,so they can actually maybe
make a difference in thistrend of new higher injury
rates.
Take a look
at your current onboarding procedures,
(27:23):
formalize them,
document what needs to be, and make sure
that you have the right peopledoing your onboarding.
Make sure those new employees are giventhe time that they need
to get comfortable, and that you'regetting feedback from all levels
so that you have that comfort levelthat the employee is ready to go,
(27:44):
and also that that employee is comfortableand ready to go.
So really, it's just a voting,
you know, some more time and energyinto a really good
onboarding program, which is going toleave you with a really good,
hopefully long term employee.
Well, I want to thank you againfor joining us today.
Sheila.
(28:05):
I know that our listeners are going todefinitely benefit from our conversation
and the different exampleswe shared and other ways that they can,
you know, make a differencein their injury rates in their workspaces.
So we appreciate you coming onand sharing your insights.
Thanks for having me, Heather.
And we'd like.
To thank our listenersfor tuning in as well.
(28:26):
We'll talk to younext time on the WorkSafe podcast.
Thank you for listening to the WorkSafepodcast.
Brought to you by MEM.
(28:47):
If you like this episode,be sure to subscribe
on your favorite podcast platformand leave us a review!
We love to connect with our listeners.
If you have comments, questions,or suggestions for topics, please
email us at podcast@mem-ins.com
For even more resources and
industry insights,visit us at MEM-INS.com
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