A manager’s job is not easy. Situated between frontline staff and senior management, managers are often battered on both ends of the corporate ladder by constant demands from higher-level management and the challenges of coordinating the activities of a team that is often inexperienced.
On top of all that, managers in most companies typically have their own day-to-day responsibilities and projects to manage in addition to supervising staff. Creating a frequently asked questions (FAQs) resource for new hires can help. In fact, FAQs can address long-term employee questions, as well.
Revolving Door
With incredibly high turnover rates and a historic labor shortage, managers are faced with the reality that they will continue to lose experienced team members in positions that must be filled by either whomever the company can find or no one at all.
Faced with a potential revolving door of staff who may have limited knowledge of and experience in the company’s industry, let alone its internal policies, practices, and procedures, managers may find themselves bombarded by the same questions with each new hire.
They can make their lives easier by recording those questions—and their responses—in a shared FAQ repository.
Common Inquiries
There are certain questions that are common among new hires, but those questions are not always as obvious to employees who have worked at the company for long periods of time.
Creating a repository for these common questions and their answers provides employees with a reference to turn to when a question doesn’t need to take the manager away from his or her other responsibilities.
Grooming Opportunity
One might think, “Creating an FAQ is a great idea, but who’s going to do the work?” As with any productivity improvement, an upfront investment in time and energy is required to achieve time and energy savings in the future. This could certainly be a project for an ambitious, efficiency-oriented manager, but it could also be a great chance to start grooming a junior team member for future advancement.
This can not only help this worker get to know the team better but also help him or her understand the types of challenges he or she might face as a manager.
Managers have a difficult job with varied responsibilities. The key to success is often achieving efficiency by working smarter, not harder.
In the current labor environment, with its high turnover and dearth of qualified candidates, creating an FAQ for new hires could be a great way for managers to quickly bring them up to speed without taking an inordinate amount of time away from their many other obligations.