Training new employees.

[bdcrandall13]

Anyone have any methods for better training new employees? Especially ones new to the field of fixing imagers? I've been thinking about setting up a "lab" in our office for my guys to "practice." There are some things that are just hard to learn without doing, in my opinion anyway. Our guys have recently discovered how helpful it can be to actually learn to accurately use a multimeter to diagnose a problem. Yes, we just have never done things like that much. I started with no experience in this field, (other than computers and networking,) and was taught by an old tech and now I am managing our department. I am learning a lot on the fly and want to be able to help out my newer techs in a better way than "throwing them out to the wolves."

Thanks guys.

[okirob]

Re: Training new employees.

First I give them lots of repetitive work, cleaning every machine in office inside and out,use general functions of machines to become farmiliar with our products and We have a pm procedure that I get them to do and every machine in the office is done if it needs it or not, firmware on every machine in office is also done, scan and print is also taught and done on every machine in office too , as for bugs in the machines they cause enough on their own that they have to figure out via service manual and questions that they ask, we explain alot as we go and ask questions to get them to think. Depending on the newbie tech they are thrown in the field for straight pms after a couple of weeks (every call they do is inspected and a evaluation of their work is done and then we discuss positives and negitives of each call and how to improve) ride a longs are a must with myself or assistant service manager (my right hand man) so they are aware of call procedure. For the first 3 months in the field every call has a follow up to inspect work preformed and customer satisfaction. after 3 months depending if we think they will stay training is provided

A call flow procedure is used for about 1 year so we can avoid bad habbits right off the get go, they can aquire those later(still do spot check speraticlly so that sort of keeps them on their toes and raises are preformance based so the better they do the more they get)

Sometimes it feels like babysitting but if we find the right tech its worth it, we know in a short period of time if they will work out or not but if we see potential some grace is given

I can go on and on

[ZOOTECH]

Re: Training new employees.

First I give them lots of repetitive work, cleaning every machine in office inside and out,use general functions of machines to become farmiliar with our products and We have a pm procedure that I get them to do and every machine in the office is done if it needs it or not, firmware on every machine in office is also done, scan and print is also taught and done on every machine in office too , as for bugs in the machines they cause enough on their own that they have to figure out via service manual and questions that they ask, we explain alot as we go and ask questions to get them to think. Depending on the newbie tech they are thrown in the field for straight pms after a couple of weeks (every call they do is inspected and a evaluation of their work is done and then we discuss positives and negitives of each call and how to improve) ride a longs are a must with myself or assistant service manager (my right hand man) so they are aware of call procedure. For the first 3 months in the field every call has a follow up to inspect work preformed and customer satisfaction. after 3 months depending if we think they will stay training is provided

A call flow procedure is used for about 1 year so we can avoid bad habbits right off the get go, they can aquire those later(still do spot check speraticlly so that sort of keeps them on their toes and raises are preformance based so the better they do the more they get)

Sometimes it feels like babysitting but if we find the right tech its worth it, we know in a short period of time if they will work out or not but if we see potential some grace is given

I can go on and on

I like it, good habits can be learned - this makes good sense what you're doing!