Monitoring new Hire progress is key to understanding their capability of performing the duties assigned to them, their initial enthusiasm for the role, and how well they have settled into their new working environment. 

Good departmental managers understand the business, their own responsibilities and how to get the best from their team. They share departmental processes, like how to track staff hours with a timesheet app, knowledge, educate employees of their responsibilities, and offer guidance and support whilst new hires get to grips with their new role. 

As the weeks and months of a new hires’ tenure unfold, managers will need to track their progress to make sure that new hires are actively engaged in their role, that they understand their responsibilities and feel confident in their duties.  

Below is a guide that all managers should read as it outlines how to track any new hire’s progress. Be sure to read it all, you may just find some handy tips that’ll make your role that much easier. 

Set Goals that are Clear, Measurable and Actionable

You cannot improve what you cannot measure. Once new hires have settled into their role, managers should clearly communicate what is expected of them (goals) and implement means of measuring these. 

To track the progress of new hires, managers must have a clear understanding of what employee performance looks like in the context of the business. So, for example, this could be closing a set number of tasks, or speaking to ‘x’ number of clients, or creating a target monetary amount of new business each month. 

Without specific and measurable productivity goals, new hires won’t know what their responsibilities are and therefore will struggle to meet them.

Organisational Goal Setting

Once relevant goals have been established, managers should then determine the key metrics of employee performance. This will ultimately improve the effectiveness of your department and overall business priorities. 

There are several ways that managers can do this. These are listed below:

Key performance indicators are quantifiable measures, such as the revenue generated per employee or the capacity utilisation rate that compares performance changes on a monthly, quarterly, or annual scale. 

Objective and key results are monthly or quarterly goals that are openly shared and prioritised within the business. Basic OKR strategy includes 3-5 high-level objectives with 3-5 measurable key results that support the objective.

SMART goals are those goals that the organisation sets that all relevant to all employees. SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely, and will need to be properly contextualised for new hires to understand. 

Use Data Monitoring Platforms 

Determining and using the right tools to track the progress of new hires will save managers a great deal of time and energy. For instance, if managers want to track staff hours with a timesheet app, reliable time tracking software that’s simple to use is a must.  

Employee monitoring software can be used to monitor new hire performance by tracking the metrics that matter to your organisation, such as time spent on specific tasks, application usage, or online customer engagement. 

1-to-1 Meetings and Reports

Whereas digital metrics, like the ability to track staff hours with a timesheet app, can provide valuable insight, successful tracking of new hire performance can only be done through regular, continuous 1-to-1 meetings. 

Managers play a crucial role in leading any improvements to their team and 1-to-1 meetings are an ideal opportunity for managers to gauge how new hires are feeling, if they require any additional training, and what aspects of the role new hires enjoy. 

Developing an ongoing rapport with new hires allows managers to collect authentic feedback, monitor new hire engagement and remove any issues that may be preventing new hires from completing their duties to the standard they’re capable of.

Use Project Management Tools

There is a wealth of project management tools that managers can use to help track new hires progress. From the ability to track staff hours using a timesheet app, like Deputy, to using tools like Monday.com or Trello, managers have a digital infrastructure at their fingertips to track new hire performance. 

Monitoring new hire output, identifying performance bottlenecks, and providing an overview of any looming deadlines, project management tools are essential for managers to track the progress of new hires. 

Tracking New Hire Performance

Good managers know how to track new hire performance, providing in-person and digital platform support to help them adjust as quickly as possible to their new working environment and responsibilities.

Through mindful goal setting, consistent, encouraging an open dialogue, and using tracking metrics, managers can make the new hire onboarding process as seamless as possible. Do this and managers will have a valued member of the team swiftly.

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