Employee onboarding process for Modular kitchen dealers: a first fortnight for designers and crews
A new kitchen designer or fitter must learn drawings, the factory's limits and how to behave in a customer's home. A planned first fortnight prevents mistakes that would otherwise land on a live project.
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Share your requirementsWhy employee onboarding process matters in modular kitchen dealers
Many dealers hand a new designer a laptop and a few brochures and wait. The designer drafts a kitchen that the factory cannot make, or promises a delivery date the plant has never met. A new fitter is sent to a home with a senior carpenter who has no time to explain what the dealer expects, and the customer meets him first.
A first fortnight with a plan fixes this. Designers sit with the factory liaison and a site supervisor before they quote. Fitters spend a day on the conduct note and a day on a finished job, and a buddy is named. By the end of the second week, each person has done one real task with someone watching.
How to set it up
1. Prepare before day one
Laptop, drawing software access, price lists, a sample project file and a named buddy are ready on the first morning, with a short note of what the person will do each day.
2. Take designers to the factory and a live site
A morning at the factory to see what can and cannot be made, and an afternoon on a site to see how measurement and fitting actually work.
3. Brief fitters on homes and conduct
Go through the crew conduct note, the use of dust sheets, the day's routine and how to speak with the family. Pair each with a supervisor for the first week.
4. Give a small real task early
A designer drafts one simple kitchen reviewed by a senior. A fitter completes one defined part of an install, such as hanging wall units, with the supervisor checking.
5. Review at the end of week two
Meet the new joiner, the buddy and the manager for twenty minutes. Note what was learnt, what is missing and what the next month holds. Connect it to probation under the HR documentation process.
Check these first
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. These take an afternoon and use your own records.
- Ask the last two joiners what they would have liked to know on day one.
- Check how soon each new designer saw a factory and a site.
- See whether new fitters have read the conduct note before entering a customer's home.
- Find out whether the probation review happened on time for the last three joiners.
GullyHR can do this with you. Read how we approach employee onboarding process in general, or share your requirements and we will tell you where to start.
Questions owners ask
Plan for at least two weeks of structured learning, then a month of reviewed work. The timing depends on prior experience, so adjust after the first reviews.
Someone with a few years in the company who is patient and good at the job. Give them time in their own targets to help, or the buddy role will be dropped when work gets busy.
How to dress, what to carry, how to protect floors, break and phone rules, who to call and how to speak with the family. Practise it with the supervisor on the first day.