Personnel adaptation: three approaches and four stages

Adaptation is the process of mutual adaptation of the employee to the organization and the organization to the employee. Typically, most new employees, when starting a new job or joining a new organization, try to express themselves from a positive point of view. However, working in a new workplace may be associated with negative aspects. Let's consider the approaches of organizations to hiring new employees, the process of their adaptation and the factors that influence successful adaptation to a new workplace.

From the employee’s point of view, two areas of adaptation can be distinguished:

primary, i.e. the process of adaptation of workers who have no work experience. As a rule, this applies to graduates of educational institutions;
secondary, i.e. the process of adaptation of workers who have work experience, but are moving either to a new workplace or to another organization.

Typically, most new employees, when starting a new job or joining a new organization, try to express themselves from a positive point of view. However, working in a new workplace may be associated with negative aspects. The following employee concerns related to the fear of failure at a new job are identified:

fear of losing your job (being fired for some reason);
fail to gain the respect of colleagues;
can't cope with a new job;
discover a lack of experience or knowledge;
appear incompetent;
the workforce “will not like it”;
“not to love” the work collective yourself;
fail to find a common language with the leader.

In addition, the need to manage the adaptation process is undeniable due to the fact that statistics from many organizations indicate a particularly high percentage of layoffs occurring in the first month of work of new employees. Also, most accidents occur during the first time new employees work in an organization.

Three approaches

Organizations hiring a new employee use “optical,” “army,” and “partnership” approaches to adaptation.
1. The “optical” approach is usually expressed in the words “start working, we will look at you, and then we will discuss payment and authority.” As a rule, such employers believe that the labor market is oversaturated with specialists of any qualification and any specialist can be easily replaced. The “optical” approach gives the candidate a feeling that the organization is unserious and lacks interest in his work.

2. The “army” approach is based on the expression “hard to learn, easy to fight.” During the probationary period, additional difficulties are created for the new employee in the form of particularly complex and responsible tasks. At the same time, he is not introduced to existing developments and is not given any explanations. Sometimes organizations that follow this approach limit the period of work with each employee to a probationary period, and then hire a new employee.

Most often, this is not a harsh “sweatshop” system, but really an attempt to select the best workers, which ultimately can lead to negative consequences. An employee who has passed a probationary period in such an organization either relaxes after passing the test and believes that he has already secured a quiet existence for himself, or he will “revenge” for an unfairly harsh attitude. In addition, in “army” type organizations, “hazing” is inevitable, i.e. the life of every newly hired employee will be even more difficult. As a result, the organization may be completely cut off from the influx of new forces. A strict disciplinary attitude towards newly hired employees makes sense only if the entire personnel policy is of the same nature and the employee does not notice the end of the probationary period.

3. The “partnership” approach is usually demonstrated by organizations that have extensive and varied experience in hiring employees. In essence, this approach is a sign of the maturity of the organization, which is aware of the need for efficiency in determining whether a candidate meets the requirements of the position and, accordingly, reducing the costs that are inevitable when hiring personnel and their adaptation. A mature employer understands that there are no perfect employees and that every hire is a compromise between expectations and reality.

Adaptation disorder (adaptive reactions) - symptoms and treatment

The development of adaptation disorder is based on a person’s reduced ability to analyze, evaluate and adapt to changing conditions and circumstances of life.

The development of adaptation disorder is initiated by a stress factor - a situation or change in conditions that is assessed and perceived by the individual as threatening.

Stress (according to T. Cox, professor of psychology at the University of Nottingham) arises as a response when there are significant differences between the demands placed on an individual and her ability to cope with these demands.

A psychotraumatic factor can both trigger an adaptation disorder and affect the patient’s condition throughout the entire illness. Thus, a stress factor can be both an initiating factor (lead to the development of the disorder) and a main link in the pathogenesis of adaptation disorder (present throughout the entire disease) [2]. Examples of stress factors: loss of a loved one, migration, job loss.

The inability to achieve results that satisfy significant needs leads to a tense state. The expected result, planned (modeled) states or events do not always correspond to reality. For example, when moving to another country, a person may expect to settle in easily and quickly find a job, but is faced with difficulties and the impossibility of realizing his plans. It is this contradiction that causes an emotional reaction. As a result, the autonomic nervous system and endocrine mechanisms that regulate behavioral reactions are activated - adrenaline is released into the blood from the adrenal medulla, corticoliberin is secreted in the hypothalamus, adrenocorticotropic hormone in the pituitary gland and glucocorticoids in the adrenal cortex.

Thus, the body’s adaptive reactions during chronic psycho-emotional stress and overstrain consist of the activation of a number of biological processes. This complex of vegetative and energetic shifts is equivalent to the first stage of stress - the mobilization of energy resources for an urgent solution to a vital task. A sudden change in living conditions causes an alarm reaction, which consists of alertness (behavior), the release of stress hormones into the bloodstream (endocrinology) and activation of the autonomic system (physiology). Subsequently, anxiety is replaced by a detailed stress response. Damage to health is caused by unfavorable changes in living conditions, which could not be avoided by the time the body’s protective resources were exhausted.

An important link in the development of adaptation disorders is the individual characteristics of a person’s neuropsychic response, his hypersensitivity and vulnerability. Personality traits that predispose to the disorder:

sensitivity;
vulnerability;
suspiciousness;
impulsiveness;
increased anxiety;
depressive mood (tendency to dramatize a situation);
negative experience of adaptation to various life situations in the past;
decreased self-esteem;
immaturity of personality.

A psychotraumatic factor causes and maintains a maladaptive pathological response of the body in the form of affective and behavioral disorders. As a result, a pathogenetic dynamic chain process is launched [2][3]. For example, the loss of a job (the main source of livelihood) causes a depressed state, a feeling of loss of control over the situation, anxious thoughts, and a feeling of futility of actions. This can lead to self-isolation and disrupt interaction with society. Such changes cause affective, primarily depressive disorders, which do not help solve problems, but, on the contrary, worsen the situation [7].

The development of adjustment disorders is often facilitated by social factors, such as lack of support from the environment.

Four stages

The adaptation process can take place in four stages.
1. Assessing the level of preparedness of a new employee is necessary to develop an effective adaptation program. Even if an employee has special training and experience working in similar structures, when he gets into a new organization, he inevitably encounters different external infrastructure of the organization, new personnel, and operating technology. All this inevitably leads him into an unfamiliar situation.

2. Orientation on site, i.e. practical acquaintance of the employee with his duties and the requirements that are presented to him. The immediate supervisor and the personnel management service are involved in this work.

3. Direct adaptation. This stage consists of the new employee adapting to his status and is largely determined by his inclusion in interpersonal relationships with colleagues. This element of onboarding is key because it determines how the new employee will be accepted into the workplace. During this stage, it is important to provide maximum psychological support to the employee, conduct regular conversations and evaluate the effectiveness of his activities in the new workplace.

4. Full involvement in work. This stage completes the process of adaptation of a new employee to the organization; it is characterized by the gradual overcoming of production and personal problems and the transition to stable work.

If the adaptation process in an organization is well regulated, then the adaptation period and costs are reduced several times and bring significant benefits to both the organization and the employee.

The employee is interested in the adaptation process going as quickly as possible, since he suffers not only moral losses associated with the fear of failing at a new job or losing it (being fired for some reason), but also material losses associated with a lower level of wages during the adaptation period.

What is adaptation

The term adaptation (lat. adaptatio) means “adaptation”. When they talk about a child’s adaptation in kindergarten, they mean his adaptation to new conditions - the people around him, the daily routine, new rules, the absence of parents. From this moment the active socialization of the child begins, which may be accompanied by some difficulties.

During the adaptation period, emotional and physical instability can be observed - the child may cry often, miss his mother, get upset over little things, stop eating or sleeping. This is fine.

Bottom line

A person is always forced to adapt at different levels of his life. First, a person adapts physiologically, getting used to control of his body, then to the surrounding nature. Social adaptation begins at the moment when parents begin raising a child. At the same time, psychological adaptation occurs when a person develops character traits that will help him feel harmonious in existing conditions.

Adaptation does not always imply exclusively effective and successful, acceptable behavior. You can adapt by developing an illness or bad behavior, which also helps you achieve your goals more quickly under existing conditions.

Stages of adaptation for a new employee

Familiarization

This usually takes place during a probationary period. The employee gets acquainted with the goals and objectives of the company, corporate culture, and team. He analyzes whether his expectations and career goals coincide with what the employer offers, and makes a conclusion whether to stay with the organization.

The employer evaluates potential capabilities and professional competencies to understand whether the employee is suitable for this position. Depending on the decision made, the personnel department prepares documents on the admission of a new employee to the staff or on dismissal.

Device

This stage lasts from a month to a year. Its duration depends on the complexity of the work, the expected level of responsibility, the assistance provided to the employee by colleagues, subordinates, management and the personnel service. Storekeepers adapt the fastest (27 days); for office managers and secretaries, this process takes 46-47 days. Sales managers, accountants and executives get used to a new place of work in 80-82 days. Programmers (102 days) and HR employees (100 days) take the longest to adapt.

Assimilation

The employee is accepted by the team and is well aware of his place in the team. Its effectiveness increases. At this stage, the employee can determine for himself which tasks are important and priority, and which are routine.

Previously, the website Job.ru (now hh.ru) conducted a survey “Who most often helps a newcomer fit into a new team faster, master new tasks” and here is the result:

Algorithm for adaptation to kindergarten

Adapting a child to kindergarten is a step-by-step process. The teacher’s task is to regulate these stages and guide parents.

It is better to start visiting kindergarten with daytime and evening walks with a group. The mother stays next to the child during these walks. During the first week, you can bring your child for a few morning hours. If possible, the mother stays in the group with the child; if not, then she simply comes to pick him up after a morning walk.

During the second week, the baby's stay increases until lunchtime. He eats with the others, after which his mother takes him home. In the third and fourth weeks, the baby can be left for a nap and picked up immediately after sleep or after an afternoon snack.

After the fourth week, the child can be left in kindergarten full time. During the adaptation period, it is important to bring the child in first or last so that he does not see the tears of other children. It is better to feed the child at home, since many children refuse to eat in an unfamiliar environment, especially unusual food.

Orientation program

The most effective measures to help an employee adapt can be taken at the stage of choosing a course or orientation to a new place. This activity is within the competence of the new employee’s immediate management. He has the right to assign it to the HR manager or delegate it to other specialists, but the responsibility still lies on the shoulders of the closest boss. Many limit themselves to the initial briefing required by the Labor Code. However, to increase the effectiveness of the adaptation program, more expanded ways of its implementation can be envisaged. In the process of adaptation assistance, the following activities will be effective.

General acquaintance with the enterprise. It can be conducted by a boss or a personnel employee during a class, lecture, conversation or excursion. The familiarization program should include the following questions:
requirements, norms and accepted traditions;
target audience (consumers of the company's products);
areas of activity of the enterprise;
its structural divisions and connections between them;
hierarchy (management “ladder”).
Management policy in the organization. The employee must understand exactly how the structure in which he finds himself functions. To do this, he will need to explain:
disciplinary issues;
how professional development and training of employees is organized;
Work mode;
features of working with documentation and other nuances.
Financial questions. Any employee is concerned about the motivational component of his work. Therefore, it is better that he has no ambiguities about:
components of salary (salary, bonus, taxes, deductions, etc.);
factors that may affect monetary remuneration (deduction of bonuses, possible increase in salary, etc.);
payment for overtime, business trips, work on weekends and holidays, etc.
Benefit package. The employee needs to be explained what social prospects he is entitled to while working in this organization, for example:
medical care (sometimes for family members);
benefits and assistance in case of injury, illness, retirement, etc.;
attitude towards possible motherhood;
other points, for example, travel to work, meals, additional services.
Safety precautions are a mandatory part of labor protection measures and ensuring safe conditions. Even if all other points are missed, the Law prohibits neglecting this.
Getting to know the department. A deeper stage of adaptation, helping the employee directly become involved in the life of his structural unit. The head of a structural unit or a supervisor-mentor appointed by him can help carry out this process, and the internship period can make it easier. At this stage it is worth mentioning the following points:
articulating expectations and required results;
the procedure for monitoring work and/or reporting;
operating mode of the unit;
all kinds of standards, requirements, regulations, prohibitions related to direct activities;
presentation to the team of the structural unit.

It is important to separate approaches to primary and secondary adaptation: the time spent, the range of issues and the degree of their coverage, and the methods used will be different.

Why is personnel adaptation necessary in an organization?

Since adaptation is a biological and psychological mechanism “built-in” in a person, in most cases it occurs by itself. The question may arise: why, in this case, focus attention on the problem of adaptation, develop its programs, and strive to increase its effectiveness?

Indeed, a person most often sooner or later, one way or another, adapts to any conditions or adapts them to suit himself. To do this, he needs several factors: enough time, motivation, the will to change and their natural capabilities. But in the process of professional activity, all these factors can cost the employer too much, so he strives to reduce and simplify this complex process as much as possible.

REFERENCE! Research shows that 9 out of 10 people who quit without working for even a year made this decision in their first days in the service.