Job shadowing for the new home health employees is essential. By observing an employee who has already mastered the skills and tasks involved, as well as the agency's practices, policies and regulations, the home health agency can save valuable time on training a new employee. In today’s blog, we will discuss how both the new employee and the home health agency could benefit from job shadowing.
Job Shadowing for new employee involves working with another senior employee who performs the same job that the new employee would soon be assuming. The tenured employee is expected to have something to teach, or should be able to help the person shadowing him or her learn different aspects related to the job, organization, certain behaviors or competencies. Actual in-practice involvement also helps new employees to gain know-how’s about solving problems and dealing with issues that may arise at work. Assisting a senior employee to deal with an issue can build confidence and competence in a new employee.
There are a few reasons why job shadowing would be done in an organization:
New Hire Training.
The newly hired employee may be asked to shadow the current employee for a couple of days to weeks to get a good idea of the new role and also understand the most important skills and competencies without really taking up the responsibility. This helps the new employee to be more confident, aware, and also better prepared to take up the role. For the organization it reduces the chances of failure and reduces the time required for the individual to be fully productive.
Career Development.
With multiple options available for somebody to grow in an organization, job shadowing canhelp to get a better sense of options available and the required competencies for the same. For example, a nurse may shadow the Director of Nursing to get a good idea of what it takes to build a career on the same path.
Developing Expertise.
Job shadowing ensures that current employees would always extend effort in sharpening their skills knowing that somebody will be observing while expecting to learn from them. This helps ensure that knowledge and expertise are not lost over time.
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