When most of us go to purchase a vehicle, once we find a vehicle that is appealing to us, we usually take advantage of a test drive. The test drive is free, it gives us an opportunity to test performance and we can evaluate whether the vehicle will meet our specific needs. The 60-day introductory period for our employees should be utilized in a similar fashion.
 
Starting the moment you hire someone, a timer starts for 60 days. When the timer ends, the employee begins receiving health insurance at the cost of $550/month. Before those 60 days come to an end and we make this investment as a company, we need to execute the following:
• eSafety and any additional safety training must be completed
• A ride-along or road test need to take place prior to handing them the keys to drive a vehicle
• You must decide on whether the employee is worth keeping
 
Safety training is necessary in the beginning of an individual’s employment to cover the basics as it relates to performing our type of work without injury and is required by our customers. As it relates to the ride-along, this is simply a common sense best practice. A lot of people have a driver’s license, but does that mean we should just hand them the keys to a $45K piece of Edko equipment? Let’s be more discerning than that.
 
As we mentioned at the manager meeting, starting the employee at a reduced salary with the possibility of an increase after the 60-day introductory period is a good way to lessen the initial costs related to performing safety training, performing the ride-along. Before the end of this period we should know if the employee is teachable, reliable, competent, able to drive a vehicle and a fit for our culture. Utilizing this introductory period to ask these questions and taking advantage of the “test drive” is a way to keep Edko from paying full price for a insufficient employee and will help you build a more effective workforce.