This week Bella talks about the importance of onboarding new staff properly along with the consequences of not having a standard onboarding policy in place. Bella’s vast experience in the pet based industry provides her with invaluable insights and the ability to go straight to the heart of why you can’t ignore having your own onboarding procedures.
NOTE: Some listeners may hear themselves in Bella’s examples. The onboarding problems she talks about are so common we think you’ll see some of your own business’ characteristics in this episode.
Biggest Takeaways You Don’t Want To Miss
Real Life Examples of Things Pet Based Business Owners Say and Do When It Comes to Employees
"I can't believe they left the door unlocked!"
"They didn't know they were on the schedule."
"They told the client too much and now the client is upset. I wish they contacted me first about the incident before calling the client."
If any of this sounds familiar you definitely need to listen to this week’s show!
Why Pet Based Businesses are Going to Explode Soon
Are you one of the many businesses that decreased their staff down to 50% during the Covid pandemic? Bella talks about the reasons this is going to change and what you need to do to be prepared.
What NOT to Do In Your Onboarding Process
The sad thing is that so many people are already making one or more of these mistakes in their businesses. Bella covers several critical areas that can make a difference in how long you keep your employees.
Show Highlights
Real Life Examples of Things Pet Based Business Owners Say and Do When It Comes to Employees [4:28]
Why you’ll be needing to onboard employees in record time very soon and how you can be ready [7:10]
Exactly what NOT to do in the onboarding process [7:45]
Defining Onboarding and what it means [8:45]
Studies pertaining to high employee turnover [10:00]
Why employees leave companies [10:30]
Standardization of onboarding process [11:05]
Importance of schedule for onboarding [15:30]
Why pet care team training videos can give you a headstart [18:45]
Types of employee learning and training styles for employees [22:00]
Links:
Pet Care Team Training
Jump Mastermind
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Transcript:
This is episode 227 of Bella in Your Business.
Hi there, I'm Bella Vasta from Jump Consulting. You might know me from CBS, NBC, Fox, Huffington Post, Entrepreneur, or maybe you've seen me speak on stage or read my book, The Four Dogs That Every Business Owner Needs. In any case, get ready because you're about to get your hashtag Bella Butt Kickin’ in this next episode of Bella in Your Business.
So what do you say? Let's get ready and jump. Welcome to another episode of Bella in Your Business. My name is Bella Vasta, and I have a really cool thing for you today. We're going to talk all about problems with onboarding new employees, and you're going to want to stick around for this because there are constant challenges and issues that people completely forget about all the time, and they're causing massive problems in the business down the line with employees. So stay tuned, we've got a show for you today.
Before we get into that, I want to thank you for all of your feedback on the last couple of podcasts. I love it. I don't know if it's the beginning of the year or if our promotions are working better or what, but our podcast is getting really high amounts of downloads, as well as some really cool feedback from you guys. I just wanted to read some of them out loud because I'm so honored that you took the time to do it.
First is W. Fisher, and the title is Industry Leader. “No matter how big my company gets, I'm still picking up very useful advice from Bella. She clearly puts a lot of effort to stay in current events with an ever-changing industry. She gives away mountains of information for free, which I know is greatly appreciated by all who follow her. I think that because she said she had her own pet care business, she understands where we are all the time, pressed and hard. She prioritizes her advice with that fully in mind. Thank you for everything, Bella. We appreciate you.” Well, I appreciate you too, and you're exactly right. I have been in your shoes. So when I say I get it and I understand, I really do.
And another one—Angel Karma says, “Blew me away. I listened to all of Bella's podcasts and they're always motivating, and they really make you think about your business. Bella cares about her community and tries to make the pet care industry better. I've been amazed with her motivation and energy during the pandemic, but today’s episode blew me away. Thank you for sharing and being vulnerable. I know it's hard to put on a happy face every day when you're going through your own personal stuff. Today’s episode probably hit home with many listeners. Keep jumping and loving on that baby girl.” I love that. And she’s referring to two episodes ago when we talked about growing your business through a divorce. I shared what I went through two years ago, and I’ve now come through it. I've consoled so many of you all going through it and scared and trying to figure out how to save your business and not give half of it away to someone who you are now dissolving a marriage with.
Without further ado, we are going to transition. I always love your feedback. I especially love when you tell me exactly what you want to hear about because it helps inspire me to go in the direction that I know you want. This topic was birthed from a lot of your questions about how to properly onboard people. I know that when you finally hire someone, you're totally elated. You're so excited—you've interviewed what you thought was the perfect person. That’s obviously why you hired them, right? And now you basically have to extract everything that's in your brain and somehow get it into their brain. Not only that, but you have to trust that they're actually picking up what you're throwing down. I love that phrase—are you picking up what I'm throwing down? Because it's true.
There’s so much information about our business. And I think a lot of you can relate—people come in and say, “I thought this was just dog walking or just pet sitting,” as if you're just getting licked by puppies all day and there’s no responsibility or professionalism involved. Well, there is, and it’s our job as leaders—yes, knock knock, you are a leader—to rise up and allow people the excitement to come alongside you and help grow your business.
So what inspired this podcast is that in our groups and coaching calls, people say things like, “They shadowed me for days, and I told them everything I know, but they still don’t get it.” Or, “I told them to go around with my best pet sitter—she knows everything—and just shadow her.” Or, “I wrote everything down, I even put it in caps, bold, red, and underlined with five exclamation points, Bella! You don’t get it, I emphasized it!” And yet, they still don’t get it. Does this sound familiar? It sure does to me. I used to think the same way without realizing I was sabotaging myself.
Many of you are ramping up right now. I recently asked in my group Start Your Pet Business where you were with your employees, and many said you were down about 50%. You had to cut back your staff, but guess what? The vaccine is out, the pandemic is nearing its end, and this summer, people are going to go buck wild. Pet sitters—people are going to travel. They’ve got pandemic puppies and COVID kitties, and their travel budgets are saved up. The influx of clients will increase.
And with that comes a huge responsibility, because you’re going to have to onboard staff at record pace. You also need to realize you’re not the only cat in town—they have options. If you don’t make the onboarding process an amazing start to your relationship—if you don’t make them feel excited, empowered, and valued—you’re going to fail.
So today, I’ve got seven different things I don’t want you to do. The first mistake is not having a standard process for onboarding. Standardization means that everything is done the same way for everyone. When you don’t have that, employees won’t know where the instructions end and their judgment begins. They might feel micromanaged or abandoned. It also confuses anyone you delegate training to—like if you have your best walker train someone but no manual, they’re flying blind.
Second, not having clear instructions during training. The worst feeling is when a new hire wants to impress you but the goalpost keeps moving. Without a handbook or an easily searchable online manual, everything feels inconsistent. Don’t assume they’ll remember everything—they need repetition and accessible reference material.
Third, not having a training schedule. Without one, information gets skipped. Each employee learns different things at different paces. For example, one may never learn how to properly clean a pet’s feeding area because it wasn’t scheduled. When training is unstructured, employees lose trust and think things are made up on the spot. A Jobvite study in 2018 found that 30% of new hires leave within the first 90 days due to unclear expectations and culture mismatches.
Fourth, no follow-up or goals. How do you know they understand the job? Are they meeting expectations? Did you ever explain what success looks like? Employees who know what’s expected will feel empowered and confident. They’ll take ownership and perform better. Remember—your employees should be your top priority. Take care of them and they’ll take care of your clients.
Fifth, not offering a variety of learning resources. People learn differently—visually, auditorily,
