The adaptation process in any field cannot be called easy, because it is woven from various difficulties, tricks, surprises, forcing people to leave the comfort zone, which cannot be pleasant. You need to understand that this is an absolutely normal and natural process, and the occurrence of discomfort is evidence that everything is going according to plan. Labor adaptation is a complex and lengthy process that requires a responsible approach not only from the employee himself, but also from his environment.
Social adaptation
Social adaptation is a very important point, as it determines the well-being of the individual. Getting used to people and society is not such a simple thing, but the psychological health of an individual depends on the ability to adapt to changing conditions and new personalities.
Social adaptation can be considered as a one-act process, and multi-act. What does it mean? A person who has successfully introduced himself into society will feel comfortable in any team if their values, rules of behavior and moral standards are approximately the same. If he will change teams, then here we will talk, rather, about easy readaptation.
Imagine that a person grew up in a Russian village, studied at a rural school and worked all his life in the same environment. His values formed under this environment, and habits correspond to the rules of survival among people like him. If this subject decides to drop everything and leave for New York, then an incredible number of surprises will await him here: a new language, a new mentality, a different rhythm, currency, values, prices, requirements, landscapes ... All this provokes the development of completely new habits, manners, perceptions, immerses a person in extreme stressful conditions.
The concept of labor adaptation
Labor adaptation is a complex mutual process of adaptation of a person to the working environment and the same environment to the person himself. When a new employee arrives at work, he masters the norms, rules of conduct, the system of relations within the team. In parallel with this, he learns to work efficiently, learns new skills, adapts to the regimen.
Labor adaptation is a process, it combines social, professional, psychophysiological, organizational, economic, cultural and social adaptation.
Some researchers consider labor adaptation as part of social.
Types of labor adaptation
Professional adaptation is the development of professional skills, improving the knowledge that is necessary to carry out their work in a particular organization. This type of adaptation includes the development of ethical and moral standards, the ability to solve complex professional dilemmas.
Social adaptation consists in the ability to form positive relationships with members of the labor collective, to establish external labor contacts.
Psychophysiological adaptation is an addiction to physical exertion, the convenience of a workplace and space, remoteness of work from the place of residence and planning depending on this time, etc.
Organizational is getting used to the work regime and working hours.
Economic adaptation is the familiarization of the employee with the economic mechanisms of the organization, getting used to the size and mode of payment for their work.
Cultural and everyday adaptation is the participation of a new employee in various events that are not part of his working time and direct duties.
Stages of labor adaptation
The first stage is considered to be the acquaintance of a new employee with the enterprise as a whole, with the norms of behavior, with how these or those actions are evaluated.
The second stage is the adaptation of the new employee to the new internal laws of the organization and the team, but at this stage he is still guided by his personal or previously acquired attitudes and rules.
At the stage of assimilation, a new employee joins the team. A person at this stage already identifies himself with this group.
And the last stage is identification, which is characterized by the coincidence of the goals of the new employee and organization.
How long does the adaptation take?
There is no definite answer to this question, since there are different levels of complexity of the duties performed, various methods of adapting new employees in the organization itself, the types of temperament of the employee, his psychotype, work experience and attitude to work.
Some companies are interested in quickly adapting a new employee, therefore, they use various methods that help people quickly integrate into the workflow and work productively. These same organizations are least interested in staff turnover, therefore they provide not only professional, but also personal growth, pay attention to the arrangement of the employee’s workspace, choose the most suitable schedule for him, etc. In such cases, the adaptation process is the least painful, it can last from two weeks to one month.
Budget organizations are less likely to be interested in quickly adapting a new employee, and the process itself is the result of the interest of the team itself and the administration.
Directions of labor adaptation
Not only new workers at the workplace are adapted, but also old ones when the company was reorganized, a change of manager, staff replenishment, etc.
The process of readaptation (i.e., re-adaptation) is characteristic of workers returning to their workplace after a vacation or a long sick leave.
Characteristics of an adapted employee
Often people call the process of labor adaptation a clear word "joined": joined the team, joined the work. When a person easily performs his direct duties, and staying in a team does not cause him any discomfort, it can be argued that he is adapted.
What does "without much labor" mean? There are professions and positions where without a lot of effort the result is impossible. There are situations that are far from the template, and their implementation requires a creative approach ... The main difference of an employee who has successfully passed social and labor adaptation is his confidence that he will be able to solve all issues (even if at the time of their occurrence he has no idea about the solution).
A sign of social adaptation in the team is not the complete absence of conflicts, but the ability to solve them constructively. Productive activities should be accompanied by disputes, discussions, but not go into confrontation. A socially adapted employee can defend his point of view, including if it does not coincide with the opinion of the masses, but at the same time maintain friendly and positive relations with group members.
Labor activity as the main way of adaptation
If you think about it, then the process of introducing a person into any society occurs through labor activity. Be it mental or physical skills, without them, a person cannot be an effective unit in a given society.
The learning process can also be equated with labor activity, since it requires significant mental and sometimes physical efforts of a person. Having a certain store of knowledge and skills, a person speaks the language of the profession. Adaptation in work is one of the most effective ways to integrate into society.
A few tips for a new employee
- Do not be afraid to make mistakes. In the period of acquaintance with your profession at the workplace, small and large gaps should occur. Make efforts to quickly master the necessary skills, but do not try to do everything stiffly perfect. Why? Everything is very simple. Firstly, by showing your maximum potential in the early days, you set yourself a high bar, lowering which by at least a millimeter, you will appear to be a failure or an emotionally burned out employee.
- Do not try to please every member of the team and everyone will like it. Many new employees in the early days of their workplace experience stress in order to drown it out, they are trying to get a support group. One effective way is to help everyone. In two weeks, people will get used to your services and any refusal will be perceived as an act of protest. In the future, there can be no talk of any full-fledged adaptation of the employee.
- The other extreme is to show your character and climb on the rampage because of every trifle. Such a person immediately acquires myths and hostility on the part of employees. If a new employee causes fear or discomfort for the rest, then sooner or later measures will be taken to extract this “foreign body” from the organization.
Labor adaptation in prisons
Many researchers call the labor adaptation of an employee in an enterprise one of the types of social adaptation. It is noted that this is a two-way process, as a consensus is sought between a person and an organization in order to reduce the adaptation process to a minimum. The more successful the adaptation, the sooner the employee will begin to act fruitfully. The goal is to quickly receive a product or service.
The centers for labor adaptation of convicts pursue slightly different goals. Of course, the process is accompanied by both social and psychophysiological adaptation, as individuals have to merge into the society of convicts and get used to a very strict regime. Labor adaptation in prisons is corrective. It will not be entirely correct to use the expression “successful adaptation of prisoners,” since a person does not have to adapt to such conditions, he is only obliged to change himself, to learn a lesson.
If we talk about the example of the film "Escape from the Shawshank", you can see that the successful adaptation of prisoners still exists. This requires not two weeks or two years, but decades. The thing is that with age, the person’s ability to adapt decreases, and any change in the conditions for better or worse requires the flexibility of the psyche and perception.
Career guidance
Career guidance and labor adaptation are two interrelated concepts. The first is aimed at young people and those who are looking for work in order to make it clear the following: what type of work suits them, what kind of workload they can withstand, determine the sphere of interests and areas of competence.
If a person does not have the abilities or desire to do some work, then the adaptation will be sluggish and long. The employee can perform another type of activity at a high level, but this work may turn out to be too energy-consuming or morally difficult for this person, which will lead to rapid burnout.
Career guidance is also necessary in order for a person to soberly assess their abilities, since everyone can embroider a cross, but not everyone can withstand this monotonous work 8 hours a day.
There are individuals who manifest themselves in monotonous work, and there are those who are effective in diversity. Each new type of activity arouses their enthusiasm and desire to bring rational proposals.