A work orientation can make a big difference in how a recently hired employee feels about their new workplace. Doing an orientation shows that the management is committed to helping new hires find their feet in their new positions and that they pay attention to their employees. It’s doubly a good thing if other members of the team are willing to be involved as well.
Spending the resources to do a proper orientation is shown to help with both increasing productivity more quickly and worker retention. Starting a new job is nerve-wracking, no matter how much of an opportunity it is. Remember that we’ve all been there, and try to make it as welcoming and easy as possible. It’ll pay off in the long run.
Key Takeaways:
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An entire workweek is a standard for how long an orientation should last.
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Making the new employee feel welcome is a major part of a successful orientation.
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Orientations have several benefits, such as increasing productivity more rapidly and increasing employee retention.
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In order to have a successful orientation, it’s important to have buy-in from other members of your team.
What Should Be Included in a Job Orientation?
Orientations aren’t one size fits all. There are many different careers and many different company cultures, and all those factors will alter the nature of an orientation. That being said, there are some standard practices when it comes to an orientation that is an excellent framework if you want to plan one for a new employee.
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Plan what you want to go over. While this seems incredibly basic, it’s also incredibly important. Your orientation structure doesn’t have to be rigid but make sure you know what you want to cover and the order to cover it. Be sure to emphasize the things that are especially important for the new addition to knowing.
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Contact the employee. Starting a new job is stressful. You don’t have to give them a play-by-play of what’ll happen, but at the same time, informing them of what to expect on their first day can reduce anxiety. It will also show that you’re eager to have them on board and plan to be involved as they start out.
Not having the leader of the department invested in their training and getting them up to speed is disheartening and can have a chilling effect on the whole process. The other members of the team will then be unsure how much effort they should put into helping the new hire as well.
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Make sure your paperwork is in order. Being disorganized isn’t going to instill the new employee any form of confidence. If there’s hiring paperwork they still need to fill out, make sure you have it. If they need to sign a waiver for training or if there’s an NDA because your work is sensitive, make sure you have it ready.
This isn’t just a matter of having all your ducks in a row, though that is important. You’re also modeling behavior, and it will make expectations and requirements clear to your new hire.
It’s very unlikely that they’ll consider any of this a dealbreaker, and it’d be a bit of a faux pas for them to back out that point – but they need to be aware of what’s expected of them.
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Make the new hire feel welcome. This is extremely important. Starting a new job can bring back that queasy feeling of transferring to a new school and being forced to introduce yourself to the class. Let the new hire know that they’re welcome at the new workplace and that you’re there to help them as they get used to their new position.
It’s also imperative that you get other members of the team in on this. They don’t need to go all out, but having them welcome the new person and offer to help them get settled in is important. It makes the transition smoother and means that there are others that the employee can turn to as they learn the ropes.
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Has the training schedule been planned out? Training is an important part of getting proficient at a new job. For some, training is more rigorous than others, but all new jobs have a training period. Having that planned out will help the new hire know what to expect and have everything ready to get it started.
This is especially important if you have an in-depth or specialized training program. You may need to bring outside assistance or set up a time with the person who trains new hires at the company.
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Treat them to lunch. This is a low-cost way to make someone feel welcome. Take them and the team out to lunch so that they can get to know one another in a non-work environment. It’s more relaxed, so it encourages questions. It also makes it a positive experience for all members of the team.
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Ask if there are any more questions that they have. This is a way to make sure that they understood the orientation and that you didn’t leave anything important out. It also reinforces the fact that they’re encouraged to ask questions if they don’t understand something.
What Is a New Employee Orientation?
Orientations for a job are done for the purpose of integrating a new employee into their position. It’s a way to help the new hire meet the other members of their team, become familiarized with the company culture, and be encouraged to ask questions and learn about their new position.
While there isn’t a hard and fast rule, most orientations last a workweek. That gives the employee time to adjust and the management time to go over necessary information and preliminary training. There may be additional training afterward, or it may be more on-the-job style learning.
Why Do Workplaces Have Orientations?
Having an orientation for a new employee has many different benefits. The first is that the new employee doesn’t feel pressured to start being productive immediately, a nearly impossible task for the majority of careers. It also means that they know what to expect for their first few days, which are typically the most stressful.
There are several ways that orientations can help new employees start off on the right foot in their new job. Among them are:
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Being a forum that encourages questions. While asking questions is the best way to learn how to do a new job, it can be a challenge. This is especially so for younger employees just starting out who lack confidence. But the whole point of an orientation is to get them accustomed to the new position, and it opens the door to questions.
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Allowing them to adjust to the company culture. Every company’s culture is different. Even if you have a very positive company culture, it can take some time for new hires to adjust to it. The orientation will give them an idea of what your company culture is and allow them some time to fit into it.
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Takes the onus off of them to introduce themselves to the team. Not everyone is a gregarious extrovert. The orientation process should involve the entire team – at least for part of it – which will allow the new hire to get to know the team and vice versa. It’ll also make them feel more welcome.
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The ability to lay out workplace rules and procedures. While every workplace has a handbook, it’s the rare employee who sits down to read the whole thing. Taking time to walk them through the important procedures and rules, such as dress code, pay schedule, benefits, and general expectations, allows the new hire to integrate smoothly.
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It makes employees more productive and more quickly. Taking the time to explain the responsibilities, expectations, and procedures for a new job allows the employee to hit the ground running. Of course, they won’t be instantly as productive as your experienced staff, but it’ll take them less time to get there.
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It shows that the employer puts thought and effort into their hiring process. An orientation takes time, monetary investment, and buy-in. If a workplace can get all three of these things together, it shows it to be functional and that the management cares about making new hires feel welcome.
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Boosts retention. The fact that the company spends time on getting the new employee used to the company culture and getting to know them makes them more invested in their workplace.
If a company doesn’t bother with an orientation, it sends a message to the staff that they don’t pay attention to their hiring process or their personnel. No one likes to feel like they don’t matter or they’re expendable – and not putting the investment into train sometimes makes it feel like you don’t expect them to be there long.
Final Thoughts
It’s not a bad idea to ask for feedback from the new hire, either. Just be aware that they’ll likely still be nervous and worried about if a negative reaction will hurt their career. It’s likely better to wait until they’ve been working at the company for a while before checking in as to how well the orientation worked.
After all, if they haven’t done any work there yet, will they really know if orientation covered everything they needed to know?
The main thing to keep in mind with orientation is that you want to help the new employee. The best thing you can do for them is to make it clear that questions are encouraged and that you and other members of the team will help them as they get used to working there. So long as they feel supposed and comfortable, they’ll soon become a valuable team member.
Author
Di Doherty
Di has been a writer for more than half her life. Most of her writing so far has been fiction, and she’s gotten short stories published in online magazines Kzine and Silver Blade, as well as a flash fiction piece in the Bookends review. Di graduated from Mary Baldwin College (now University) with a degree in Psychology and Sociology.
