A Short Guide to Orientation for New Employees

Hiring professionals are responsible for integrating a new employee into a team, that’s why orientation programs are extremely important for proper welcome of employees to the company. Organizations that invest resources into their new employee onboarding process experience many long-term benefits and advantages.

Find out more about the importance of new employee orientation and best practices to use to bring on new team members more efficiently.

What is new employee orientation?

The process of introducing new hires to their employment, coworkers, and the organization is known as new employee orientation. It's about your company's identity, how new people fit in, and why they're vital.


The purpose of new employee orientation is to make the new employee feel welcome, integrated into the organization, and capable of executing the new position as rapidly as feasible.

The key benefits of new employee orientation

The benefits of employee orientation usually include:

More commitment to the organization. Good training makes new hires feel welcomed and appreciated, which results in a better commitment to their job.

Increased productivity. New employee orientation, when done correctly, can help staff get up to speed more quickly. It will also help to reduce human errors, which increases the workflow.

Reduced turnover. Employee turnover should decrease as employee orientation informs employees that the company cares about them and provides them with the tools they need to accomplish their jobs properly.

Top talent. It’s critical for businesses to cultivate a strong, welcoming company culture and maintain a top-notch employee orientation program. It's also beneficial to create possibilities for you to develop a good relationship with management.

Trust. For a new employee, the first day might be intimidating. The individual frequently has no idea what he is expected to do, where he should go, who to consult, or how to complete specified tasks. A well-designed orientation program assists new workers in learning more about their roles while also educating them on company procedures.

According to Glassdoor, firms with good onboarding processes increase new hire retention by 82% and productivity by more than 70%.

New employee orientation best practices

New employee orientation, according to Wanous and Reicher, should first and foremost focus on teaching coping techniques for the most common stressors that newcomers face. Here are the best practices for new employee orientation:

Provide general support and reassurance

For the most part, starting a new job is stressful. The goal of new employee orientation is to relieve stress and comfort employees. Assigning a buddy or peer mentor to each new hire is one approach to fostering this type of support.

Streamline paperwork

Hiring a new employee, whether they'll work in the office or remotely, entails a significant amount of paperwork. New hire documentation may include a signed offer letter, W-4 form, tax withholding form, direct deposit slip, background check information, benefits forms, and other items, depending on the firm. Keeping these records structured aids in the onboarding of new employees.

Create a checklist and a schedule

Making a new hire schedule is an important employee onboarding best practice because starting a new job can be intimidating. Giving new employees an approximate timetable for their first day and weeks helps them prepare. Avoid information overload while drafting your new hire's timetable. If at all feasible, keep the first week light and leave time for breaks, note-taking, and information processing.

Facilitate introductions

Facilitating coworker introductions is an important part of the employee onboarding process. Whether or not coworkers take the effort to greet a new employee might leave a lasting impression.

Managers can use a variety of new hire orientation ideas to help promote these encounters and ensure that their team is aware when a new employee begins. It's critical for new personnel to feel at ease and familiar with their coworkers. Introductions help people get to know the people they'll be working with.

Organize social events for new employees

Organizing social gatherings for new employees to meet their coworkers promotes connection and camaraderie. It helps to break the ice and allows everyone to get to know one another on a more intimate level. It can also assist boost employee morale.

This can be a first-day lunch, coffee breaks, or office happy hours. All of these small interactions can help teams to get to know each other.

Stay consistent

It's all well and good to provide structure, but it's pointless if individuals don't use the checklists supplied on a regular basis. To put it another way, make sure managers are using your checklists throughout every new employee onboarding. Checking up on new hires on a regular basis is an important part of new employee orientation.

89% of HR managers feel that regular check-ins and peer input have a good impact on their companies, according to an SHRM survey conducted with Globoforce. A buddy system is used by several firms, both in-person and remote, to check in on new hires during their first few months.

Work towards improvement

Collect comments from new hires, make improvements to your procedure, and continue to enhance your new hire orientation. Request feedback from remote and office employees once you've successfully onboarded them. You can hold a final orientation meeting to discuss the feedback, or you can distribute a survey to gather suggestions for improvement.

Conclusion

The HR department conducts new employee orientation to train and inform new workers about their jobs and business standards. Orientation is crucial because it makes a new employee feel valued. It also lowers employee turnover and allows for the development of meaningful relationships.
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