Employee Orientation - Keeping Employees On Board
Orienting employees to their workplaces and their jobs is one of the most neglected functions in many organizations. An employee handbook and piles of paperwork is not sufficient anymore when it comes to welcoming a new employee to your organization. The most frequent complaints about new employee orientation are that it is overwhelming, boring, or that the new employee is left to sink or swim. The result is often a confused new employee who is not productive and is more likely to leave the organization within a year.
With an ongoing labor crunch, developing an effective employee orientation experience continues to be crucial. It is critical that new hire programs are carefully planned to educate the employee to the values, history and who is who in the organization. A well thought out orientation program, whether it lasts one day or six months, will help not only in retention of employees, but also in productivity. Organizations that have good orientation programs get their people up to speed faster, have better alignment between what the employees do and what the organization needs them to do, and have lower turnover rates.
Purposes of Orientation
Employers have to realize that orientation isn't just a nice gesture put on by the organization. It serves as an important element of the recruitment and retention process. Some key purposes are: .
1. To Reduce Startup Costs - Proper orientation can help the employee get "up to speed" much more quickly, thereby reducing the costs associated with learning the job.
2. To Reduce Anxiety - Any employee, when put into a new, strange situation, will experience anxiety that can impede his or her ability to learn to do the job. Proper orientation helps to reduce anxiety that results from entering into an unknown situation, and helps provide guidelines for behavior and conduct, so the employee doesn't have to experience the stress of guessing.
3. To Reduce Employee Turnover - Employee turnover increases as employees feel they are not valued, or are put in positions where they can't possibly do their jobs. Orientation shows that the organization values the employee, and helps provide the tools necessary for succeeding in the job.
4. To Save Time for Supervisors & Coworkers - Simply put, the better the initial orientation, the less likely supervisors and co workers will have to spend time teaching the employee.
5. To Develop Realistic Job Expectations, Positive Attitudes and Job Satisfaction -It is important that employees learn as soon as possible what is expected of them, and what to expect from others, in addition to learning about the values and attitudes of the organization. While people can learn from experience, they will make many mistakes that are unnecessary and potentially damaging.
The main reasons orientation programs fail:
-The program was not planned.
-The employee was unaware of the job requirements.
-The employee does not feel welcome. All new employees should complete a new employment orientation program that is designed to assist them in adjusting to their jobs and work environment and to instill a positive work attitude and motivation at the onset.
A thoughtful new employee orientation program can reduce turnover and save an organization thousands of dollars. One reason people change jobs is because they never feel welcome or part of the organization they join. The most important principle to convey during an orientation is commitment to continuous improvement and continual learning. That way, new employees become comfortable with asking questions to obtain the information they need to learn, problem solve and make decisions.
A well thought out orientation process takes energy, time and commitment, however it usually pays off for the individual employee, the department, and the organization. One such example is Mecklenburg County 's ( North Carolina ) success in revamping its employee orientation program, to live up to its credo of employees being the organization's greatest resource. In 1996, as part of a larger initiative to redesign services to meet customer needs, the Mecklenburg County Human Resources Department staff made a smart decision- they viewed new employees as part of their customer base and asked their customers what they wanted.
Employees were asked what they wanted and needed from orientation. They were also asked what they liked and didn't like about orientation. New employees were asked what they wanted to know about the organization. Additionally, the organization's senior management were asked what they believed was important for employees to learn when joining the county payroll.
Using feedback collected from employees, Mecklenburg's HR training staff first realized that meeting employees' needs required more than a half day session. Trusting employee feedback, the trainers crafted a one-day orientation that gave employees what they said they wanted and what senior management believed employees needed to know. Essentially, the mix includes the topics that lack excitement-W-2s and various policies and procedures-but it also includes details that let the employee know something about the organization.
Conclusion
An effective orientation program (or lack of it) will make a significant difference in how quickly an employee can become more productive, and also has long term effects for the organization. The end of the first day and the first week is just as important as the beginning. Let your employees feel you want them to come back the next day and the next.....
By Judith Brown , Director of HR Research, International Personnel Management Association
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