Do you think you are providing adequate information and resources to your employees for them to fit into the new office environment? A new staff orientation program does the work for you.
Companies that invest time in building structured orientation programs are able to retain employees better. Also, when employees know their job roles, it will help boost their confidence.
The question is how we will build a strong orientation program. In this article, we will discuss how you should build an engaging orientation program to benefit your employees and your organization.
Why should you build a strong employee orientation program?
1. Get to know the organization
All the employees get to know about the organization and adjust to it. During orientation, the employee gains knowledge about the rules and policies of the company. It helps in understanding the company’s values and mission, which will align them with the company’s goals.
2. Positive and productive working relationships
Job orientation will help the employees adjust to the new environment and build better work relationships. Orientation will help them adjust to new teams and also identify their strength at the beginning which will help in adding more value to the team.
3. Setting the tone for the job
Orientation gives the employees a head start, and they are clearer about the tasks they need to perform. They will be able to understand what value they are adding to the company with their work. 4% of the hires leave the company after a bad first-day experience, this adds additional value to an effective employee orientation program.
4. Get to know your employee
Orientation helps you, as an organization to know your employees better. You will be able to identify the skill gaps at the beginning itself, and it will help you analyze how you can help your employees.
Also, you will be able to identify your employees’ strengths and polish them further.
5. Improves your employee retention
With effective orientation, you will be able to improve the retention rate. According to research, 69% of the employees who had a good orientation are likely to stay in the organization for three years or more.
6. Helps in bringing productivity on track
When employees are aware of their work beforehand, it becomes easier for them to start their tasks early. This will help them take the tasks early and kick off the journey easily.
How to develop an effective program?
After realizing the importance of employee orientation, let us now see how you can build an excellent employee orientation program:
1. Reduce first-day jitters
Give a structured day to your new employees and don’t confuse them with several formalities and processes. Let them know the doors they can knock on when they are in need; this will make their tenure in the company easier.
Let them know if there is any kind of dress code or what type of documents they require.
2. Get their workstation ready
Don’t think of giving your employees a temporary place for the day they come; this will have a negative impact on the work culture you offer. Be prepared with their badges, keys, cabinet, and all the other resources they might need on the first day of their onboarding.
For any remote employees, these resources should be sent beforehand so the employees can set up their professional workspace at home.
3. Welcome them to the team
Make sure to introduce them to your team so they feel welcome. You should introduce them to everyone on their immediate team in particular.
You can give your new hire perks such as t-shirts, goodies, or anything else that you find feasible.
4. Be ready with your learning resources
When an employee is joining, you must be ready with all your learning resources or orientation resources that your employees must be needing.
You must decide on the ideal courses or training; you can assign mentors who will guide them on how to move forward with the job role.
Encourage your employees to proactively ask questions and whatever doubts they have regarding the onboarding or their job role.
5. Create visual presentations
Rather than giving your employees long and boring lectures, it is better if you provide them with engaging resources.
You must offer them visual presentations that will tell them about the organization or the job role and will help them perform better.
Make sure they understand all the processes including the performance criteria which will lead to promotion. If they are aware of all the policies benefitting them, they will feel valued in the company.
6. Group sessions
You can hold group sessions as well that will help your employees to have community learning. You can invite employees from various departments and have a collective session for your employee that will help him gather knowledge about the work environment too. So, if he faces any difficulty, he knows whom to reach.
7. Set the expectation of the job role
While giving time to the new employees to adjust, it is also important that you tell the expectations of the job role. This will mentally prepare them and help them get through.
They can plan their action plans accordingly as per the roles has been divided and allotted to them.
8. Give them the project brief
You must familiarize them with the project they are working on. This will help them understand their tasks and perform their duties better.
9. Feedback
When you have onboarded the employees successfully and are done with the orientation. Now is the time for an employee to express their feelings about the orientation process.
It entirely depends on you how you want to extract the information. You can give forms to the employees, or you can have one-on-one discussions with them to know how they feel about the whole orientation process.
To build an effective employee orientation program you must know what your employees might require. You can analyze the requirements based on the previous feedback you must have gotten from the employees.
Knowing how your orientation process is serving employees is important, as the retention rate heavily depends on it.
So, make sure to analyze your employees’ Feeback and your policies!
