Efficient employee orientation and on boarding

Imagine landing that new job and finding yourself on your very first day at the office, right off the bat, without a guide or a clue about how to go about navigating the lion's den.

As your co-workers run around like headless chickens, you’re expected to know just exactly where your cubicle is, exactly how to get things done and who everyone is.

Sounds like a nightmare right?

Inefficient employee orientation can exist in any company, whether large or small. It may even come down to incomplete employee orientation and there is something intrinsically very human about making a newcomer feel welcome.

Your employee's first day can set the tone for the duration of his/her time in your organisation and if you want to manage turnover well, stemming the urge to quit among new recruits should be a priority.

An efficient new employee orientation and onboarding program can be the key towards retaining top talent and building a company culture that works.

Such a program goes beyond simply handing out papers and handbooks or taking new employees on the 'grand tour'.
Human resource management should be intimately involved during the new employee's first day in the organisation and slowly begin to hand over a certain measure of the new employee’s supervision to his/her superiors.

Orientation and onboarding: What's the difference?

A typical orientation will likely take no more than a few hours out of the first week of a new employee’s time in the organisation while onboarding can take up to a year.

During orientation, need-to-know information is delivered to the new employee using a classroom style approach, whereas, in an onboarding program, new employees are filled in with customised information based on their roles, which can require information to be exchanged in a two-way feed.

In an inefficient new employee orientation program, new employees may be left to sink or swim in an oasis of information that has just been dumped onto them and be expected to process and implement it all in a short amount of time.

This can result in a big mess of confusion, productivity loss and a general feeling of not 'being settled'.

If this early stage has not been tackled correctly, what chance will your new employees have to develop fully into their roles and grow/ascend within the organisation?

To minimise the chances of a significantly costly turnover rate brought about by the aforementioned scenario, focus on getting things right from the start with an efficient orientation and onboarding program. Get new employees to understand and gradually fill their roles, getting better and better as they go along.

Get them up to speed in a systemised and efficient way. You may find yourself breathing a sigh of relief as everyone involves experiences less of that unnecessary stress and anxiety.

Understand that your new employees are people too and that the stress associated with learning 'on the job' can become overwhelming without the proper guidance.

Growing and developing within the organisation shouldn't come at the expense of individual (and group) health.

So how can you take the proper steps towards designing and an orientation and onboarding program that works?

For starters, scrutinise your current program (if you have one) and go through the main things that can be changed. Determine what gaps need to be filled. Run through the steps of the program as if you were a new employee. If the program seems to be relying too heavily on the shoulders of your HR management team, try and find ways to allocate some of the most frequent processes to machines. Software, applications and tech/data-driven systems are all available to help you refine your orientation and onboarding processes.

If done right, even the first few minutes of the new employee orientation can ultimately lead to a significant increase in productivity and a better working attitude.

A smarter HR system for a smarter business: Carbonate helps you keep track of attendance and leaves in your company, and keeps you connected to your staff with its built-in broadcasting and promotion messaging tool. Its employee profiles and HR leave management system meet MOM 2016 Employment Act Amendment requirements.
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