New Employee Orientation

Orienting new employees is essential to prepare them to perform on the job as quickly as possible. Also called onboarding, orientation is the most important and widely conducted type of regular training provided for new employees.

Orientation, which is the planned introduction of new employees to their jobs, coworkers, and the organization, is offered by most employers. Unfortunately, without good planning, new employee orientation sessions can come across as boring, irrelevant, and a waste of time to both new employees and their department supervisors and managers. But well-designed and delivered orientation can be very effective.

Among the decisions to be made when planning for new employee orientation are what to present and when to present it.
Too much information on the first day leads to perceptions of ineffective onboarding. Several shorter sessions over a longer period of time, bringing in information as it is needed, are more effective.

Successfully integrating new hires is important, and measuring the degree of success allows the orientation program to be managed well. The way in which a firm plans, organizes, and structures its training affects the way employees experience the training, which in turn influences the effectiveness of the training.