Benefits Of New Employee Orientation
Introduction
After completing the interview process, successful candidates and applicants who stand out are hired to fill the advertised position(s). The next phase involves settling in and getting acquainted with the company or organizational values, culture, norms, and module Operandi. One way of achieving this is by organizing and ensuring that newly hired member(s) of staff participate in orientation.
Orientating new employees lays a foundation for the rest of their careers with the team, department, and organization at large. It helps facilitate the settling-in period and instills confidence, comfort, and a sense of belonging among new members of staff. In contrast, a lack of orientation for new employees might make the employees feel uncomfortable and unwelcome, and may stop them from adapting and reaching their full potential on time.
Before you became a boss, you were probably an employee who went through a few new hire orientations. Therefore, as you evaluate the process at your organization or business enterprise, it may help to reflect upon these experiences. These experiences undoubtedly contributed to your success in the role in the short and long term respectively. Also, it made the working environment a bit easier and enabled you to be a good culture fit. So why not orientate your new employees after hiring them?
What Is Orientation?
Orientation is a process of offering new employees the opportunity and platform to get acquainted with core organizational values, meet new colleagues and team members, get up close and personal with a wealth of departmental functions and ask any burning work-related question(s) they may have in mind. Also, new employee orientation is focused on getting individuals acclimatized to the organization from day one; so that they have an understanding of its policies, rules, and structure. In addition, orientation enables new employees to have an idea of the company’s procedure on topics ranging from paydays to dress code for example.
Orientations have been a formal and productive process that gives new employees a good first impression of the organization as a whole. Similarly, Orientation is adjudged to be one of the most essential cogs in the overall onboarding and settling-in process. It also ensures that new employees get off to the best possible start.
The Scope Of New Employee Orientation
In most organizations, the orientation process for new employees might range from a few hours to a few days, and usually encompass;
- Highlighting organizational health and safety protocols.
- Reviewing organizational administrative procedures and policies.
- Tending to important paperwork.
- Addressing questions and fears from new employees.
- A tour of the company or enterprise building.
The Benefits Of New Employee Orientation
Below are the benefits of orientating your new employees;
- Makes an employee feel welcomed.
- Orientation for new employees reduces anxiety.
- Motivates new employees.
- Conveys the Fundamentals of the Organization.
- Orientation enables employers to avoid information overload.
- Fosters a friendly and productive ambience.
- Ensures new employees make fewer mistakes.
- Better employee retention.
- Orientation reduces start-up costs.
- New employee orientation Saves time for the supervisor.
- It builds trust between employers and employees.
- Improved Communication
Makes an employee feel welcomed: It is important to make new employees feel at ease on their first day at work. One way to ensure that is by organizing employee orientation. When new employees feel welcomed and well received by the organization on their resumption day, they feel comfortable, settle in quickly, and subsequently hit the ground running. In addition, organizations or employers who simply take time out to orientate new employees send a powerful message. It shows that you are ecstatic and happy the new employee(s) is part of the group or team.
Orientation for new employees reduces anxiety: There are arguments that orientation for new employees rarely eradicates or eliminates their worries and concerns. However, it can help reduce and soften the jitters and anxiety. It’s natural for new employees to have bouts of uncertainty and worry on their first day, especially if organizational goals were not explicitly outlined or stated during interviews or job postings. Therefore, orientation for new staff members can offer clarifications on job expectations and sharpen employee’s focus. Any new employee will invariably experience anxiety capable of impeding his/her ability to learn to do the job effectively. Hence, proper orientation will ensure that new employees don’t experience the stress of guessing.
Orientation motivates new employees: Motivation is a key component for every successful venture in life. When an employer or organization orientates new employees, they stimulate and motivate them to get off to a running start. New employees need to understand the importance of making a good impression during their early days and weeks at work. Therefore, an intensive, comprehensive, and effective orientation process can motivate them and supply the fuel needed for an energetic and impressive start.
Convey the fundamentals of the Organization: Employers and organizations can succinctly introduce new employees to the fundamentals of their enterprise during orientation. Relatively, organizational objectives, work culture, and policies can be relayed to new employees during the orientation process. You can let them know clearly, the roles they will play as part of the team, and as a cog in the machine towards achieving overall organizational goals and targets.
Orientation enables employers to avoid information overload: When you skip the orientation phase, you may end up feeding your new employees with excessive information at the same time, which might overwhelm them. Therefore, it is vital to pass some of the needed information to new workers during orientation to ease them into the team.
Foster a friendly and productive ambiance: Every organization thrives on having a positive working environment and ambiance; most employees succeed when the work environment is conducive as well. Therefore, orientating your new employees will pave the way for creating positive work relationships, and subsequently, make them settle easily into their new role or position. This in turn will enhance their productivity at work.
Ensures new employees make fewer mistakes: Orientation prepares new employees for the job ahead and makes them relaxed to some extent, knowing there are people ready to offer guidance and help when needed. When new employees are relaxed and confident, they tend to make fewer mistakes and enable the organization to grow and benefit from better productivity.
Better employee retention: Organizations and businesses witness increased employee turnover when workers feel they aren’t valued, appreciated, or placed in positions and situations that affect their jobs. One way to combat this is new employee orientation. Orientation gives new employees confidence and a sense of belonging, and thus, empowers them with needed tools and apparatus for success in their role. It’s often said that employees don’t quit jobs, they quit managers or supervisors. A lack of orientation leaves a new employee struggling to fit in among coworkers. Also, they will find it difficult to mesh with leadership roles if they do not know what to expect, or how to deliver on those expectations.
When employees quit or resign, it negatively impacts your bottom line. With solid orientation, you can greatly enhance employee retention, and know whether an employee is a good fit from the start.
Orientation reduces start-up costs: Proper orientation can help new members of staff get up to speed, much more quickly. This reduces the cost and expenditure associated with learning the job.
New employee orientation saves time for the supervisor: With proper orientation, employers can efficiently and effectively cover all the things about the role, the work environment, the department, and the organizational culture. In doing so, you save time for the department head or supervisor in charge of the new employee. The supervisor and team members will only be required to reinforce and emphasize these concepts. Simply put, the better the initial orientation, the less likely it is that coworkers and supervisors will have to spend time teaching new employees.
It builds trust between employers and employees: A lot of employers and organizations burn the bridges of trust with new employees before they even get started by skimping on orientation. The first day can be daunting when an employee has no clue about what to do, where to go, who to talk to, or how to do their jobs.
A strong orientation program doesn’t just inform new hires about their roles in the organization, it educates them about company practices. It can only lead to more success when a new employee gets the opportunity to meet the leadership team and move around to meet other employees. Remember, the organization’s leadership is responsible for helping new employees set their goals. They are more likely to align themselves with those goals when they come from someone they trust and are familiar with.
Improved communication: One of the best ways orientation benefits a company is by improving organizational communication. A new job can be intimidating when you enter a company with lots of employees. It’s difficult to know who handles what. Operational procedure aside, who should a new employee go to about concerns or to share feedback about his/her new role? Perhaps, they have ideas for process improvements but don’t know who to turn to.
A strong orientation program provides the structure of communication and lets new employees know where to take their ideas and who to talk to. This relieves a tremendous amount of pressure and uncertainty for a new employee. It fosters the kind of environment that which a new employee will thrive and succeed.
Conclusion
While people can learn from experience, they will make mistakes that are unnecessary and potentially damaging. New employee orientation can help curtail this. You can use the feedback from participating employees to make your orientations even better. However, always keep in mind that the signs of how orientation benefits your Organization might not be really clear straight from day one.