{"id":4285,"date":"2016-09-16T14:59:52","date_gmt":"2016-09-16T14:59:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/?p=4285"},"modified":"2017-03-23T11:14:54","modified_gmt":"2017-03-23T11:14:54","slug":"new-hire-orientation-onboard-employees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/new-hire-orientation-onboard-employees.html","title":{"rendered":"New employee orientation: How to successfully onboard a new hire to your company"},"content":{"rendered":"
Can you remember the day you started at a new school? Do you recall the feeling of anticipation, the nerves, the worries? Little did you know that it was just a practice run for your working life and the first day you walk through your new employer\u2019s doors!<\/p>\n

Now, I don\u2019t know about you, but I\u2019ve had my fair share of great and not-so-great inductions when I\u2019ve been hired: all the way from a fun and engaging welcome week with plenty of orientation activities, down to someone pointing at a seat and saying \u2018That\u2019s your cubicle. Enjoy.\u2019 and walking off. Needless to say, I didn\u2019t stay at that last job for long.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not enough to just hire good employees – you also have to put the effort in to bring them on board <\/strong>with an onboarding program<\/a><\/strong>, to help them find their feet and get to work happily and productively.<\/p>\n

Have a great new hire orientation program<\/a><\/strong> and you\u2019re likely to get someone who will stay motivated<\/a><\/strong> and engaged with your company for years to come. Get it wrong, and you may find yourself having to hire new people over and over, wondering why people don\u2019t stay for long.<\/p>\n

So, what do you need to include in a great new hire orientation?<\/strong> What do your new employees need to know? Let\u2019s look at the kind of information you should include and how you can deliver it.<\/p>\n

Your New Hire Orientation Checklist<\/h2>\n

The first thing you need to do is decide what someone joining your company for the first time really needs to know. Use your own experience as a guide<\/em> – what was your orientation experience like? What information was useful, and what was not so good? At this stage, you may want to consult with your colleagues and ask their opinion on the matter. If you work for a large organization, try to talk to people from as many different departments as possible. A great induction for one team may not be as useful for a different group.<\/p>\n

Here are some ideas to consider when you\u2019re onboarding your new hires<\/a>.<\/strong> Of course, you will probably have other things you\u2019ll have to include, depending on what your organization does, but I think you\u2019ll find these points are widely applicable to any good employee orientation.<\/p>\n

Finding their feet<\/h3>\n

There\u2019s nothing more likely to disaffect a new hire than not being able to find their way around their workplace. Everything from the location of the photocopier to where to get a coffee is important for grounding new employees and getting them settled. The first day in any new job is disorienting enough, so aim to make it easy for them to ease into things.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t focus on too much detail at this stage – instead, focus on the practical steps that will ensure your new hire will feel at home.<\/strong> Show them around the place. Point out where the amenities are. Help them get their ID cards, and ensure that they can log on to the PC. Focusing on these quotidian issues early on is the best way to reassure your new employee.<\/p>\n

Above all, make them feel welcome. Introduce them to the team they\u2019ll be working with. You may also want someone to act as a mentor or a \u2018work buddy\u2019, initially.<\/p>\n

Okay, so what about new hires who work remotely?<\/em> Not everyone commutes into an office these days, of course. Well, you still need to make them welcome in the same way – it\u2019s just that you will make that happen exclusively through an online platform. Team introductions can always be done using your\u00a0Learning and Talent Development\u00a0Platform<\/a><\/strong>, and key information about where to find your company\u2019s \u2018virtual amenities\u2019 (i.e. the files, software, etc. that your new hire needs to access) can be put into the online employee orientation course<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

We do things this way<\/h3>\n

Every company is different and has its own ways of dealing with things – and this can be disorienting for a new hire. In a way, it\u2019s akin to the culture shock one can feel when moving to a different country. And often, it\u2019s the little things that can have the biggest impact on how a new hire feels about their workplace: If you have traditions such as Pizza Tuesday or Dress Down Friday, make sure to let them know.<\/p>\n

Of course, there will be the more serious things to consider as well, such as meeting times or expected deadline targets, but your company culture is made up of many facets – try to include all of them. It\u2019s all about making your new employee feel included.<\/p>\n

Who we are, where we are, and where we\u2019re going<\/h3>\n

It\u2019s vital that your new hire gets to understand the company as a whole, from its origin to its future aims.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Of course, you\u2019d expect someone who starts working for you to have read up on your business before even being interviewed, but the perspective changes from an external view to an internal one once they come\u00a0in on their first day.<\/p>\n

If a new hire understands how the company evolved, how it operates now, and its vision for the future, then they are again more likely to feel involved, included, and ready to be productive<\/a><\/strong> from the get-go.<\/p>\n

Now, this doesn\u2019t have to be an epic tale on the scale of Lord of The Rings<\/em>: Instead, keep it simple. A lot of this can be done using an online employee orientation course, possibly with a short, fun test<\/a><\/strong> added at the end.<\/p>\n

How we run<\/h3>\n

It\u2019s a surprising thing, but many new hire induction programs don\u2019t include information about how a company is managed<\/a><\/strong> – straightforward things such as where HR is based, who a new employee\u2019s line manager is, or indeed who the bosses are. I once worked in a place where I used to share the lift every day with some old guy. It was only six months in that I realized he was the CEO!<\/p>\n

Ensuring that new hires understand how your company operates, who the managers are, how they can communicate effectively with their team and managers, are all sure-fire ways to help them get into a routine easily and efficiently.<\/p>\n

The traditional way of communicating this information is in a good old induction handbook or employee guide. Instead, you may find it better to hold small group meetings with senior staff and new hires, or have a webinar Q&A session, featuring your managers.<\/p>\n

Paperwork<\/h3>\n

Yes, the dreaded \u2018P\u2019 word. There\u2019s no getting around it<\/em>: whenever a new hire starts, there\u2019s bound to be a fair amount of documentation to be covered, along with aspects such as health and safety, compliance<\/a><\/strong> and company policies.<\/p>\n

Again, the traditional way of dealing with this is via handbooks and long (and frequently dull) induction day workshops. Fortunately, this needs not be the case these days. Much of the hard work of going through all these necessary pieces can be done in an online course format.<\/p>\n

The advantage of doing this is that the new hire can work at their own pace<\/a><\/strong>, and the content can be adaptable according to the individual needs<\/strong> of each employee and exactly which department he or she is going to work in.<\/p>\n

Alternatively, you could create a blended learning solution<\/a><\/strong>, where your new hires have to complete certain online tasks at home, then have a smaller, shorter induction meeting, where you\u2019ll be able to get a good idea of what they know and understand.<\/p>\n

So what is new hire orientation all about?<\/h3>\n

Ultimately, a new hire orientation program is all about making your new employees feel part of the family<\/strong>. Get it right, and you\u2019ll have a long, productive future together. And in today\u2019s super fast-paced workplace, choosing to onboard new hires online is a sure-fire way to ensure this happens cost-effectively and can be used as reference, till the new employee is up-and-running.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Can you remember the day you started at a new school? Do you recall the feeling of anticipation, the nerves, the worries? Little did you know that it was just a practice run for your working life and the first day you walk through your new employer\u2019s doors! Now, I don\u2019t know about you, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33872,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[281],"class_list":["post-4285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-practices","tag-employee-onboarding"],"yoast_head":"\nNew hire orientation: Onboard your new employees successfully<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What do employees need to know before becoming part of your team? Make sure you include everything you need to in your new hire orientation program!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/new-hire-orientation-onboard-employees.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New employee orientation: How to successfully onboard a new hire to your company\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What do employees need to know before becoming part of your team? Make sure you include everything you need to in your new hire orientation program!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/new-hire-orientation-onboard-employees.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"eFront Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-09-16T14:59:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-03-23T11:14:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.efrontlearning.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/efront.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nikos Andriotis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nikos Andriotis\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/new-hire-orientation-onboard-employees.html#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/new-hire-orientation-onboard-employees.html\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nikos Andriotis\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ad73fe0df3ce823020fd1b37d39b1490\"},\"headline\":\"New employee orientation: How to successfully onboard a new hire to your company\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-09-16T14:59:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-03-23T11:14:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/new-hire-orientation-onboard-employees.html\"},\"wordCount\":1374,\"commentCount\":0,\"keywords\":[\"Employee Onboarding\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Best practices\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/new-hire-orientation-onboard-employees.html#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/new-hire-orientation-onboard-employees.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/new-hire-orientation-onboard-employees.html\",\"name\":\"New hire orientation: Onboard your new employees successfully\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-09-16T14:59:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-03-23T11:14:54+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ad73fe0df3ce823020fd1b37d39b1490\"},\"description\":\"What do employees need to know before becoming part of your team? Make sure you include everything you need to in your new hire orientation program!\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/new-hire-orientation-onboard-employees.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/new-hire-orientation-onboard-employees.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/new-hire-orientation-onboard-employees.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Blog\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Best practices\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/category\/best-practices\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"New employee orientation: How to successfully onboard a new hire to your company\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"eFront Blog\",\"description\":\"eLearning tips, news and resources\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ad73fe0df3ce823020fd1b37d39b1490\",\"name\":\"Nikos Andriotis\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/48d8985b98e486bfd51353ad61bccb0bd18a919f4547bc909e544ba7e0b00892?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/48d8985b98e486bfd51353ad61bccb0bd18a919f4547bc909e544ba7e0b00892?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Nikos Andriotis\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/author\/nikos-andriotis\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New hire orientation: Onboard your new employees successfully","description":"What do employees need to know before becoming part of your team? Make sure you include everything you need to in your new hire orientation program!","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/new-hire-orientation-onboard-employees.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New employee orientation: How to successfully onboard a new hire to your company","og_description":"What do employees need to know before becoming part of your team? Make sure you include everything you need to in your new hire orientation program!","og_url":"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/new-hire-orientation-onboard-employees.html","og_site_name":"eFront Blog","article_published_time":"2016-09-16T14:59:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-03-23T11:14:54+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.efrontlearning.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/efront.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Nikos Andriotis","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Nikos Andriotis","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/new-hire-orientation-onboard-employees.html#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/new-hire-orientation-onboard-employees.html"},"author":{"name":"Nikos Andriotis","@id":"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ad73fe0df3ce823020fd1b37d39b1490"},"headline":"New employee orientation: How to successfully onboard a new hire to your company","datePublished":"2016-09-16T14:59:52+00:00","dateModified":"2017-03-23T11:14:54+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/new-hire-orientation-onboard-employees.html"},"wordCount":1374,"commentCount":0,"keywords":["Employee Onboarding"],"articleSection":["Best practices"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/new-hire-orientation-onboard-employees.html#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/new-hire-orientation-onboard-employees.html","url":"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/new-hire-orientation-onboard-employees.html","name":"New hire orientation: Onboard your new employees successfully","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-09-16T14:59:52+00:00","dateModified":"2017-03-23T11:14:54+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ad73fe0df3ce823020fd1b37d39b1490"},"description":"What do employees need to know before becoming part of your team? Make sure you include everything you need to in your new hire orientation program!","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/new-hire-orientation-onboard-employees.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/new-hire-orientation-onboard-employees.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/new-hire-orientation-onboard-employees.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Blog","item":"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Best practices","item":"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/category\/best-practices"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"New employee orientation: How to successfully onboard a new hire to your company"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/","name":"eFront Blog","description":"eLearning tips, news and resources","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ad73fe0df3ce823020fd1b37d39b1490","name":"Nikos Andriotis","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/48d8985b98e486bfd51353ad61bccb0bd18a919f4547bc909e544ba7e0b00892?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/48d8985b98e486bfd51353ad61bccb0bd18a919f4547bc909e544ba7e0b00892?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Nikos Andriotis"},"url":"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/author\/nikos-andriotis"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33872"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4285\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}