Employee Orientation as a Retention Strategy

New employee orientation is an absolutely essential but often overlooked requirement for any company that seeks to retain a productive and satisfied staff. It's well worth the time and investment to properly introduce new hires to the new organisation to ensure that they can quickly become an efficient part of your workforce.

Here are the five key purposes for orientation, together with suggestions for formulating an orientation programme that fulfil these purposes. But be careful not to overwhelm the new employee with a crush of meetings and informational sessions on the first day and expect them to remember everything! The orientation programme should ideally comprise several short sessions over the first few weeks.

1. Communicate realistic and concrete job expectations, responsibilities and duties, and reward systems.

Orientation is the best time to ensure the new employee understands how he or she fits in and will ultimately contribute to your organisation. It is crucial that new employees learn as early as possible what is expected of them, and what they can expect from others. This is also when you can begin to shape the positive attitudes that you want your employees to have towards their jobs.

Tips:

• Clearly define the new staffmember's responsibilities and level of authority.
• Explain the staff appraisal system, and demonstrate how good performance will be assessed and rewarded.

2. Reduce the new hire's anxiety.

Remember how you felt on your first day at a new job? New hires feel tremendous pressure to adapt and be productive. To help them feel a sense of belonging and acceptance early, create opportunities for the new hires to interact with peers, supervisors, any direct reports, customers and suppliers, in both formal and informal settings.

Tips:

• Prepare a welcome packet for new hires that includes basic information for getting through the workday, such as a list of nearby lunch spots.
• Include new hires in informal staff interactions like tea breaks and meals, as well as formal gatherings such as customer visits, focus groups, and departmental meetings.

3. Reduce staff turnover.

Employee turnover increases when employees feel they are not valued, or that they have been placed in positions where they can't possibly do their jobs. One main reason why people change jobs is that they were never given a reason to feel welcome or that they belong at the organization they join.

Orientation demonstrates to the new employee that the organization values him or her, and is willing to provide the tools and knowledge necessary for succeeding in his or her tasks. New hires will feel good about their choice of employer and their new co-workers.

Tips:

• Something as simple as a hand-signed welcome letter from the CEO can go a long way to making the new employee feel welcome.
• Particularly if the employee has relocated his or her family to take this position with your company, do what you can to help ease their transition into the new community – such as providing the proper change of address forms, information on local schools and nearby daycare, and so on.

4. Save supervisor's and co-workers' time in the long run.

Proper orientation at the outset will eventually reduce the time that supervisors and co-workers have to spend on teaching basic things like retrieving voice mail.

Tips:

• Consider a "buddy" system, that is, assign one of your long-time employees as a "buddy" to assist the new employee for his or her first few weeks at your company. Make sure to reward buddies by reimbursing them for lunches with the new employee; including their contribution as a positive in their performance appraisal; and other forms of official and informal recognition.
• Be sure not to "burn out" buddies by assigning too many new hires to them in succession. After the new employee has been with the company for at least a year, give them a chance to become a "buddy" in turn to the next wave of new hires.

5. Reduce startup costs.

Orientation helps new employees to start performing much more quickly, thereby reducing the costs (in both money and time) associated with learning their jobs. By communicating basic but necessary information at the outset, you can help them to avoid making costly mistakes that could have been easily avoided.

Tips:

• Assign new employees to spend an hour or two visiting other departments so they can get an idea of how their jobs affect others within the organization, and adapt their working style accordingly.
• When the orientation period is over, get the new employees' feedback on what worked and what didn't. Utilise their suggestions for the next round of new employees.

Conclusion

Your orientation programme should evolve with your organization. Consider developing an orientation programme for existing employees if your company undergoes a strategic re-alignment, acquires a subsidiary or is acquired, or experiences other major changes. Employees who understand where their organization came from and where it's going will feel a stronger sense of job ownership and loyalty that will ultimately pay off big dividends in the long run.