“I am overwhelmed, there is too much paper, and this is so boring!”
This is not a teenager talking about a high school class, but a typical new employee’s comments after a common workplace orientation session.
Many HR departments who run employee orientation or on-boarding sessions get it all wrong, and it sets up a poor employee relationship from day one. The new employee starts to think, “If the company can’t get this right, do I really want to work here?” Talk about a demotivating experience.
There are better ways to run an employee orientation. Think about it as an employee’s initiation, not orientation. HR should focus on how to make the new employee fit into the organization, not HR telling the employee about the organization.
Here is a great article from Forbes how on to get orientation right.
The research shows that having an individual-focused orientation can reduce employee turnover significantly. HR is the gatekeeper of new employees on their first day, make it meaningful to the employee, not an administrative activity that feels like the goal is to deaden the employees will to live. Orientation should be an exciting day for the employee and the employer. Let’s keep that in mind.
Discussion Questions
- Think about a time you have experienced a very poor orientation session, what was done wrong in that session.
- If you were the HR manager responsible for the orientation session, what would you recommend changing to make it more meaningful?