HR Ink

Orientation is usually a first day event to welcome new employees into an organization. Orientation has taken a new look since the pandemic with the ability to conduct it virtually and in-person. In fact, I now have the luxury of doing both at my current company as we hire employees that work both remotely and onsite.

This is a topic I am particularly passionate about as I have had the pleasure of handling orientation throughout the majority of my career. It is exciting to find new ways to deliver important organizational information to new hires and start building rapport with them. With that said, throughout my experience and speaking with other HR professionals, there is always interest in finding ways to spruce up orientation to make it less dull and dry.

Before I look to review some tips and tricks on how to make the orientation process more interesting for everyone involved, I will be diving into the importance of orientation and why upgrading it will benefit your organization.  

Benefits of a Good Orientation

Starting a new job is always nerve racking for a new employee, which is why the first day and more specifically, the orientation process can leave a lasting impression. For instance, I have worked for several companies now and I can remember my first day at each one for different reasons (both positive and negative).

Orientation is your organization’s first impression for your new employees and we all know how vital a good first impression is. Starting on a positive foot Is crucial as it sets the employee up for success. If done correctly, this greatly impacts an organization’s ability to increase their retention, which in turn makes your HR team look great!

Another aspect to consider is the first impression you are making as a member of Human Resources. Unfortunately, HR does not always have a good reputation, and this is your chance to create a positive impression with a new employee to begin working towards changing that reputation or maintaining a good one (as not all Human Resources departments are viewed negatively). The orientation process allows you to build rapport with new hires right away and that is something you should take advantage of as this opens the door for employees to feel comfortable coming to HR when they need to.

Tips & Tricks

1. Make it Interactive & Fun

Keeping employees engaged should be the first priority when it comes to orientation. Reading a bunch of information to them is not going to cut it. Therefore, look at making it fun and engaging by adding a game part way through or adding in some icebreakers for those involved in your orientation process.

2. Don’t Make it a Marathon

At every organization I have been a part of, I have had to look at how to cut down the time spent on orientation. Spending more than 45 minutes on just the orientation presentation is going to cause any new hire to lose interest. It is best if you can find a way to keep your orientation process to 30 minutes to ensure your new employees are not falling asleep (the time advised does not include any time for questions, office tours, and etc.).

3. Provide a Copy of the Presentation

We all know the first day is loaded with information and most of the time employees cannot retain everything that was thrown at them. To help them out, look at providing a PDF of your presentation to them so they can review the information on their own time.

4. Make the Slides Less Busy

It is remarkable how many organizations and people add paragraphs to their slides or overload each slide with information. Proper presentations usually consist of 3-4 short bullet points per slide. The purpose behind this is to summarize the information the presenter will be speaking about and then the presenter will typically expand on each point. This is the best way to orchestrate your orientation presentation as when there is too much information on one slide it usually causes new employees to disengage.

5. Keep it Going

Do not let orientation be the last time you are taking the initiative to interact with the employee. While the orientation is the first step in creating a warm welcome for the employee, you can continue the positive momentum by checking in with the employee throughout their first few months to ensure they are comfortable and do not have any questions that may have come up as they are integrating into their new organization.

6. Consider an Alternative Day

It is very common for orientation to take place amongst the first day festivities. However, consider having it on the second or third day. This allows the employee to acclimate nicely into their new work environment and rather than being fed a load of content on the first day, it can be dispersed, which is better for retaining information.