Does your company's new employee training program consist of a grumpy HR guy saying "Hey new guy, bathroom's that way, coffee maker's this way...?" Or is the first day on the job at your place a fun-filled afternoon of filling out forms and watching a '70s-era sexual harassment video? If either scenario sounds familiar, your company might be spending thousands of dollars a year replacing workers whose lame corporate orientations are the beginning of the end of their new jobs.
Jean Cohn, an HR administrator, says new employees will be oriented to their new job, boss, and company one way or another. "Some companies have made orientation systematic and others have it happen haphazardly." Cohn says managers must lay out and follow a detailed blueprint for a new employee's early days.
That's exactly what happens at Princeton University. Orientation there is not a one-day event, after which workers are thrown in the deep end of the pool. Managers have an orientation schedule for new workers that begins even before they arrive and takes them through their first day, week and month on the job. From supplying an e-mail account before workers arrange pictures on the desk, to doling out perks such as gym access a month later, Princeton makes sure its employees start out on the right path.
Cohn says orientation must not become a data dump, where new employees are given so much in the first few days they become overwhelmed. "It's like drinking water from a fire hydrant; a new employee gets hosed down with new information, and then two days later, they may remember one or two things that were said."
Patti Jackson, vice president of recruitment training at a national insurance company also says it is important not to overload the new recruits on the first day. There, new workers are instead indoctrinated into the "corporate culture."
"We want to help people understand what kind of business we are in," Jackson says. "We want employees to understand our core values: we value people, honesty, and integrity, and that helps set the stage and expectations for the future."
"Corporate culture" is a phrase that comes up again and again among HR professionals regarding orientation. They will tell you orientation is the time when new workers should be schooled on the little things that will and won't fly on the new job. “[This includes] information about how to get along and how to fit in. How casual is the workplace? Is it OK to have food at your desk? How is the phone answered? Employees want to avoid making embarrassing mistakes their first day," says Cohn.
Cohn has surveyed companies on whether they provide a thorough orientation. She says only 20 percent of the companies who had a structured orientation program kept track of expenses. The survey showed that the cost for internally designed orientation programs was about six thousand dollars, a small price to pay, considering the alternative.
Cohn says a New England manufacturing firm's bad orientation program led to a revolving door. "They did a fantastic job of recruiting college graduates to come to rural New England, but the orientation amounted to filling out a bunch of forms and that was it. They had a horrendous turnover rate. And it was very expensive for this company to replace these employees. These were engineers, technical people." The company has since begun a systematic orientation program and the turnover rate has dropped.
The bottom line on orientation: make people feel welcome. "My belief and my observation supports it: if you treat a new employee as someone you've invited into your home, then you are going to have a good workplace relationship," says William Truesdell of California-based Management Advantage.
Experts suggest one more added touch that far too few companies bother with: an appearance by the CEO at orientation. "It speaks volumes about the support that is offered and how the people in organizations are valued," says Cohn.
For more information about how your company can help its employees, read Top 3 Tips for Meaningful Mentor Programs.
