5 Steps To The Most Effective Employee Orientation, Guaranteed!

Conducting an effective employee orientation program is an important responsibility of the human resources department of any business. But it’s not enough just to fill orientation time with a bunch of random information about your company—for maximum success, the employee orientation program should be streamlined and effective so employees learn what they need to learn and maintain their excitement about beginning the new position.

Like so many things in life, this is a case of “easier said than done.” It’s easy to say employee orientation programs should be streamlined and effective, but it’s harder to actually do. To make your job a little easier, here are five steps to follow when creating (or re-working) your employee orientation program.

1. Establish clear and focused goals.

Just like with any project, it’s important to take some time at the start to determine the goals you want to reach. If you fail to establish concise goals, your content is more likely to be unfocused, ineffective, and worst of all, unappealing to your new employees.

Before you get started, ask yourself what absolutely must be covered during the employee orientation program and what can be addressed down the road. Taking this step will help you limit the amount of content you present so your new employees don’t feel overwhelmed or bombarded with information on their first day.

It is also a good idea to make sure that your employee orientation goals are in line with your company’s overall goals. Employee orientation is the first of many steps on the road to organizational success, but it’s a big one when it comes to ensuring that your new employees are set up to be productive in their new positions.

2. Write an outline.

After you have established your goals, the next step is to write an outline that supports those goals. Outlining the topics you plan to cover will ensure that you don’t leave out any important information and it will help your new hires follow along.

3. Diversify your content.

Your employee orientation program should cover all the information new hires need to know, regardless of their specific job or department. Keep this in mind so you cover all the basic information your new employees need to better understand the big picture. There will be time to acclimate new hires to their specific job, department, and co-workers—employee orientation is when they need to learn about the company’s overall goals.

4. Make it modern.

One of the best ways to keep your new employees engaged throughout the entire orientation program is to keep it up to date, in terms of content and technology. When it comes to technology, there are countless ways to keep your materials current. From incorporating videos and quizzes to using social media, it’s entirely possible to give your employee orientation a modern look and feel. And don’t forget, employee orientation doesn’t have to be presented in person anymore. More and more companies are choosing to make their orientation, and their employee training, accessible on an online platform. Putting employee orientation online expedites the process and allows new employees to review the materials when it’s most convenient for them.

5. Gather feedback.

If you already have an employee orientation program in place, then you have access to one of the greatest resources available: feedback from your employees. If you’ve been asking for feedback at the end of your employee orientation program, analyze and use the information your employees have provided. If you haven’t been asking for feedback, now’s the time to start. Even if you have to ask employees who went through orientation a year ago, it’s good to get some feedback about your existing program.

The feedback you collect will tell you which parts of your employee orientation have worked and which parts have room for improvement. Review the feedback and implement it as you see fit when the time comes to change and update your employee orientation.

When it comes to employee orientation, there isn’t one plan that works for every company. But there are definitely elements you can include that will make your employee orientation program more successful.