6 Simple School Employee Orientation Moves That Just Work

A great educational experience begins with a great plan. The same is true when it comes to school orientation programs. In order to get your staff off on the right foot and prepare them for what’s to come, it’s essential to have a thorough, well-executed employee orientation. While some school districts hand out an employee handbook and hope doing so yields a successful staff, truly insightful school districts recognize the need for an interactive employee orientation process.

There’s no reason school orientation needs to be a long, drawn-out marathon of dos, don’ts, and what ifs. Instead, if you use these six simple school orientation moves, you can implement an employee orientation program that will be informative, effective, and engaging.

1. Start with a plan.

   We already said this, but it never hurts to say it again: To ensure that everything goes off without a hitch, it’s important to take the time to develop a goal-orientated plan. Make sure your plan clearly outlines what you want to accomplish and the steps you need to take to achieve the desired end result.

   • Prepare the paperwork.

     Collect and organize all paperwork that needs to be read, filled out, and signed by new employees prior to the beginning of the school year. If your employee orientation is presented in person, put all the paperwork into a sensible, chronological package, and give new staff the opportunity to fill it out in advance of orientation (perhaps mail or email the packet to them and ask them to bring the signed forms with them to orientation). Or, if your employee orientation is online, upload all the documents as PDFs so new employees can fill them out online and send them back or print them, fill them out, and bring them on the first day of school.

   • Edit, edit, edit.

     One reason employee orientation programs tend to be so lengthy is that they typically include a plethora of information that is irrelevant, poorly organized, and repetitive. The often-overwhelming amount of information presented leads new employees to zone out, and once that happens, they are unlikely to absorb any important information that will actually help them be successful in their jobs. After you plan out your orientation program, go through it a few times and discard anything that’s not absolutely crucial. Or, if you must include certain things, include them as handouts but don’t review them in great detail—leave that up to the new employees.

     Keep in mind that the best tools you have at your disposal for creating a concise but still interesting employee orientation program are your past employee orientations. Look at what you’ve done in the past, and evaluate what worked well and what didn’t. Doing this will help you determine what information you can cut down on and what needs to be thrown out entirely.

   • Consider your audience.

     No two schools or districts or communities are exactly the same. Each one faces its own challenges and possesses its own strengths and weaknesses. Take your school district’s personal challenges into consideration when preparing your orientation materials in order to tailor it to the needs of your new employees and student body. If what you present speaks to your employees and doesn’t sound like a generic school orientation script, you’ll do a much better job of keeping their attention, motivating them for the upcoming school year, and inspiring a sense of pride in their job and community.

   • Have fun.

     Find ways to incorporate fun components into the school orientation program to make it more engaging and appealing. Let’s face it, most of the content will be kind of boring, so see if you can break it up with humor, contests, or anything else that will keep it interesting. Think of it this way, a fun, positive new employee orientation sets the tone for the whole school year.

   • Go Online.

     If you haven’t already considered putting your school orientation program online, now’s the time. Transitioning from an in-person orientation to an online program can save your HR staff and orientation facilitator countless hours, not to mention the time and hassle it will save your new employees. Some things to consider: Nothing needs to be printed out in advance because all documents are stored in the learning management system; online presentations can reduce the length of your orientation program by up to 75%; no staff is required when new employees review the orientation materials online.

     If you incorporate some (or all) of these suggestions, you’ll see a vast improvement in your school employee orientation program. Remember, there’s no one right way to present all this important information—but there are a number of wrong ways to do it. Why start the school year with something new employees dread when you can put a little time into making your school orientation program informative and effective but still interesting and engaging?