How To Complete School Employee Orientation In Less Time

Hosting your school district’s employee orientation is an important building block for a successful school year. It’s not enough to simply throw an employee orientation program together—you must have one that is well-organized, information rich, and effective. What many organizations, school districts included, fail to realize is that a key component to having an effective school employee orientation is to stick to the facts—in other words, keep it short.

One of the common pitfalls that many workplaces fall prey to is focusing on pieces of information that aren’t integral or even truly relevant to the goal of the employee orientation program. For example, some school districts place a great deal of emphasis (and time) on their identity and culture. While information like this is important for new employees looking for a way to fit in, it is not necessary to dwell on during employee orientation. This information can be communicated through written materials and through real-life experience and observations. If your employee orientation program is available online, information that must be read, but doesn’t necessarily have to be reviewed as a group, can be uploaded as part of the required reading.

Instead of focusing on abstract topics like culture and identity, you should focus on key items like a warm welcome message, what is expected of new employees, benefits and time off, professional development, and anything else that will help employees be successful in their jobs and proud to be employed by your school district.

Additionally, whatever your goals are for the school employee orientation, make sure that you clearly identify and outline them and then strictly follow them. Whether your orientation is presented in person or online, having a clear set of goals will help you eliminate unnecessary information and cut down the duration of the orientation program. Just as the best teachers take the time to write well-thought-out lesson plans, the best school orientation programs begin with a clear and well-thought-out plan.

Another often overlooked component that can add unnecessary time to the overall length of your school employee orientation is being unprepared. This goes beyond identifying goals and objectives—it refers to the presenter’s overall ability to deliver the materials effectively and concisely. To ensure that orientation facilitators are delivering the information in an efficient manner, they should practice the presentation as much as possible in advance, in front of at least one person whenever possible.

Finally, at least a couple of days (if not weeks) before your school employee orientation begins, you should review the materials thoroughly to determine if the presentation is an acceptable length or too long. If it’s too long, take the time to cut extraneous information or figure out creative ways to incorporate that material without taking up too much time.

However you present your school employee orientation program, it’s important to consider the length. The last thing you want to do is bore your new employees, cause them to reconsider their decision to work for you, or diminish their excitement about being part of your team.