Employee Orientation vs. Employee Onboarding: Why You Need Both

Many companies assume that having an worker onboarding course of signifies that they don’t want a proper worker orientation – or vice versa.

However they’re really not interchangeable. Worker onboarding and orientation differ and complement one another, and there’s worth in leveraging each.

Worker orientation vs. worker onboarding

For brand new hires, worker orientation is a one-time occasion that welcomes new staff to your organization. It’s extra common in focus.

Conversely, worker onboarding is a collection of occasions and trainings (together with orientation) that helps new hires progress into profitable staff. It’s extra job- and department-specific.

All about worker orientation

At orientation, human assets personnel and firm management formally introduce new hires to your group. If carried out on-site and in particular person, orientations are often conference-room or classroom-style occasions that convey collectively new hires from completely different departments throughout a corporation. For digital or hybrid workplaces, orientation can happen over videoconference.

Usually, HR and firm management ship data by displays, movies and question-and-answer periods. Many occasions, corporations schedule time for every of their leaders to greet new staff, introduce themselves and clarify their roles inside the enterprise.

Ideally, your organization ought to conduct worker orientation inside an worker’s first few days of employment.

Right here’s a full guidelines of what worker orientation usually entails:

• Overview of your organization’s mission, imaginative and prescient and values
• Necessary new-hire paperwork
• Dialogue about profit plans and enrollment directions
• Evaluate of security, well being, safety and some other essential insurance policies
• Evaluate of administrative procedures
• Distribution of company-issued supplies and gear, corresponding to parking tags, constructing key playing cards and laptops
• Guided tour of the office
• Required common coaching for all staff on matters such because the code of enterprise conduct and moral enterprise practices
• Dissemination of key organizational contacts, corresponding to a chosen HR consultant or IT

Previous to orientation, it’s a good suggestion to let new hires know:

• Instructions for easy methods to entry orientation
• The agenda and period of orientation
• Particular objects they should convey
• Contact data for the person or workforce conducting orientation

For digital orientations, hold the next in thoughts:

• You’ll have to work more durable on the outset to fight worker isolation. Take into account sending new staff welcome packets upfront. These packets might embody a small reward, orientation supplies or company-branded merchandise.

• Set expectations for the digital setting, suggesting attendees take part from a distraction-free setting with minimal background noise and a robust Wi-Fi connection.

• If essential, guarantee that you’ve established safe techniques and settings in order that staff can safely transmit delicate data contained inside their new-hire paperwork.

• Hold scheduling in thoughts; sitting in a digital session for a whole day is a unique expertise, and generally extra exhausting, than being in an in-person setting. The schedule of each choices would possibly look completely different.

All about worker onboarding

Worker onboarding is extra of a strategic plan to assist new hires perceive their day-to-day job obligations and work processes by conferences, starter tasks and job-specific coaching, which will help to establish areas for improvement.

That is the time after they can acclimate to the corporate tradition and begin to dwell out the mission, imaginative and prescient and values they had been launched to in orientation.

They get to know their workforce members and supervisor, and be taught who to go to for sure questions and work approvals. Throughout this time, it’s essential for managers to schedule common check-ins with new hires to allow them to join head to head and have a possibility to share suggestions. It’s additionally vital for workforce members to construct camaraderie by work or informal actions.

In fact, encouraging sturdy connections and sustaining engagement is more difficult in digital or hybrid work environments. Just a few concepts to onboard new distant staff successfully in order that they really feel included and a part of a workforce:

• Pre-recorded welcome video, with an introduction from every workforce member, that seems within the new worker’s e mail inbox on their first day
• Group-wide welcome assembly through videoconference
• Digital workforce constructing that happens frequently
• Digital lunches or completely happy hours
• Common check-ins between managers and new staff through videoconference for digital teaching, sharing suggestions and in addition to get to know one another and construct rapport

On the finish of the onboarding course of, new staff ought to have the instruments, assets and connections they must be profitable. The period of time this takes can vary from three weeks to 6 months – it actually is determined by the person and their position.

Why each matter and supply worth

Let’s evaluate the main focus, period, setup, content material, end result and general worth of orientation and onboarding to focus on the need of every.

Orientation

• Focus: Function within the firm
• Period: One-time occasion
• Setup: Classroom or group videoconference
• Content material: Huge image
• End result: Prepared for coaching
• Worth: Get staff conversant in your organization’s mission, imaginative and prescient, values, insurance policies and different common necessities. This permits them to really feel welcomed, included inside the bigger group and dedicated to your organization as an entire.

Onboarding

• Focus: Function in division or smaller workforce
• Period: Sequence of occasions over an extended time period (months)
• Setup: On the job (in particular person or distant)
• Content material: Individualized
• End result: Actively contributing
• Worth: Staff acquire readability about their position and are invested of their day-to-day work and objectives, with an understanding of how they and their workforce contribute to the bigger image. They really feel built-in inside their workforce and empowered for achievement. That is the essential first step to fostering long-term worker engagement, whereas decreasing worker stress and decreasing turnover.

Summing all of it up

Worker onboarding and worker orientation are every essential parts within the introduction of staff to a brand new work surroundings. They aren’t interchangeable however, fairly, complement one another within the general objective of accelerating worker engagement and serving to them really feel ready and able to work.

Orientation is a one-time occasion that welcomes new staff to your organization and includes a guidelines of common, necessary steps to finish. Onboarding is a collection of coaching over an extended time period that helps staff be taught extra about their particular person position, their workforce and the way their job pertains to broader firm objectives.

For extra details about coaching staff to be their finest and empowering them for achievement, obtain our free journal: The Insperity information to management and administration.