Employee Onboarding and Orientation: How to Conduct a Successful Onboarding Process?
Employee onboarding and orientation are critical to the success of an organization. Hiring the right people and integrating them into the company culture promotes long-term success. Orientation is important issue that should be considered as a continuation of the recruitment process in order to bring the new employee to the business and to get efficiency from the employee as soon as possible.
No matter how good candidates are placed in vacant positions, if the new employee does not feel valued by the organization, if social cohesion is not ensured, in short, if the employee cannot be made a part of the organization, some problems may occur after recruitment. The biggest reason for these problems is the lack of a successful orientation program in the relevant organization… In many businesses that fail to grasp the importance of orientation training, despite a successful recruitment process, the new employee leaves the job in a short time and has to bear the cost of time, money and labor again to fill the vacant position in the business. In addition, the staff turnover rate also increases.
What are the benefits of orientation?
A well-organized orientation program facilitates processes for both employees and business management. A good orientation program helps your employees gain the necessary knowledge when they start work, supports a fast learning process in understanding the expectations of the business and builds personal reputation.
With the orientation process, the adaptation of the new employee to his/her job gains speed and the targeted performance can be achieved in a short time. At the same time, employee belonging is ensured to a significant extent and an environment where the employee can feel safe is prepared. Introductory meetings, which are an important part of the orientation program, allow the new employee to get to know his team and colleagues better. This will help the new employee to develop cooperation easily.
The Human Resources department has a lot of responsibility for the success of the orientation program.
The expectations of the new employee should be learned before the orientation training,
Afterwards, it should be assessed whether their expectations have been met and new arrangements should be made if necessary,
In order to measure the effectiveness of the orientation training, a process should be designed where the new employee evaluates the orientation training and the person in charge, and the person in charge of orientation evaluates the new employee,
The results must be measured and reported and necessary improvements must be made in the process,
An employee responsible for orientation should be employed in the Human Resources department of the enterprises due to the workload that the work within the scope of orientation will bring.
- The expectations of the new employee should be learned before the orientation training,
- Afterwards, it should be assessed whether their expectations have been met and new arrangements should be made if necessary,
- In order to measure the effectiveness of the orientation training, a process should be designed where the new employee evaluates the orientation training and the person in charge, and the person in charge of orientation evaluates the new employee,
- The results must be measured and reported and necessary improvements must be made in the process,
- An employee responsible for orientation should be employed in the Human Resources department of the enterprises due to the workload that the work within the scope of orientation will bring.
Inform the team about the new hire
At least one day before the new colleague’s start date, brief the team about the new hire, their role and responsibilities. This creates role clarity and explains what projects the new colleague will be involved in. It also makes the new hire feel welcome on their first day.
First day – Orientation
The first day or job orientation is more about experience than knowledge. On the first day you have to give a lot of information to the candidate. But they will not be able to remember and process all of it. What they will remember for the rest of their career is the feeling of that first day, so creating a memorable, positive experience on the first day will be critical.
Stay in touch
The time between a new hire signing their contract and starting work can be long. It is important to keep new hires excited during this time. HR or managers should check in with new hires regularly.
What do successful implementations bring to the company?
Low Turnover Rate: Great recruitment process increases employee loyalty to the company. This reduces turnover and ensures the long-term stability of the company. High turnover rates can bring costly and time-consuming processes to companies.
Innovation and Competitive Advantage: Good talent and cultural fit increase your company’s capacity to innovate and strengthen its competitive advantage. Creative and talented employees come up with new ideas and strengthen the company’s position in the market.
Customer Satisfaction: Satisfied and competent employees increase customer satisfaction. A good recruitment and orientation process enables employees to better serve customers and create positive customer experiences.
Preserving Company Culture: Great onboarding process helps maintain company culture. Cultural mismatch can lead to negative impacts within the organization. By hiring the right people and aligning them with company values, you can preserve company culture.
Cost Savings: Hiring and then dismissing the wrong people can be costly to companies. Great hiring process prevents the wrong candidates and thus reduces the number of layoffs.
Strengthening Company Image: Recruitment and orientation processes influence how your company is perceived by the outside world. A successful process reflects the importance the company places on recruitment, talent development and employee happiness. This method in turn will strengthen the company’s reputation.