New employee orientation is the process you use for welcoming a new employee into your organization. New employee orientation, often spearheaded by a meeting with the Human Resources department, generally contains information about safety, the work environment, the new job description, benefits and eligibility, company culture, company history, the organization chart and anything else relevant to working in the new company.
New employee orientation often includes an introduction to each department in the company and training on-the-job. New employee orientation frequently includes spending time doing the jobs in each department to understand the flow of the product or service through the organization.
Dr. John Sullivan, head of the Human Resource Management Program at San Francisco State University, concludes that several elements contribute to a World Class orientation program. The best new employee orientation:
- has targeted goals and meets them,
- makes the first day a celebration,
- involves family as well as co-workers,
- makes new hires productive on the first day,
- is not boring, rushed or ineffective, and
- uses feedback to continuously improve.
