Implementing New Employee Orientation Programs is a benefit for you, your company and your employees. Orientation programs offer a plethora of advantages and the opportunity to go over a variety of important key points, many of which are neglected in typical business practice.

If you have not yet implemented a New Employee Orientation Program into your business practices, then Quarter One is a perfect time to see how well the program will work within your company environment. Here are a few benefits that you may want to contemplate when considering implementing an orientation program:<ul?

• New employees often feel high levels of stress and anxiety when entering a new environment with new expectations and responsibilities piled on top of them.  An orientation program helps familiarize new employees with their surroundings and expectations, establishing a sense of feeling comfortable and accustomed. These newfound feelings typically allow the employee to be confident and positive towards their work and environment leading to a greater probability for success.
• New employees often have a laundry list of questions concerning their new environment and work responsibilities. New employee orientation offers an opportunity to answer many of these questions thoroughly. It also avoids taking valuable time out of mangers, supervisors and co-workers schedules to answer new employees’ questions.
• New employees in a new work environment, especially an industrial environment, pose the possibility of risks and dangers which can correlate into increased costs. By providing orientation to outline the dangers of the workplace, these costs and risks are significantly reduced.

However, in order to insure that your business reaps the full benefits of an orientation program, you must also insure that your program is both sufficient and successful. Providing a successful and beneficial orientation program for your employees is two-fold.

First, you must dedicate a portion of the orientation process to cover the general policies and procedures of your company, including compensations, benefits, employee rights and general employee responsibilities.+

The second part of your orientation process should be specific to the new employee’s position including the company’s expectations for the position and any specific policies and procedures.

Each new employee, regardless of rank within the company, should be involved in a new employee orientation process that includes a warm welcome. Follow a few guidelines outlined below to help increase your employee retention rate while also providing a positive work environment for employees from the start.

• Do not forget to include introductions during orientation. It is important for new employees to feel comfortable and acquainted with co-workers, making introductions to those they will work with an essential part of orientation.
• Do not overload and overwhelm new employees with a ton of information all at once. Stretch the orientation process over a couple of days to allow new employees to process and retain the information you are expecting them to learn.
• Always begin the orientation process with most relevant and important information. New employees are likely to be more attentive on their first day of work, allowing you to cover the most important issues with full attention and enthusiasm.

Following these suggestions and guidelines will help lead you to a successful new employee orientation program that is beneficial for you, your business and your staff.