My reading is suggesting to me that “new employee orientation” is being replaced by “new employee onboarding.” How are they different? Or is onboarding just orientation dressed up differently?

You’re right; HR language is definitely favouring “onboarding” these days. “Orientation” as a term has become somewhat debased because of the cursory or inappropriate ways it’s been carried out.

By “cursory” I mean restricting orientation activities to setting up the employees’ files and getting them on the payroll. Then they’re turned over to the tender mercies of their new supervisors, and the organization pretty much loses sight of them. (I’m talking about larger organizations here.) There are even cases where new employees are whisked straight to their workstations without so much as a “Welcome aboard” from HR.

By “inappropriate” I mean allowing orientation sessions to become a parade of talking heads, each one shilling for his/her particular function. I had this happen to me in an organization where I worked as the training director. When I started there was no orientation event (the company was very young). So I started up a half-day orientation for new employees. Since this was a start-up, we had lots of new people. HR was very big on compliance, so the HR director made sure that new employees heard all about compliance issues during their orientation. What began as an effort to provide employees with some basic company information grew into “Company Rules & Regulations 101.” By the time I scrapped it, the half day included half an hour on personal harassment policies, half an hour on Code of Conduct, 15 minutes on inappropriate use of company property, and 45 minutes on sexual harassment policies. It turned into three hours of “things you’d better not get caught doing around here.” By the time we were finished, the employees sat there in stunned silence wondering what they’d stumbled into.

What onboarding looks like

So “orientation” is out, and “onboarding” is in. While some pushing of information at employees during onboarding sessions in unavoidable, what new people want is some information about who does what. So I introduced an exercise that we called a “mocktail party.” Representatives from different functional areas (again, a large organization) joined the meeting. The new employees had a list of questions that they needed to get answers to, and only the area representatives could answer them. The new people, therefore, had to meet all the other employees in order to complete their lists.

They got answers to questions like these:

• “What sources do you consult when you carry out market research?”
• “How do you ensure that customer issues are acted on quickly and sensitively?”
• “By what methods does Finance calculate the profitability of a new product?”

 

The new employees loved meeting other people in the company and having a chance to talk with them. The functional representatives loved speaking about their work with the new people. The focus shifted from the organization using orientation to meet organizational needs to providing a forum for the new people to meet some of their needs. Another thing that new employees want to get from onboarding is a sense of how the company’s mission is lived. This can be accomplished by having a panel of employees share stories about just that, and then getting involved in a dialogue with the new people. This puts people in touch with the bigger picture, the reason why the organization was created, and the reason for their jobs.

An additional function of onboarding is to communicate to new people that their arrivals have been anticipated and prepared for. The human resources department can help supervisors by providing a checklist that prompts actions that say: “Welcome! We’ve been expecting you.”

Here are some checklist items:

• Is the employee’s computer set up?
• Are business cards on the employee’s desk?
• Is someone taking the employee to lunch?
• Have arrangements been made for voice mail to be operational within the first two hours?

 

I’m sure you can imagine the impression that is made if the employee’s work station hasn’t been prepared, if communication tools are not available, and if they’re on their own on day one. The new person, who already feels like a stranger, is made to feel even more the outsider. A negative first impression is created that the company may never recover from.

So a major difference between orientation and onboarding is whose needs are being met in the process. Onboarding recognizes that both the individual and the organization have needs. Instead of listening passively for half a day, employees are involved in a process of information sharing that allows them to personalize for themselves what the organization wants them to know. That’s a lot more welcoming than “things you’d better not get caught doing around here.”

To submit a question for a future column, or to comment on a previous one, please contact editor@charityvillage.com. No identifying information will appear in this column. For paid professional advice about an urgent or complex situation, contact Tim directly.

Tim Rutledge, Ph.D., is a veteran human resources consultant and publisher of Mattanie Press. You can contact him at tim_rutledge@sympatico.ca or visit www.gettingengaged.ca.

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