Employee Orientation

Employee orientation is the introduction and welcoming stage of all newly recruited employees. Employee orientation is done by the human resource department who introduces the new employee to the rest of the company members, informs them about the safety, working of the company, benefits for the employee and perks, like insurance, LTA, etc. company culture, company history.  Presentations are made to the new employee on the company organization structure and if it is a manufacturing company, the new employee is shown a presentation of the various stages of manufacture of the product.   This type of employee orientation gives the employee an insight into the company affairs.   The major objectives of orientation are:

• To help gain employee commitment.
• To reduce the stress and anxiety of the new employees.
• To help employees to know and understand the organization’s expectations.
• It is usually structured to the specific job responsibility and is followed by training.
• To develop realistic job expectations, positive attitude and job satisfaction.

Part of orientation process which is planned by the human resource department is a time when the employee is sent to all the departments for training and also a short working experience in the various departments which helps the employee to know and understand the operation of the company.

It is important the employees learn early of what is expected of them and what is expected from others. Though employees can learn from experience, they could make costly mistakes while doing so.  This can be avoided by employee orientation into the respective job where a short training is given to the employee before he is actually put on the job.

There are two kinds of orientation.  The first is overview orientation, which is related to the basic information newly joined employees need to know and the second is called job specific orientation which deals with the employee’s related type of work.

Review Questions:                                                                     

• What is Employee Orientation? Who should undergo employee orientation?
• In an organization, whose responsibility is it to do orientation for new recruits? Explain in detail.