Northwest Staffing Blog

Employees who feel welcomed and who are properly trained will, in turn, feel good about taking the job. They will speak highly of your company to family, friends, and peers. They will also fit in faster with colleagues and feel more comfortable contributing new ideas. And they will be able to better represent your company to customers and strategic partners.

So how can you create an effective orientation program at your company? As a staffing services company in Everett, we’ve developed some steps to help you:

Think gradual.
You’re not going to be able to educate a new employee about the company’s policies, procedures, culture, products and services, history, etc. all in one or two hours time. Even if you could, it’s unlikely he or she would retain all that information. Therefore, it’s important to think of the orientation process as more of a gradual, long-term investment in new employees.

Deal with the basics first.
Rather than launching into a two-hour diatribe about where your company is and where you want it to go on an employee’s first day, deal with the basics first. He or she will likely have questions about dress code, computer and telephone systems, pay schedule, and lunch breaks.

Once the initial induction is complete, then provide more in-depth orientation about the big picture stuff. Keep in mind that the orientation process may take a couple of months as the employee learns more, deals with new issues, and has questions.

Involve the rest of your employees in the process.
Orientation programs don’t just impact new employees; they also impact existing ones, as well. So schedule a lunch meeting to introduce the employee to the people he or she will be working with. Also, introduce the new employee to the management team and have each manager tell the employee a little bit about his or her role at the organization.

Distribute an employee handbook.
Your employee handbook should contain information about personnel policies, benefits information, disciplinary measures, dress code, and confidentiality. Such a handbook will help to ensure there are no misunderstandings down the road that could lead to legal troubles.

An employee’s first few days at your company will be ones he or she remembers for the rest of his or her tenure. Having a well-developed orientation program in place can help make sure you both start off in a positive direction. If you need help creating or implementing an orientation program at your company, please contact Northwest Staffing. We can help.