Orienting the Employee

Orientation is the process of introducing new employees to the company, to their supervisors and coworkers (if there are any), and to their jobs. After you have completed the necessary paperwork, you'll want to concentrate on bringing your employee into your business by arranging for an orientation.

Purpose of orientation. Whatever form it takes, an orientation session serves several purposes:

• It gets the new worker started on productive activity.
• It ensures that new employees get accurate information. Coworkers do not always give the right answers, for whatever reasons.
• It gives you the chance to develop good work habits in your new employee.
• It can help the newcomer feel welcome, relieve anxiety, and start the person toward being a loyal, productive member of your business.

What needs to be covered? But what should an orientation cover?

• a review of the job description with the new employee, so he or she knows what the specific duties will be (although the employee should have a general idea from the interview)
• some discussion of what your business does and what your business goals are
• how the employee's job fits into the overall picture
• basic work rules
• compensation and benefits
• a tour of the workplace

When to do what. Various parts of the orientation should happen at different times, so we've given you lists of what to do:

• before the employee starts
• during the first day
• during the first week