Online Orientation >> Orientation Program >> New Employee Orientation

New Employee Orientation
- Check list, tips and setup

A new employee orientation is the process for engaging and welcoming new employees into your organisation. The main aims of a new employee orientation is to ensure new employees are initiated into the organisation, have gone through important new starter policies and procedures and have provided and understand everything they need in order to perform their new job as quickly as possible.

A best practice new employee orientation begins with getting a new employee to go through the orientation workflow before they step foot through the door so that they are fully job ready and prepared for their new workplace well in advance of their first day. This might involve ensuring they are able to work safely by going through a safety orientation, job ready with knowledge and acknowledgements about workplace policies and procedures and familiar with the team, their job role, site access and an introduction to their team.

New Employee Orientation Check List Items

A common element to a new employee orientation is a checklist. This helps ensure a consistent orientation for each new employee and that they progress through everything they need for being job ready for day one. Some of the most important and popular check list items to include a new employee orientation are:

Collecting HR information such as next of kin, payroll details, known medical issues, basic contact and employee records
Policies and procedures acknowledgement especially around HR policies and new starter procedures
Online site tour for proper introduction into the workplace
Test knowledge through an online assessment
Prevent data double up by integrating with payroll and other HR systems
Run through important safety orientation topics so that new starters are fully compliant and aware of workplace hazards to prevent injuries
Issuing a certificate of completion
Capture licenses / evidence of training online with reminders that go out when they expire

In a modern and fast paced workplace, the old school employee handbook is an archaic way of delivering a new employee orientation. How do you know they even read it? and understood it? Getting staff to fill things out on paper only to then have a staff member enter it in again on a computer is pointless. The amount of hours that can be saved by putting a new employee orientation process online is substantial.

It's not just about payroll

A lot of organisations confuse a new employee orientation process with onboarding a new employee into payroll. This might form part of the new employee orientation but its only a small element. The larger picture involves an orientation around safety, initiation into the workplace, understanding the team and policies and procedures too.

Best Practice Tips For Creating New Employee Orientations

Consider putting the process online and make it mobile based. Your new employees can then complete the orientation BEFORE they arrive on site. They can be ready to go as soon as they walk through the door. This might be great straight off the back of a phone all telling them they got the job.

Make sure the orientation is interactive, engaging, informative, covers both safety and HR topics and that you have evidence that the new employee actually understands and acknowledges what they are going through.

Video Orientations

For a modern employee orientation, videos are an extremely engaging way to introduce new employees to their job role, the team and their new workplace. It makes it a fun and engaging experience. They are more likely to connect with the material and walk away understanding everything they need to know about important policies and procedures as well.

New Employee Orientation Presentation

With a new employee orientation presentation, the common slides are about focusing on a welcome experience for the new employee, introducing them to their new workplace and the people they are going to be working with. Introducing them to the team and the department they are involved with and ensuring they are going to be job ready. Another part of the orientation might be about preparing them on important workplace courses and topics ranging from bullying in the workplace, stress, hazards, safety, privacy and other important workplace topics, policies and procedures.

Try setting up an Online New Employee Orientation

If you'd like to try setting up an new employee orientation, try creating one here: