Orientations don't have to be boring

Traditional new employee orientations are usually characterized by seemingly endless paperwork and overwhelming amount of information about policies and benefits. Unfortunately, this approach lacks personal touch and does little to socialize a new hire into the company’s culture and make him/her feel welcomed.

     It is important to make new hires productive as fast as possible and the best way to do it is to speed up the assimilation process by engaging new employees in activities that reflect the company’s culture and create an instant connection between them and their new employer. Some companies prefer to send an employee handbook ahead of time in order to avoid an information overload on the first day of work. They also send all the legal paperwork in advance to make the first day less about filling out the papers and more about making a new employee a part of the organization. More and more companies find increasingly creative approaches to orientations. For example, in CityMax.com new employees always start on Fridays, when the pace of work slows down and everyone has the chance to get to know a new employee. New employees are welcomed with balloons, streamers and a welcome card from the whole staff. New hires of Gentle Giant Moving Company are required to run the stairs of a Boston stadium.  This helps the company not only test their stamina, but also show new hires that they are expected "to push themselves". After that the runners enjoy a meal while listening to the orientation speech of the CEO. All new employees of Foot Levelers have to watch a movie “Rudy” as a part of their orientation. After a movie there is a detailed discussion about what made Rudy successful and how these practices can be applied at everyday work.  From the early start employees learn that they need to stay focused on the task at hand, never give up and do everything in their power to solve problems.

     The creative approaches to orientation, like above mentioned, can make the process of assimilation of new employees much faster and much more effective compared to traditional orientations. 

Gentle Giant Moving Company Challenge:

Articles used: Bizarre Hiring Rituals; How to build an onboarding plan for a new hire