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From NetSpeed Leader Volume 15, February 2004
Creative New Employee Orientation Programs: Best Practices, Creative Ideas, and Activities for Energizing Your Orientation Program, edited by Doris M. Sims, is a tremendous resource for those who would like to create, update, or energize their new employee orientation programs. That's because having it means sharing in the wisdom of its 30 contributors, from well-known authors such as Mel Silberman, to HR and training professionals from organizations such as Ford Motor Company, USDA, Red Lobster, and Wyndham International.
The book covers essential topics and tools related to employee orientation: best practices, trends, program designs, new manager orientation ideas, games, activities, checklists, evaluation forms, and frequently asked questions. As with many volumes of its kind, all the forms and handouts are available for free downloading from the Web. This feature alone is worth the price of the book (about $40 from McGraw-Hill).
The 57 sharply focused chapters offer plentiful advice on a variety of subjects. On the topic of celebrating new employees, Rebecca Harmon, director of corporate human resources at DeRoyal, offered 20 suggestions, among them:
- Provide a cake with candles (one for each new employee) to celebrate new employees' "birthday" with the organization.
- Ask the division or department manager to phone new employees to welcome them.
- Create a welcome banner for a new employee's cubicle, signed by everyone in the department.
- Have a new employee lunch for spouses or friends during the first month or quarter.
- Give the new employee a “Welcome Basket” of new office supplies, candies or snacks, and other items.
- Place photographs and brief bios of new employees in a special place on the intranet.
- Take a team photo of the group on the employee’s first day. Have it enlarged and signed by everyone in the photo.
On adding energy and action to your orientation presentations, Eldon Rebhorn, Professor Emeritus of Indiana State University, contributed these ideas, among others:
- Let clothes do the talking. To present safety topics, for example, wear safety glasses, gloves, etc., and use the gear to emphasize points and increase attention.
- Have participants fill in the blanks. Rather than providing all information, increase participant attention and retention by periodically having them fill in blanks in their printed materials.
- Arrange an interruption that will surprise participants and make the topic memorable. For instance, to emphasize that employee benefit decisions can be changed only once a year, have someone burst into the room asking to change benefits plans. Then act out a lively conversation about the open enrollment schedule.
- Create a do-it-yourself timeline. Rather than presenting the company's history, have participants create a timeline, with teams arranging important company milestones in order.
- Use group discussion rather than lecture. For topics that new employees may already know something about—such as ethics, sexual harassment, or the differences between private and public companies—give small groups questions to discuss and present.
Rebhorn wisely cautions not to overdo energizing techniques. The method used should emphasize content—not detract from it, and time should be used effectively. This caution applies to the 18 orientation games and activities detailed in the volume.
Steve Schuller, director of training at Wyndham International, contributed valuable checklists for use before, during, and after new employee orientation. With more than 30,000 employees hired at hundreds of hotels, Wyndham needed a method to ensure consistency in new employee orientation. These checklists helped meet that need:
- Pre-Orientation Checklist
, completed by the new employee's manager or "buddy." Among other preparatory steps, the checklist details what to communicate in the welcome letter or phone call: a warm welcome, what to wear on the first day, what to bring, who will meet with the new employee, what the orientation day will include, start and finish times, and an offer to answer any questions.
- Orientation Checklist
. Completed by the new employee and the manager, this list is used to indicate their review of more than 25 topics, including performance reviews, incentives, problem solving, coaching, counseling, and discipline.
- Post-Orientation Checklist
, completed by HR or the manager. This list documents the employee's knowledge in areas such as emergency and accident procedures, and employee attendance at "Be the Brand," "The Wyndham Way," and empowerment training. It includes space to describe follow-up actions needed and target dates.
- Post-Orientation Survey
, completed by an HR representative in an interview with the new employee. The HR rep uses this survey to get feedback on communication within the hotel and within the department, on the effectiveness of training and orientation, and on the quality of supervision, information, and the overall work environment.
Along with dozens of ideas for energizing training, the book offers tips on how to prevent instructor burnout and participant overload, how to demonstrate the value of orientation, how to ensure that all employees attend, and how to orient small numbers of employees and those in remote locations.
If you want to ensure that employees get the right start at new employee orientation, get Creative New Employee Orientation Programs: Best Practices, Creative Ideas, and Activities for Energizing Your Orientation Program. In its 360 pages, you are certain to find helpful tools, strategies, and information.
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