Orientation vs. Onboarding: Why It's Important to Recognize the Difference

A lot of companies feel that if they have an onboarding process, they don't have to put their employees through a formal orientation. But having an understanding of the difference between the two will show that there's value in both.

• Orientation is a one-time event welcoming new hires to your company, usually on their first day. Onboarding, on the other hand, is a series of events that include orientation.
• The onboarding process helps new employees understand how they can experience success in their day to day job, as well as how their work contributes to the overall business. It's an ongoing process that can last up to several weeks.

What Does New Employee Orientation Look Like?

During orientation, you are officially introducing your new hires to your company, along with its culture, mission, vision, and values. You might do this with presentations, pre-made videos, one-on-one introductions, and/or an informal meet-and-greet with their new coworkers.

Before first-day orientation, some companies provide new hires with online self-guided training so that they come to the job with some general knowledge about the company before they participate in the live orientation event. Other orientation procedures might include:

• Mandatory new employee paperwork. You may want to start as much of the paperwork process before orientation as possible so the employee is not wholly overwhelmed on their first day. The company's HR department can guide new employees through complicated or legal forms so that they can collect the documentation that they need, and answer any questions that those new hires may have. 
• Introduction of corporate benefit plans. Give your new employees an overview of the benefits they have, and how they should begin using them. Make it simple, understandable, and share examples so they learn what they can do. 
• Review of the company's safety, health, and other key policies. Safety personnel should be on hand to provide pertinent workplace safety information, and to demonstrate safety procedures that are used by the workforce. 
• Review of Administrative procedures. Including things like the computer system log in processes, programs and apps, cell phone policies, et cetera. An IT representative can share the details, present information, and answer questions about how to use workplace tech. 
   

Interested in learning more? Sign up for the SkillPath webinar, The Essentials of Employee Onboarding

What Does New Employee Onboarding Look Like?

While an orientation agenda usually encompasses just the first day or two on the job, the onboarding process is much more of a strategic plan that takes place over the first several weeks. During the onboarding process, new employees meet everyone in their department. They'll begin to learn the culture and business objectives as they participate in meetings and small starter projects with their new colleagues. Here's some helpful things to include in a successful onboarding plan:

• Managers should schedule regular meetings as a way to check in with their new employees. This doesn't need to carry on long, but certainly during the first week, managers should make time to help the new employee acclimate to their role.
• Focus on what matters most to each department's goals. This helps new employees make the connection between the company-wide goals, and their own day to day tasks. Not only are these plans created over time, they should be tweaked and updated on a regular basis to stay current.  
• Ask new hires about their initial feelings and experiences within the company, and assess how engaged or connected they are to your organization. If you haven’t had an orientation and onboarding process before, you might notice how necessary both are to your new hires, and to the culture of your organization. 
• Start to cover some more nuanced topics. For example, you might explain some of your department's unspoken rules. Such as how the phone gets answered by the third ring, or the specific individuals who are responsible for answering the phones. Whereas during orientation, you would simply explain the company's overall commitment to customer service and the policies in place to do so. 

When used together, orientation and onboarding can establish role clarity, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment, which can lower employee stress and turnover. On the job, as in life, first impressions are essential. Your new hires know just how vital it is to make an excellent first impression early in their career, so it's also crucial that their new employers put their best foot forward in welcoming the newest team members. Use orientation and onboarding to show practical things like job responsibilities and expectations, and to showcase a positive company culture.