An employee’s first day on the job doesn’t have to be a paper-cut inducing slog.
“Hi! Welcome to our new company. On your first day, I’d like you to read through these 43 pages of documentation, and decide which health insurance, what 401k plan, and if you want to receive part of your salary in stock. If you have any questions, I’ll refer you back to the documentation. Plus, let’s talk about the employee handbook. We have a lot of rules. Sign this saying you’ve received the handbook.”
Have you been through this type of employee orientation? Did it make you want to tear your hair out? And those types of meetings don’t stop once you’re hired. Every year, there’s some new boring technical meeting or paperwork about your employee benefits. And no one–not even the people who run the meetings–wants to be there.
Keith Kitani, CEO of employee-communications firm GuideSpark.com has come up with the solution: videos. These are not the 1970s-era instructional videos that you’re used to. They’re short, to the point and chock full of information. I was skeptical (and I’ve been the person presenting the boring information), but the videos won me over.
To keep reading, click here: Onboarding’s Newest Feature? Videos That Don’t Stink
Orientation? I wish! Here’s how my on-boarding went at several of my previous jobs:
1. Boss says, “There’s your desk.”
2. Boss says, “Get to work!”
There was no step 3.
Videos can be useful; but there are two other things to keep in mind.
First is cost, they are not as cheap as having someone (usually from HR) talk to new hires about the benefits, etc. Putting together a good video takes time and that means money. Slap together a bad video and it is a waste of time and money and makes the “welcome aboard” a not so welcome.
Secondly, since benefits, policies, etc. have to be very specific any videos you do will have to be updated on a regular basis. That, again, costs time and money. You cannot have them watch a video, then add disclaimers at the end that state, “oh, BTW, the information wasn’t correct.” You just cannot do that.
As with any type of training (and new hire orientation is a type of training) a blended approach is the best way. Have videos, computer-based modules, etc. along with face-to-face meetings usually works best.
P.S. Yep, Jeff. That’s how a lot of companies do new hire orientation and then they wonder why folks take so long to get up and running.