Employee Orientation is proposed to address the issue of high turnover of the employees working in the plant operations. Employee orientation program is a socialization process of new employees through interactive and strategic learning programs.
Encounter (induction of the employees to the organisational values, and culture) and Change and acquisition (employses socialize better through the orientation programs) are the stages of Feldman's socialization model that are influenced by an orientation program. The two key content areas of an orientation program that may reduce turnover and increase morale are the business context (understanding the strategic goals and how they are perceived by different stakeholders), and cultural context (understanding the values and culture of the organization) (Watkins, 2003). Strategic changes in an organisation make it difficult for the new employees to adapt to the organisation. The onboarding program needs to cover this aspect to ensure long-term success. Ensuring cultural fit by helping the new employees adapt to the organisational culture and values positively impacts the productivity, performance level and retention rate of the employees in an organization.
During the orientation program, the new employees should be able to recognize the opportunities and challenges of working in the organisation in their given job roles, align the personal goals with the organisational goals, develop connections in the organisation with the superiors and subordinates, develop an understanding of the organisation culture and communication style, identify identifying opportunities of early wins (Watkins, 2003). It is important to have internal support of the management to help the employee internalize in the organisation.
A time period of initial 90 days will be earmarked for the purpose of the orientation program. Spread over a period of 90 days the employee would have enough opportunity of learning on the job through gaining hands on experience as opposed to one shot learning providing minimum exposure to the actual processes and functions of the organisation.
Lack of support from the managers and the supervisors can be a potential problem that must be addressed to increase the chances the program will be effective (Watkins, 2003). If is often found that the lime managers are more interested in the productivity and outcome that the new employee provides. Employee orientation is not their primary focus. In such cases, internal support of the managers is crucial to make the orientation process successful.
References
Watkins, M.W. (2003). The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All
Levels, 1st ed. Harvard Business School Press.
