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ONBOARDING VS. ORIENTATION
AND THE IMPORTANCE OF BOTH

Let’s start with the basics. What exactly is onboarding?

Onboarding is the thorough process of adapting new employees into their respective departments and roles.

The process can take anywhere from 3 months to even a year. Onboarding is commonly confused with orientation, which is a separate process altogether.

Orientation introduces the company’s mission, values, and visions.

An orientation program typically is a one time event that will last up to a week. It is typically more of a personal interaction between all new hires where they are able to look at presentations and answer questions with Human Resources. Both have their advantages to new hires and retention.

Onboarding advantages include:

Supporting new hires in their first projects and increasing their productivity
Increasing employee retention
Helping employees understand their duties and roles at work
Focusing on each individual new hire rather than all

Orientation advantages include:

Introducing new hires to company policies and procedures
Getting employees acclimated with their workplace
Building a strong relationship amongst the new hires

Both onboarding and orientation compliment each other and are necessary in retaining new hires and getting them settled into their new position. Orientation helps new employees familiarize themselves with the organization, and onboarding helps them get acclimated with their day-to-day job responsibilities. Well structured orientation and onboarding processes helps foster positive employee engagement!