Term Definition Introduced In

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1 Employee Orientation Term Definition Introduced In Employee handbook A resource that the employee can refer to that defines the terms and conditions of employment not just during orientation, but throughout employment. Module 1 Mentor A relationship between a new and current employee to provide instruction, leadership, and support Module 2 Organization chart A chart that shows the responsibilities of groups and employees within the organization; helps visualize where the new employee fits in and defines his/her role Module 5 Orientation program A program ranging from 30 days to six months when a new employee is hired designed to increase learning, employee satisfaction, and performace while decreasing employee turnover Module 4 SHRM An acronym that stands for Society for Human Resources Management; the largest association for human resource management Module 1

2 EMPLOYEE ORIENTATION MODULE ONE GUIDING PRINCIPLES OF EMPLOYEE ORIENTATION Female: Module One Guiding Principles of Employee Orientation. Once you have made a job offer and completed the hiring process, the job of employee retention begins. Once you have made a decision to hire, your company has made a significant investment in the new hire. SHRM, which is the Society for Human Resources Management, estimated that it cost $3500 to replace one $8.00-an-hour employee when all costs of recruiting, interviewing, hiring, training, and reduced productivity were considered. SHRM s estimate was the lowest estimate of 17 nationally respected companies who calculate this cost. Other sources provide these estimates. It costs you from 30 to 50 percent of the annual salary of entry level employees; 150 percent of middle level employees; and up to 400 percent of specialized, high level employees. From the first communication that you make to your newly hired employee, you re making the impressions that will form the employee s opinions and attitudes about the job and about your company. And there s nothing as important as getting your new employee off to a good start. Managing a team of employees is an ongoing process, and it starts with your employee s first days of work. You ve got to develop a successful strategy for helping them assimilate everything there is about your corporate culture and the customer s needs. Number one, companies of all sizes should have a well-planned orientation program. Many businesses don t really provide an orientation program and this is probably the biggest Page 1

3 mistake they can make. Even if you don t have an official program with written procedures and processes, if you have new employees, you do indeed have an orientation. Now don t think that an orientation program is only for the large corporations or agencies. Even the smallest companies should be concerned about employee retention and making a good impression. Number two, think of employee orientation as a process not an event. Some companies hold orientation events every few weeks for all of the employees that have come on board since the previous orientation event, or they wait until enough new employees have been hired to warrant holding another day-long program of company slide shows. Well, this is too late and it does nothing to help new employees feel connected to the company. So don t try to do everything in one day. Try thinking of orientation as a five-part process: prior to employment; first day; first week; first few months; and last step, six months and beyond. Number three, an employee handbook is the best resource for defining conditions and terms of employment. An employee handbook is not something that s just used for orientation and then put on a shelf to collect dust. All new employees and all current employees, for that matter, should have an employee handbook or packet that they can refer to throughout their employment. The information should include such things as time and attendance policies, dress code, and payroll policies. Number four, orientation should start as soon as the employee has been hired. Don t wait until your new employee shows up and then decide what to do Page 2

4 with them. In my organization, the Marine Corps Technology Services Organization, our onboarding process was not the best. We had civilian employees, military employees, and contract employees. And for each type of employee, there were different requirements for paperwork and different reporting. And there were times when I d have someone knock on my office door and say, Hi. I was told to report to you. And I had no idea anyone was coming. I knew that I had asked for a new employee or a replacement for an employee who had left the organization. But my organization had a practice of hiring new people in groups and then waiting till the last minute to decide which new employee would be assigned where. One of the reasons that I have such strong opinions about employee orientation is because I ve seen it from the wrong side. When the new employee has accepted the job offer, that should signal the beginning of the orientation process. Number five, the human resources department does not own employee orientation. Well in larger companies, the orientation program is typically owned by the human resources department. But this often can miss the point. Often the new employee reports to work and is turned over to the HR group for paperwork and presentations. Now there s a role for introducing the human resources information, such as benefit packages, employee handbooks and policies, and paperwork, etc. And I don t mean to minimize the importance of the human resources role. I can imagine the chaos if it were left to managers like me to make sure that every employee was fully informed of their rights Page 3

5 under ADAA, FMLA, AEEOC, COBRA, NLRB, OSHA, and FSLA. Whew! And so forth. But too often, managers don t have a strategy of their own for new employee orientation. And that s a mistake. Number six, employee orientation is a window into your company s culture. Whether or not an employee fits into the company culture is a big factor in that employee s success and productivity. The culture is a powerful element that shapes your work environment, your work enjoyment, your work relationships, and your work processes. The employee orientation process gives a new employee a preview of what it will be like to work for the organization. Number seven, a great orientation program will reduce company costs. Getting a new employee up to speed as soon as possible saves the company money. The sooner that the employee can learn the job and become proficient on their own, the more money the company can save. I talked about having a new employee report to me that I didn t know was coming. Now imagine for a minute what that was like. Here s Chip, the new employee, had reported to the HR department and he had received a big binder full of policies and procedures. Then Eddie the HR guy looks at a list and says, Well, let s see. You re slated for systems management. So Eddie calls my secretary, Melissa, and lets her know that she needs to come down to HR and escort the new employee up to systems. Well Melissa pokes her head in my office and said, Hey, did you know we were getting a new employee? Then she races down to HR. So I quick call Eddie and ask what s up. And Eddie says, Well, we Page 4

6 hired the new Security Analyst that you asked for, and it was perfectly true. Security Analyst was one of the areas that I had asked to be augmented. So I buzzed the Supervisor of Security and get him to come up to my office just as Melissa is bringing the new employee through the door. Well, we did our best not to look like idiots. But what kind of impression do you think that we made on Chip, the new employee? With a little bit of up-front planning, we could have had everything ready instead of looking like an organization that didn t know which end was up. Number eight, you can reduce employee turnover and increase employee morale by showing that the company values its employees. Consider again Chip, my unexpected new employee. You think we gave the impression of an organization that values its employees? If you start off poorly as my organization did in this case, you have a lot of ground to make up. With all of the demands of running a business and accomplishing the organization s mission, sometimes new employee orientation falls by the wayside and new employees are pretty much left to sink or swim. But neglecting orientation or onboarding not only prevents new hires from becoming productive quickly, it makes them feel unwelcome. And that adds up to a frustrating experience for new hires and results in a high turnover. Number nine, great orientation with clear communication helps to develop realistic job expectations. A good orientation program helps a new employee to develop realistic job expectations. Even through an expensive recruiting and hiring process, Page 5

7 new employees can report to work and now know what s expected from them, and not understand what they should expect from the organization. Clarifying expectations on both sides of the equation should be a primary goal for your orientation program. Number ten, effective orientation makes a significant difference in how quickly an employee becomes productive. Well, how quickly do you think that Chip, my unexpected employee, got up and running and productive in his new job? We did have an empty cubicle that we had been using to store water bottles for the water cooler, and we did have a computer in that cubicle, but it wasn t hooked up to the network. And of course Chip didn t have an account or a password to the network. Well, my folks had to clear out the water battles and hunt down a chair and dust and vacuum the area before Chip even had a place to sit. And that is not what you want for your new employees. Number 11, make an effort to make employee orientation interesting and as painless as possible. The employee onboarding period can be quite complex and uncertain. If you could, consider the experience from the employee s perspective and make an effort to make it fun, interesting, exciting, painless, and as simple as possible. If you do, you ll make your new team member feel valued, wanted, interested, and enthusiastic about working for the company. By engendering these positive emotions from the word go, you make the new employee want to do great work and add great value to the organization. Number 12, continually refine orientation programs to reflect changes in the organization. Just like any other Page 6

8 [End of recording.] process within your organization, your orientation process can quickly lose its value if it s not kept up to date with changes in the organization. Page 7

9 EMPLOYEE ORIENTATION MODULE TWO BEFORE THE EMPLOYEE ARRIVES Female: Module Two Before the Employee Arrives. Employee orientation starts as soon as a new employee accepts the job offer. By doing some steps before the employee arrives, you show yourself to be part of an organization that s on top of things and that knows what it s doing. And you show your organization to be welcoming and a positive working environment. Number 13, your company s website can be a great source of information for future employees. If your company has a public website, you can include a section on employment information. You could start out by thanking people for expressing interest in working for the company and include information on benefits, payroll, training philosophy and opportunities, employee rights and rules, and EEOC policies. And if you can include a section on employee orientation, where to report, an agenda for the first day, this would go a long way toward helping a new employee be ready to be productive more quickly. Number 14, your company s intranet is the best way for organizational processes and practices. I think there s still a place for the employee handbook and the three-ring binder. It s something substantial that an employee can hold on to. But the best place for the company s processes and practices is on the company s internal online webpages that are not available to the public. And if you don t have an intranet at your organization, there s still the three-ring binder. Number 15, make sure that the employee handbook weather it s on the company intranet or in a binder is up to date. You don t want to Page 1

10 give bad scoop to your employees. The job of keeping the employee handbook up to date is often complex and tedious. But it s a lot easier if the information is available online instead of having to update the binders and send out updated information to all the employees. A new hire will refer to the employee handbook not only in the first few weeks, but throughout employment with the company. I would strongly recommend that if you put organizational policies and procedures online that you put a statement on each policy or procedure to keep anyone from making claims based on out-of-date procedures. The statement would read something like, The company s documents are updated regularly online. When printed, the version of this document becomes uncontrolled. Do not rely on printed documents for most up-to-date version. Check with the Human Resources Department to verify that this is the most current version before using. Number 16, send new employees a welcome message letting them know what their first day will be like before they even enter the building. You can send the new hires a welcome letting them know what to expect on their first day. You could have a first day new employee orientation agenda that could add things like A photo will be taken for an ID badge so they ll be prepared for that. Then list the other things that are going to happen like welcome from the HR department; welcome video; introduction to the new employee website; overview of the organization; benefit plan options; complete benefit forms; recap and questions; and then building tour ending with the location of Page 2

11 work assignment and introduction to the supervisor. You could also include a link in a welcome to an intranet that is accessible to new hires. By providing some information in advance, you can eliminate a common source of new hire angst and give them a better chance to get off on the right foot. Number 17, send the employee a welcome packet prior to the start date. There are some things that have to be done on paper. And it s a good idea to send a welcome package to the new hire in addition to the welcome . If you have them, you could include some things with the company logo, such as calendars or mouse pads or other promotional items, with your welcome packet. But more importantly, every workplace comes with its own set of rules and regulations, benefits, and bonuses, nuances and traditions. Don t make your new employee learn these things the hard way. If your company observes a casual Friday rule, make sure all new employees know this before they show up at the office on their first Friday in a well pressed suit. Every company offers a range of benefits and perks. They seem to be even more valuable if you make sure your new employees know about them from the outset. Give new employees an easy way to keep track of exactly what they re eligible for and how they can take advantage of the benefits. Number 18, include in the welcome packet items such as benefits information and forms that can be filled out in advance. Include a list of things that the new hire should complete and bring to the first day on the job. You can include the I9 form, benefit forms, W4 form, direct deposit information, emergency Page 3

12 contacts, and insurance information. Number 19, include business cards in the welcome packet, including the employee s new office phone number. A really nice addition to the welcome packet and pretty easy to accomplish is to include business cards with the new hire s name and phone numbers. This bit of extra thoughtfulness will go a long way toward making the new hire feel like part of the team before they even come to the office. Number 20, have the employee s work space ready, including common office supplies. I can t think of anything much less welcoming than having a new employee start on the job and not having the work space ready to go. Remember Chip had to help move all those water cooler bottles out of his cubicle and round up a chair before he could even sit down. As a side note, the place that the security team supervisor found that chair was in my office, and I felt so bad about the poor welcome for Chip that I let him keep one of my favorite chairs. So if you know that a new employee is coming, then have the work area ready and welcome. You can even put up a banner or a sign welcoming the new employee to the work space. Number 21, administrative items such as computer access and accounts should already be activated when the employee arrives. Now there s some things that you have to wait until the employee arrives. If you require pictures or fingerprints, you can t very well have those things ready before the new hire arrives. But there isn t any reason why you can t have an account and access to the organization s system prior to the date of hire. All it requires is good Page 4

13 communication and cooperation between departments. Number 22, update the organization chart to include the new employee. As long as you know that a new employee is coming, where they ll be assigned and when, again, good communication can make a big difference. Whoever in your organization that s responsible for updating the organization chart should participate in the new employee orientation by updating the org chart prior to the new employee s report date. In my own organization, when we were communicating well, this was one of the things that impressed the new employees the most. Seeing their name on the org chart made them feel welcome and part of a team from the very beginning. Number 23, select a mentor for the new employee. When I was a programmer, I mentored several new employees and helped get them through the new-guy-stage to be a productive employee. I feel really strongly that having an assigned mentor is critical to a new employee s success. Having someone whose job it is to help you get started and to answer questions makes a big difference to a new employee. [End of recording.] Page 5

14 EMPLOYEE ORIENTATION MODULE THREE FIRST DAY ON THE JOB Female: Module Three First Day on the Job. The first day on the job does not have to be a boring day spent filling out paperwork. Let s take a look at some tips for things that you can do on the new employee s first day to make it memorable and welcoming. Number 25, a new employee forms his or her first opinion of the company based on the reception received on arrival. So put your best foot forward and welcome your new employees the right way. Preparation is the key to a great first impression. Plan ahead and have everything ready for your new employee s first day. It s a fact that how you treat your employees on the first day sets the stage for what they think about your company. You want to make the new employee feel I m welcomed and I belong here. Most organizations are really good at celebrating the departure of a believed coworker. So why are we so often terrible at welcoming the new people? Have you experienced starting a new job only to have your coworkers and supervisor ignore you during the first week? Well if you have, you understand the effectiveness of even a little bit of enthusiasm. Some simple celebration methods might include a letter of welcome signed by the director; a company tee shirt or hat; or a piece of cake. Here s five first-week-turn-offs: The first one, leave the employee standing in the reception area while the reception staff try to figure out what to do with him; leave the employee at the work station to manage on your own while the coworkers pair up and head out to lunch; provide an hour for the Page 1

15 employee to read and sign off on the employee handbook; start the new employees with one or two day new employee orientation during which human resources makes presentation after presentation after presentation after presentation; and five, assign the new employee to a team that has a major deadline in three days. Number 26, be available for a personal welcome for the new employee. There are three statements that can make all the difference in employee orientation. These three statements are especially effective coming from the supervisor or manager. The first is welcome welcome to the organization. Make sure that the employee feels welcome and that you re glad to have them. The next statement is We need you. Make sure the employee knows that they re filling a need for the organization. And finally, thanks. Tell the employee thanks thanks for filling that need, and thanks for accepting the job. Number 27, don t make the first day about nothing but paperwork. Now we ve mentioned this before, but too many organizations claim to have an employee orientation program when what they really have is half a day of filling out paperwork and a couple of videos. If you can, send the paperwork out ahead of time and then the first day, all that will be needed is to check the paperwork over and accept it. And that will leave the rest of the day to do things that are a lot more interesting and productive. And number 28, tour the work area. Don t just show the new employee a desk and leave them there. You should include the other departments in the work area tour. If you have a cafeteria or a gym, make sure that you show Page 2

16 the new employee where they are. My own workplace was enormous. It was a repurposed airplane factory that was cut up into office space for several agencies. It was months before I could confidently make my way anywhere other than from the parking lot to my desk on my own. So I remember knowing that someone telling someone once might not be enough. Your new employee will be hit with a barrage of information on the first day. So they might be asking the same question twice. Number 29, first day focus. On the first day, the employee is trying to figure out where he fits in. So your orientation should concentrate on trying to answer the questions that the employee isn t comfortable enough to ask yet. What s this organization really about? What s it like to work here? How are things organized? Where do I find what I need to do my job? Where does my job fit in? You should remember these questions as you show your new employee around, and try to focus on answering these questions. Number 30, mission, vision and values require in-person training. Your welcome package or company website will no doubt have the company s mission and vision statements permanently displayed. But reading the mission and vision statements is not the same thing as hearing them from a believer. Someone who truly believes in the organization and its values can explain to a new employee much better than reading any mission statement. Number 31, give the employee a copy of the company s organization chart with their name already included. We talked about updating the organization chart with a new Page 3

17 employee s name and position. You should make sure that as part of the first day s agenda to make sure that the new employee sees the chart and sees how they fit in. Number 32, encourage new employees to ask as many questions as necessary to feel comfortable. You should encourage new employees to ask as many questions as they want, and you should mean it. Employees and managers have to realize that orientation is not just a nice gesture. It serves as an important element of the recruitment and retention process. Any employee, when put into a new, strange situation, will experience anxiety that can impede his or her ability to learn to do the job. Effective orientation helps to reduce the anxiety that results from entering into an unknown situation, and helps to provide guidelines for behavior and conduct so the employee doesn t have to experience the stress of guessing. Whether you re participating in orientation or documenting the processes, you should always keep in mind that new employees don t know what you know. I ve seen too many times experienced employees who seem surprised or even irritated when new employees ask them questions, or worse, don t ask questions and just remain in the dark. When you answer questions, you should bear in mind that a partial answer is often no better than no answer at all. You should use the 6X6 method and always give complete information. Always remember who, what, when, why, where, and how. Patient, clear expectations and explanations will give the new employee a good feeling for having shown interest. Number 33, gather together the employees that Page 4

18 will be working directly with the new hire and have them speak about their tasks and responsibilities within the organization. Schedule some time during the first day to have the employees who will be working directly with the new hire give the new employee more than just a casual introduction. Gather together the work group and have them talk a little bit about their own responsibilities within the organization. It doesn t have to be anything scripted or formal just a more detailed introduction than a simple hello. Remember, new employees don t know what they don t know. So asking questions is particularly difficult for them. As such, the ideal orientation takes the guess work out of this and hits the key elements of what all employees need to know or be aware of, and presents them. 34, introduce the new employee to his or her mentor. After you ve gathered the group together, then introduce the new employee to his or her mentor who should be someone from the work group. Remember, you should choose a mentor someone who is capable of showing the new employee the duties of their job and acting as a continuing resource for assistance and someone who can show them the ropes of how the organization works. It s important that the employees learn as soon as possible what s expected of them and what to expect from others in addition to learning about the values and attitudes of the organization. Number 35, give the new employees a personal gift. Old-fashioned welcome wagons were once used to deliver goodies to new members of a community. Well, you can establish your own welcome wagon. Freebies Page 5

19 that the new hire gets in their job can reinforce the belief that the company employees are glad they re there, and want them to succeed. Number 36, give your new employee at least one job related task on the first day. It s important to have a new employee begin work on an assignment as soon as possible. Not only will it give the new employee a sense of what s involved in the job, it will help them feel that they re making an immediate contribution to the organization. And if there just isn t any way that you can assign a task on the first day, the mentor should involve the new employee in his or her own tasks so that the new employee can get a feel for the kind of work that they ll be doing. [End of recording.] Page 6

20 EMPLOYEE ORIENTATION MODULE FOUR FOLLOW-ON ACTIVITIES Female: Module Four Follow-On Activities. The first few days in a new position can be very exciting and confusing for a new employee. Among other things, they re going to meet new people, learn new skills, and be introduced to a new work culture. But don t think that orientation is complete once the employee starts feeling a little more comfortable and less like the new guy. Remember that the employee orientation is a process and not a one-time event. Remember the five parts to the process: Prior to employment; first day; first week; first few months; and six months and beyond. New employee orientation can take from 30 days to six months or more if done properly. A successful orientation program accelerates learning and decreases employee turnover while increasing employee satisfaction and performance. So it takes as long as it takes. The amount of time it takes to bring a new employee up to full productivity depends on both the job and the employee. Number 38, include new employees in social networking activities. Now picture this. A new employee has just come on board. She s gone through the orientation process, seen the video, then filled out the forms. She has a desk and a phone and a big three-ring binder full of company information to read until somebody has time to spend on training. Well then it gets to be about noon and the people in the office start pairing off to head out to lunch and the new employee sits there alone. How welcoming is that? One way to prevent this scenario, whether you have one new employee or a dozen, is Page 1

21 to throw a welcome reception the first day. Celebrate the decision to join the premier organization and the party atmosphere can be really simple just donuts and coffee, or maybe a cake, or maybe taking the group to lunch. The purpose is to build camaraderie among the key people in a festive and relaxed setting. Remind your experienced employees how much it helped them to have the group welcome them by including them in social activities. They should get the hint and pass that tradition along. Number 39, try to get answers for employees as soon as you can so that she knows that you value willingness to learn. If you say, I ll find out and get back to you, then find out and get back. Your ability and willingness to follow through will be the first impression that your new employee has of you and the organization. Number 40, provide training opportunities. Of course every organization is bound by its trading philosophy, its policies, and its budget. A lot of new employee training will come from the mentor. This is the reason that you should choose a mentor very carefully. The new employee is not just learning how to do the job. He s learning how to get along, how the organization works, and how to act. This means during the transition period - the first 90 days or so of employment - new employees get their cues about how they need to behave to fit into the company from those who are training them to do the job. So the lesson here is that training of new employees is one of the most critical functions in any organization, not necessarily for teaching the skill set that new employees need to be able to do the job, but for the proper indoctrination Page 2

22 of the employees into the organization s culture. Having your key employees train the new employee gives the new employee the opportunity to model what a key employee does and how they behave. And this means an increased opportunity for the organization to generate more key employees. Number 41, provide timely feedback. You should give your new employee immediate feedback both good and bad. You re not going to be doing your new employee any favors if you hesitate to provide timely feedback for fear of hurting their feelings. New employees are tentative, nervous, and mistake-prone. It might feel harsh to correct or criticize, but if you don t, you lose an opportunity to set the right tone. Most tasks will have a right way or a best way to be performed. And you should insist that new employees do things your way because bad habits are easily formed and nearly impossible to correct. Number 42, teach new employees the office jargon. One of the most common complaints that I ve heard from employees is when they first started out, they felt like everyone else in the office was speaking in some kind of secret code that they weren t in on. I m not talking about general business terminology things like blue sky thinking or in the weeds or deep dive or eat your own dog food, but language that s specific to your organization or your industry. In my own work, we talked every single day about LRS, MCTFS, MOL, ITD, TSO, and DFAS, and literally hundreds of other acronyms or words. The seasoned employees knew exactly what we were talking about. But to a new person, it can be pretty Page 3

23 overwhelming. You might want to consider a glossary of terms and acronyms. As long as you can keep it current, it s beneficial. Number 43, have frequent check-ins. You should check in with all of your employees. But it s especially important to make sure that your new employees know that you re interested in their progress and that you re invested in their success. In addition, you should check in with the new employee s mentor to keep up on the progress and development. 44, try to anticipate questions. Clear communication and documented processes can go a long way toward answering employees ' questions before they ve even been asked. Resources such as the employee handbook, the organization s intranet, and processes and procedures should be made standard reading for all new or for that matter, for all experienced employees. 45, involve employees in developing orientation programs. You and all of your seasoned employees have all been new employees some time or another. One thing that we did at my organization that I thought was a really good tool was that we formed a team of relatively new employees. They were supervisors with one or two years on the job. And we asked them to develop a process for new employee orientation. Their own experiences as new employees were fresh in their minds, and the processes that they came up with were based on things that they knew now, but they wished that they had known earlier in their careers. They did a great job of coming up with ideas that the more experienced employees might have overlooked. Number 46, set expectations and Page 4

24 track progress. You should always let your employees know what you expect. If an employee is not doing what you expect them to do, it might be because they don t know what you expect. Now that sounds pretty basic. But it s all too common for a supervisor to fail to communicate clear expectations and then judge the employee as a fail for not meeting those unknown expectations. Number 47, establish the link between expectations and the company s mission, goals, and values. Work goals don t count unless those goals support the company s mission, goals, and values. Well think about it. If an employee has goals that don t support the company s mission, goals, and values, why would you encourage them to pursue those goals? Now all of my employees were required to set work related goals and to understand how accomplishing those goals supported one of the organization s objectives. Number 48, consider online orientation. I kind of have mixed feelings about online orientation. I like the idea of having some required training like safety training or EEOC or ethics training online so that we know when the employee has completed the training. And I certainly think that you can put the employee handbook online and jumpstart the information flow by putting some new hire information on your company s public website. But a typical orientation program serves many purposes. It inspires the new hire with the big picture, like what the organization does and where it s going in the future. It answers the personnel related questions, like how the benefit packages work and how to get expenses reimbursed, or how the Page 5

25 performance appraisal system works. And if it s done right, it also provides human to human welcome and begins to build employee loyalty from day one. So I think you could consider a blend of online and face to face orientation that can take advantage of technology without losing the personal contact. [End of recording.] Page 6

26 EMPLOYEE ORIENTATION MODULE FIVE SUPERVISOR CHECKLIST Female: Module Five Supervisor Checklist. Okay, this is my favorite part. In my career, all the employees who came into my group the civilians, the Marines, the contractors they got to, or they HAD to depending on how you looked at it have a personal meeting with me before the end of the first week on the job. Now for most of my career, I only ever had four direct reports. I had three branch chiefs and a secretary. And I was lucky enough to keep those same people in the same jobs for the 15 years that led up to my retirement. So I never got to hire any direct reports. So coming in to meet with me was meeting with the person who was their supervisor times three up the chain, and was part of the orientation process for my group. So I m going to take you through what could have been a typical meeting in my own experience to give you an idea of kind of how it went. So number 49, give a warm welcome and discuss the plan for orientation. Well, depending on when I met with the new employee, I would introduce myself and welcome the new employee to the organization. And then I d invite the new employee to sit down and I d try to make sure that the new hire felt like this was the most important thing that I had on my schedule for the day, because I believe that it was. If the phone rang during this meeting, I would let it ring. Someone else could pick it up and take a message. I turned off my computer monitor so that I wouldn t be distracted by popup messages, and I devoted my full attention to the new employee. Then I would encourage the new employee to talk a Page 1

27 little bit about their background and their experience not like a job interview, but to see if they had any experience with a similar organization and so we could kind of get to know one another. Number 50, make sure all relevant paperwork has been completed. Now one of the first things I asked about was the paperwork. I wasn t really checking on whether it was completed so much as I was checking to see if there were any barriers that I could help them expedite. I would make sure that employees had the system access or the other accounts that they needed. And if not, then I d check to make sure why not and I d get that fixed. Number 51, make sure the employee identification badges, access cards, etc. have been completed. Same thing with all the employee IDs and badges and so forth. Sometimes I could be of help to expedite some of those processes. We were a very large organization, and unfortunately sometimes things fell through the cracks. And I just wanted to make sure that none of my employees needs were sitting on someone s desk not being processed. Number 52, discuss the company s orientation program and the plans for the next few weeks. Then I d talk about the orientation program in general and find out where they were in the program by the time they met with me. Then we talked about the things that were still coming up. I would ask the new employee if they had met the director, who was my boss. And if not, then I d make sure that the employee was scheduled for the next director chat with new employees, which was a really good program where once a quarter, our director sat down with all Page 2

28 the new employees who had started since the last meeting and had his own personal orientation chat. Number 53, make your new employee feel comfortable and at ease. I always tried to make the new employee feel as comfortable as possible, knowing that a lot of them were not comfortable at all with the new job, the new environment, and the new everything. And number 54, make sure you tell your employees the three phrases: You re welcome here; we need you here; and thanks for being here. I always be careful to use those three phrases. Welcome to the organization. We need your experience, your expertise, or your skills. And thanks for choosing to accept our job offer. Those three phrases go a long way toward making the new employee feel welcomed and valued. Number 55, talk about the company, its mission, vision, and goals. Just as we talked about, teaching a new employee the company s mission, vision, and goals needs to come from a true believer. For my group, that was me. I talk about our organization, the service that we provided to the Marine Corps, and our management s vision for continuing to provide that support while keeping the technology services we provided current, world-class support. I wanted to make sure the new employees could see that we re not just leveraging the history and tradition of the Marines, but we re looking toward the future and anticipating ways that we could provide support for emerging technology. 56, show the employee how they fit in and how the work that they will be doing contributes to the company s mission. Well then I talk about the job the new employees were hired to do, and how Page 3

29 that job and the work the employee would be doing fit into the organization, and how that job contributes to the organization s mission, vision, and goals. 57, show the employee the organization chart, discuss the responsibilities of other groups and of the people within your own group. By now, the employee should already have received a copy of the organization chart. But I would put a copy on the desk between me and the new employee and go through all the divisions, what their primary responsibility was, and how our division worked with each one of the others. Then I d go through our own division and discuss the responsibilities of the different groups. My division had several different responsibilities, so I wanted to make sure that the new employee got a good overview of everything that we did in the organization, and a more in-depth explanation of what we did within the division. This is the point where there would generally be a lot of questions from the new employee. It never one time failed to impress when they saw their own name on the organizational chart. The org chart was also a visual of the size of the organization and where our division and the employee s branch and team within that division fit in. It obviously wasn t possible to transfer 30 years of experience in an hour s conversation. But I believe that it was an important part of the employee s orientation experience. Number 58, make sure that the new employee has an employee handbook or knows how to access the employee handbook online. Now by this point, the employee should have received an employee handbook or to know how to Page 4

30 access the employee handbook online. And the reason that I generally took the opportunity to make sure that they had it was because in most states, the employee handbook is treated as a legal contract by the courts. So it was really important to make sure that each employee receives one and that somehow that giving them one didn t fall through the cracks. Number 59, discuss training opportunities and the company s philosophy on training. Then I would discuss our philosophy on training and the various opportunities for training for employees the tuition reimbursement program, the availability of getting current technical training. I d encourage the new employees to be proactive in seeking out training and learning opportunities, and not only technical vendor led training. We would buy technical manuals, subscribe to trade magazines, and hold in-house training sessions and many other types of training. In my experience, training opportunities was one of the biggest motivators for employees. And our last one, number 60, discuss a new employee s personal goals and expectations. Toward the end of the meeting, I would get the new employee to talk more about themselves. I d ask their impression of the organization so far, what they might feel was missing from the orientation, and I would ask about the employee s expectations from the organization, from their supervisor, from me, and from the job. By this time in most cases, the employee was very comfortable talking with me. And I got a lot of really good feedback. The employee felt like Page 5

31 [End of recording.] they knew me as a boss and as a person, and in general, the new employee left the meeting with me feeling welcome and valued. Page 6