A client recently asked me my thoughts on the importance of Organizational Onboarding/Orientation… and here it is. 

Our definition of Organizational Orientation:  Organizational Orientation involves the ability of HR professionals to assist the organization by developing processes for effective employee integration; educating employees about organizational values and business practices’ and developing relevant orientation, mentoring and coaching programs.   

·         According to a January 2003 survey of nearly 5,700 workers conducted in the UK, 4% of the “new starters” had such a disastrous first day they never went back (Reed Executive/Press Office).

·         A report by the American Hotel and Lodging Association found it takes 90 days for a new employee to reach the level of productivity of an existing worker.  In addition, if new hires do not receive proper training and support during orientation, nearly half leave their jobs within 6 months. ·         A study by Corning Glass found new employees who went through a positive employee orientation were 69% more likely to be with the company 3 years later than those who did not..·         Texas Instruments concluded that employees who had bee carefully oriented to the company and their jobs reached full productivity two months sooner than those who had not.

·         Orientation is substantially cheaper than replacing workers.  The cost of replacing workers can be 6 to 12 months of an employee’s salary.   

Organizational Orientation was a “key driver” of workforce engagement in the 2004-5 and 2006-7 Employee Hold’em national benchmark studies.  In other words, it is critical for today’s employers to provide satisfactory orientation if the organization wants their employees to “stay longer, work harder, and recommend the organization as a great place to work”.   

According to the 2006-7 Employee Hold’em National Benchmark:

• Seven in ten employees have a clear understanding of the company’s mission, vision, values and objectives and the role they play in them.  This dropped from 75% in 2004.
• Seven in ten employees feel they are well informed as to how their job fits in the company, their manager has explained the performance expectations of the job, the requirements and responsibilities of their job are well defined, and the importance of ethical conduct has been communicated to them throughout their employment. 

What is most telling in the survey results are the impact these questions have on workforce engagement.   In the work we do with clients, we are able to categorize employees into three groups; Fully Engaged, Reluctant, and Unengaged.   

·         When employees are Fully Engaged, nine in ten feel positively about all aspects of Organizational Orientation.  When employees are Unengaged, less than half feel positively about the aspects organizational Orientation.  In fact, at least one quarter (24%) of Unengaged workers disagree their company performs well in all aspects of orientation, while the negative perceptions of Fully Engaged workers is no higher than 4%.   There is no “chicken and egg” story here.  Employees do not become “Fully Engaged” and then start to feel positively about orientation, they feel positively about orientation which leads directly to workforce engagement.