I just got my new Staples In Store Credit Card.  It’s grey and shiny, and it has my Staples Rewards number printed right on it.  I used it right away, and now I’m looking at all the cool new stuff I bought.  Did I need it all?  Nah, but that’s not the point.  It’s about opening up the big cardboard box and seeing all the little boxes inside.  It’s like Christmas for business.  The cool new desktop shredder (omg, it is sooooo coooool), the necessary overpriced ink for my printer (sorry Staples, but it is really really expensive), and the two new cases of paper sit proudly in my office looking for a place to live.

I have only had a handful of jobs over the last 30 years.  I worked at Burke Marketing Research for 5 years, Walker Information for 19, pan for 3 and now heading up Employee Hold’em for the last three years.  However I can remember each of those job’s first day, and for me, one of the highlights of the day was getting all the new company stuff you would need for your new job.  All your desk supplies (see, I’m a junkie), perhaps some company logo-wear (got it at two jobs, got stiffed by the other), the big sippy-cup with giant straw, and depending on the title, a new “nameplate” for my office or cubby-hole.

It’s part of the excitement of being a new employee.  It’s the easiest part of organizational orientation.  It’s also critical to the engagement and retention of employees.  Organizational orientation (or on-boarding as some call it) is a top five driver of workforce engagement… that mean’s it’s critical to happiness of your employees, and more importantly the loyalty and retention of your customers.

When it comes to Organizational Orientation, do your new employees:

• understand the company’s objectives and their role in them?
• believe the requirements and responsibilities of their job are well defined?
• receive information that helps them make good decisions at work?
• constantly have the importance of ethical conduct communicated to them throughout their employment?

Ensure your new (and not so new) employees agree with those statements, and you’ll be laying the right foundation with your new hires, and reinforcing good behaviors with your current ones.

Now back to the office supplies.  I got a new white-erase board.  I really didn’t need it, but it was shiny.  Plus I got the markers that smell like fruit. 

Wow.  I need help.