An orientation is a process, not an event. It is part of the overall integration of new employees into an organization, by which it helps new employees adapt to the work environment and their jobs. Orientation is, in fact, a training opportunity to promote organizational effectiveness from the start of a person’s employment.
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What is an orientation?
An orientation is a systematic and planned introduction of employees to their jobs, their co-workers and the organization and entails providing new employees with the basic information about the workplace, its business practices, organisation, facilities and personnel, as well as the conditions of employment. It is commonly followed by training tailored to specific job positions.
Types of orientations
Basically there are two types of orientation: formal orientation and informal orientation.
Informal orientations are usually unplanned and simply entails an introduction to the new employee about the job and organisation. Informal orientations are generally carried out by the medium and small-scale businesses.
Formal orientations are planned and seek to integrate the new employee into the organisation. This type of orientation is more common within large-scale organizations. Download Best Practices Here.
What are the objectives of orientation?
When a new employee joins an organisation, he/she is an utter stranger to the co-workers, workÂplace and work environment. As such, he/she may feel insecure, shy and nervous. Therefore, an orientation programme is designed to achieve the following objectives:
- To reduce the initial anxiety all new employees feel when they join a new job in a new organisation.
- To familiarize the new employees with the job, people, workplace, work environment and the organisation.
- To facilitate outsider – insider transition in an integrated manner.
- To reduce exploitation by the unscrupulous co-workers.
- To reduce the cultural shock faced in the new organisation.
- To help the new employees to understand the expectations of the organisation.
- To convey what the new employees can expect from the job and the organisation.
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