Orientation and Training

I have to admit, my memory of the past orientation programs that I have gone through is a bit fuzzy. The most recent one that I had was for my current position at UT, where I underwent both an institutional orientation given by UT's HR department and a departmental one given by my then-immediate supervisor, who has since left the organization.

For the institutional one, I remember that the orientation material focused mainly on information about UT and benefits, very much like the one for Yale. This is an overview of the UT orientation for new employees that I went through, and here is a checklist that wasn't there when I was hired, or at least I don't think it was available online then. Although it may seem impersonal, I find online orientation material to be helpful, and I would try to provide relevant informaton online to supplement what the employees learn in person, the way the FSIS did, although admittedly I found the amount of material that they had to be somewhat overwhelming. Still, it is helpful to have a site that employees can return to review what they have learned, and it cuts down on the amount of paper products that an organization would have to otherwise print for each employee. (I remember receiving a folder with a lot of paper printouts during my orientation. I am not sure if this has changed or not, but I remember that some of the information - primarily contact information - became quickly outdated and the handout was no longer of any use to me in the long run.)

The orientation that my past supervisor conducted with me dealt more specifically with the department, of course, and with my job duties. Overall, I felt he did a good job of introducing me to the position and to the department. For the first few days, I remember that he would sit with me and personally show me how to set up my phone, e-mail and relevant passwords, and he also introduced me to each of the people in our immediate office and to those that we would interact with in the wider organization. He spread out my training over the course of several weeks, so as to give me an opportunity to become proficient in one area before moving onto the next, and each time, he would personally come and walk me through the steps of performing a task himself.

In this way, the orientation that I went through at UT was not so different than the one that I had for a past position at an insurance company, where I also had a general, company-wide orientation for new employees and a position-specific one with my immediate supervisor, although for this company, I underwent two position-specific orientations in a sense, as I began by working in one section of the same department for the first two or three weeks when I was in actuality assigned to another. This led to my being rather unsettled for the first month or so, as once I had become somewhat accustomed to one group of people and practices, I had to pack up and move to another office and become acquainted with a new set of people and new ways of conducting business (since everyone had their own way of doing things) within the first few weeks of my employment. I would try not to make an employee do that much internal moving when s/he is first hired, if possible, although it was helpful for me to see how things were done in the other office. In both offices, someone - either my immediate supervisor or another knowledgeable employee - sat down with me and the other new employees and personally directed our training and introduction to certain tasks or software programs. (The only downside was that once I saw how we did things in my actual office, I found that I preferred the other one, which had more employees my age and a more friendly environment than my office did, but I was not in a position to request a transfer.)

For the most part, I think that having both a general, organization-wide orientation and a department-specific one is helpful in a large organization. Such a division may or may not be necessary in a smaller organization, but I think that in a larger one, it is a good idea to have both in order to provide both a macro and a micro introduction to the organization. For the micro introduction to the organization or the department, I would try to do some of the things that NASA provides for its employees on their first day, as mentioned in Jennifer's question for this week. I like the idea of contacting the employee before their first day, and I would mention this in my offer letter to the employee after the employee has accepted the position so that s/he will be aware that we will be contacting them before their first day. I would also try to provide a checklist of the supplies and equipment that the employee is supposed to have, so that both s/he and I can make sure that the organiztion is providing the person with everything that s/he needs to work. I would also try to arrange to take the new employee out to lunch with the rest of the office during the first week so that s/he gets a chance to interact with everyone on a non-work basis, and I like the idea of meeting with the employee at the end of the day to "close out" the first day (after all, you want them to come back the next day!).

I have participated in several Outward Bound-type activities for summer camp, but I have never had to do anything similar in a place of employment (although I have seen such programs lampooned on some workplace-related TV shows). My main concern is that such programs will discourage workers who may not be in great physical shape or who have health problems (including allergies, if it is held outdoors or problems with their hands) or a fear of heights or perhaps who are elderly, and that these workers may be looked down upon or may miss out on chances to advance professionally if they don't participate. Personally, I would probably participate such a program if it was mandatory, but I would hope that the program would be designed to accommodate a wide range of physical types so that more people can participate. As a manager, I would have to look carefully at the make-up of my organization before considering the use of such a program, and even then, I would have to ask myself if I could accomplish my goals in the same way by using a less extreme method that will be beneficial to everyone.