New-Hire Orientation Curriculum

Our client was growing so fast that they were losing their “small-firm” culture – and failing to make sure that new-hires had the industry-specific and company-specific knowledge needed to thrive in their fast-paced atmosphere.

Specifically, they wanted an orientation program that could:

• Welcome new-hires
• Explain where the new-hire’s job fit into the larger organization
• Give them an accurate and consistent message about the mission/vision/values of the organization
• Make sure that all new-hires received information about the key players, key information, and key work processes in the organization
• Get new-hires oriented and ready to do their jobs fast!

We worked with the client to define the skills and knowledge that every new-hire required, no matter what their job. These included industry knowledge, compliance training, and company-specific knowledge.

We designed a series of 6 online training modules, to be run over the organization’s Intranet. The modules were fun, interesting, and interactive. These modules were assigned to be completed by the end of the first week of work. Completion was tracked, with Completion Reports sent to the new-hire’s supervisor as well as Human Resources.

We used a number of techniques to help the new-hire “get comfortable” with key personnel and managers in the organization:

• We taped a short welcome and “what my department is about” video starring each senior manager in the organization. New-hires were encouraged to review these as part of the training.
• We asked staffers to contribute their personal comments and insights about the organization. We included these, along with photos of the contributing staffers, at appropriate spots in the online modules. As a result, the modules were less “preachy” and more authentic in the way they presented the organization.
• Some exercises in the modules required new-hires to meet with their supervisors to discuss performance expectations, be introduced to key personnel in their own departments or in sister departments, and review schedules for department-specific training.

Special Skills/Software

Front End Analysis: We conducted a needs analysis and competency assessment for all job categories.

Instructional Design and Development: We designed the online modules to be taken in any sequence. Modules were no more than 30 minutes each. We kept the modules entertaining and interactive, using motion, audio, photos, and lots of “case studies” to tell the story of how the organization served its customers. And we made sure to include human-to-human interaction as well, to encourage new-hires to meet others in the organization.

E-Learning software design and development: Articulate software was a good choice for this application.  Although the client did not have a Learning Management System, we were able to link the Articulate test scores to an Intranet database for tracking.

Consulting: We worked with the client to build acceptance for the orientation training across the organization. To build consensus and “buy-in”, we made sure to involve managers and staff from all areas of the organization during the design/development phase. We also designed the roll-out to create maximum excitement from top-down in the organization.

Our client has enthusiastically embraced the online orientation curriculum!

New-hires gave the curriculum high marks for helping them to get to know the organization and the industry.

Department managers were proud to offer these modules to their new-hires, pleased that new-hires could begin orientation training right away without waiting for special classes to become available, and happy that they could count on each new-hire’s getting an accurate and consistent first impression of the organization.

HR was thrilled with the way these modules portrayed their organization – so much so that they plan to use some modules for recruiting purposes.

Because of the roll-out strategy, a large number of legacy employees were curious enough to take the time to complete these modules, as well. Their feedback was extremely positive – with many indicating that they learned new information, even though they were long-time employees.

Even the Executive Suite got into the act, featuring some of the modules in presentations to Senior Management and the Board of Directors.

For more information about this project, please contact us.