Engage
That First Impression – New Employee Orientation Day!
By John Dickerson October 2, 2018
People are walking out of their first day of orientation – what do you think that they are talking about? What is their first reaction of your organization, what is important, where do they fit in? Lots of forms, lots of rules, and lots of compliance paperwork.
One of the most exciting young leaders that I have met in our field has designed a special twist to the Orientation Day. Christine Ziemba, Director of Training at Clearbrook in Arlington Heights, IL (a suburb of Chicago), knew about the importance of relationships to help people both succeed and stay with the agency. She realized they introduced leaders in the agency– but no one that they worked with directly. Knowing they would spend far more time with their supervisors, Christine decided to address that.
On orientation day, they began bringing in the new hires’ direct supervisors to have lunch with the new employee. Working with local restaurants, they arranged an easy way for lunch to be billed to the agency. Best of all, there was no agenda other than to get to know each other.
At first there was real push back from the supervisors. They were too busy, too much on their plate, and it took too much time to drive all the way in for this time. But as time went by, things changed.
Supervisors realized this was one of the few times they could really get to know a new hire. For new employees, it made the first day on the job so much better since they had the chance to connect with their supervisor right off the bat. Once the job started and training began, that first time to build relationships made a huge difference.
Christine brings tremendous energy to her work as the Training Director. To hear about this and other innovations she has implemented, email her at [email protected].
With help from our Quillo customers, we have gathered some of the best ideas on how to make the goals of your orientation really stick. For more great ideas on how to ignite, excite and inspire your new hires, email [email protected] to receive a copy of Quillo’s premium content: 17 Ways to Engage, Inspire, and Educate your New Hires.