Orientation is your front door as people become employees for the first time. If you ever remember being a new person within a company you might remember having a lot of questions and not being too sure about the expectations. This is where the orientation comes into play. With a good orientation you can get your employees off to a good start which leaves them feeling confident about their position when they go back to their departments.

Orientation has many purposes of which some of the most important are expectations, answering questions, safety, introductions, company procedures, and legal protection. It might seem a little odd that so much could be covered in a 4 ? 8 hour orientation but it can. Some orientations may actually need to be expanded to 2 days if necessary.

New workers have lots of questions related to breaks, facilities, working hours and more. Most of these can be answered in an orientation. The company can also use the orientation as a way of introducing the new people to important figures within the organization. During the orientation it is important to go through all of the expectations of the position as well as the policies & procedures of the company.

As a final consideration, orientation also helps the organization protect itself legally. Let us say an employee was injured on the job. It was found that they were brought through safety training, ergonomics training and equipment training. Even though it doesn't offer a full range of protection it is one of the key components attorneys look for. The same can be said for sexual harassment, discrimination and others.

Orientation is the front door. It is the first time an employee is actually working ?on the clock? and therefore a company only has one time to make the right impression and disseminate the right information. After the very first day the company would have missed the opportunity to set up the proper stage.