Why You Need New Employee Orientation

"If you want to help new employees succeed and reduce turnover, you need to have a system in place to welcome them to the job and help them learn everything they need to know," says a new post on Monster Thinking, the employment website's blog.

The post also goes on to say that most employees decide whether to stay at their new job within the first 18 months of working there. In my experience, or my friends' experiences really, they usually decide much earlier.

But I can say from personal experience that it is indeed great to have orientation like Monster suggests, but sometimes it isn't really practical or even possible. Even though author Emily Bennington -- who co-wrote 2010's Effective Immediately: How to Fit In, Stand Out, and Move Up at Your First Real Job -- told Monster that "so much of what we come to judge as poor performance really comes down to unclear expectations -- so you really want to make sure that you and your new hire are on the same page from day one."

Assuming you're in an industry where such a thing is feasible, I'd suggest reading over this list from Work911 on the essentials of a solid orientation program and read about -- but avoid doing -- this eight-hour new-hire orientation.

Yeah, eight hours. I wonder if this is why my friends usually make a snap decision about whether to stay at their new jobs -- because they haven't even started yet and are still being trained months later? 

David Wolinsky is a freelance writer and a lifelong Chicagoan. In addition to currently serving as an interviewer-writer for Adult Swim, he's also a columnist for EGM. He was the Chicago city editor for The Onion A.V. Club where he provided in-depth daily coverage of this city's bustling arts/entertainment scene for half a decade. When not playing video games for work he's thinking of dashing out to Chicago Diner, Pizano's, or Yummy Yummy. His first career aspirations were to be a game-show host.

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