With the growth of the corporate intranet and e-learning, many organizations are turning to online orientation as part of their overall new employee orientation strategy. By being available to new hires from the get go, online orientation is a wonderful tool available to today's organizations to ensure timely delivery of orientation information.

In a recent survey of North American Online Orientation Practices, conducted by Westwood Dynamics, 25 organizations that have implemented online orientation cited the following top four reasons why their organization decided to put orientation online:

• Improved consistency of the orientation message (100%)
• Ability to provide orientation to all employees, regardless of start date (96%)
• Improved timeliness (96%)
• Ability to deliver to a geographically dispersed workforce (75%)

A Blended Approach

Although more and more organizations are implementing online orientation, to date very few have measured their results, so it is difficult to identify best practices. Yet one best practice is clearly emerging: a blended approach that combines online orientation with face-to-face elements.

Consider the paradox of group orientation. Gathering new hires gather for a day of presentations is one of the most popular orientation methods, but also poses significant challenges.

First and foremost, there is often a gap between when new employees start and when they attend orientation, sometimes as much as three months. Group orientation can also be hard to coordinate, with many presenters to schedule. And with so much information to share in limited time, the unfortunate result can be a long day of one-way presentations and little meaningful dialogue. Important messages such as organizational values might be allocated as little as 15 minutes on the agenda.

Yet group orientation has the potential to be a powerful communicate vehicle. The very concept of new hires interacting with thought leaders in the organization has incredible merit.

Enter online tools. When online orientation and group orientation are used together in an overall blended strategy, the results can be impressive.

The process begins with online orientation through which all employees, regardless of their location or start date, learn about the organization's philosophies, structure, operations, products, policies and benefits. Interactive learning activities increase learning and retention of key principles, such as vision and values. Managers play a key role through reinforcement and coaching.

A month or two later, group orientation continues the process. With the foundation already laid in online orientation, workshop time with can be focused on meaningful discussion. A day with senior leaders discussing questions such as, "What does it mean to live our values day to day?" or "How does our customer service differentiate us from our competitors?" is far more meaningful than a day of PowerPoint presentations, however well intentioned.

The Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) has experienced success with this approach. Through online orientation employees become familiar with the District on their first day, providing an understanding of how they, their department and the GVRD as a whole fit together. Monthly group activities add a personal dimension as new hires attend part of a monthly Board meeting and interact with senior management, plus tour facilities as an introduction to the vast workings of the GVRD. Lasting relationships are formed across the organization.

Orientation Best Practices - and How They Apply Online

Research has identified nine best practices for new employee orientation in general, all of which have direct application to online orientation.

Make it part of the recruitment process

Ensure alignment between orientation and recruitment, and validate the reasons the employee joined the company, by reinforcing key messages from the recruitment process in the online orientation.

Link design to culture

Design your online orientation so that it is reflective of your organization's unique culture. Weave messages on values throughout. Use icons that represent the culture and products. Use storytelling to demonstrate how people live up to the customer service philosophy. The most powerful online orientation programs also to begin to immerse the employee in the culture. Interactive games and facilitated online activities allow for this greater depth.

Design a process, not an event

Keep a process-oriented approach in mind and design a variety of modular activities that can unfold over time.

At ChevronTexaco, the New Employee Website outlines the purpose of orientation and what new hires can expect during their first day, first week, first month and each quarter for their first year.

Make it timely

Provide access to the online orientation on day one through an icon on the computer desktop, the employee's first email or an information card in the orientation kit. Make computers available for employees without their own workstations. Make it managers responsible for ensuring new hires are given adequate time to engage with the online orientation tools.

Many organizations go further by sending an invitation to the employee's home, inviting them to visit an external new employee website prior to their start date; included is an offer to reimburse internet café time for those who don't have home computers.

Keep it fresh

Except for key content such as vision and values, avoid repeating information that may change and is already on your intranet. Pointing new hires to resources also helps employees learning where to find things. Develop a strategy to keep your program up-to-date and revisit the design and messages on a semi-annual basis.

Design something memorable

Use of a theme can be effective in creating a memorable design, as can interactive learning activities such as virtual tours or scavenger hunts. A memorable activity on the ChevronTexaco New Employee Website is "CHAOS", a dynamic glossary of acronyms unique to ChevronTexaco.

Create a good first impression

A positive first impression can be created through professional design and carefully crafted core messages delivered with a conversational tone. Another way to create a lasting first impression is through a mascot.

Intel has added a special and very personal touch to their online orientation. Upon entering the site, new employees immediately meet Tamiko, their tour guide. The smiling face of this friendly woman greets new hires as they enter the orientation site, acts as their companion throughout the online orientation and is a virtual 'someone to go to' when they are seeking information. Tamiko helps to make online orientation about people connecting with people.

Get executives, HR personnel, and managers involved

During design, involve stakeholders in focus groups and on your design team. Give the senior executives virtual roles in the delivery of online orientation. As you implement, ensure that every stakeholder understands their role, especially managers.

Design to be inclusive

Make a point to ensure your online orientation is available to all employees, current and new, full-time and part-time, contractors and those returning to work.

The Dow Chemical Company's blended new employee orientation program is a good example. In addition to the Roadmap Website, each employee receives their own interactive Roadmap CD containing all the information covered in the orientation process, including networking and milestone tools, videos of the company CEO, company history, insights from fellow employees, and all materials from the Welcome to Dow session.

Learning Technologies

Learning technologies offer a variety of options for developing online orientation that goes beyond simple web pages of text, graphics and audio/video clips.

With self-paced online learning employees learn independently using a tutorial structure of assessment, activity, and post-testing. Activities might include quizzes, games, drill and practice, or drag and drop exercises.

With asynchronous communication tools employees communicate with each other and facilitators at different times through email and online discussion forums. Examples include new employee forums, Q&A forums facilitated by key leaders, and debriefing of guided learning activities.

Synchronous communication tools enable employees and facilitators to interact in real time, regardless of location. Web-conferencing tools use audio, slides, interactive polls and whiteboards, while text chat is a simpler interface. Sessions can be held for initial welcomes, virtual meetings with the CEO, or dialogue about values.

Online Orientation in Your Organization

Online orientation is most beneficial to medium to large organizations with a geographically diverse workforce and intranet technologies already in place.

Think you may be interested? The following watermark questions will help you define the role online orientation could play for your organization:

• How often do you hold group sessions? Do you experience challenges in holding these sessions?
• Would the use of online orientation enable you to obtain a higher return from group sessions by shortening their length, reducing their frequency, or allowing time for deeper dialogue on key topics?
• Could online orientation help geographically dispersed employees who are unable to attend group orientation become more closely tied into the organization as a whole?
• Would online orientation help to ensure that a more consistent message is disseminated to all employees?

If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, an online component may be for your organization. Assess your situation and start clicking.