So a question I get asked from time to time is, “What is the difference between an Orientation program and an Onboarding program question. This is a great question and more than being able to just rattle off a definition, being able to answer this question demonstrates a Talent / HR professionals experience in the field. But lets start with a couple simple definitions.

Orientation: An initiative through which an employee becomes familiar with the organization as well as his or her department, coworkers, and the job. Orientation generally lasts one to two days and helps the employee develop a realistic image of the organization and/or the job (SHRM, 2013).

Onboarding: An initiative which often encompasses orientation as well as the first few months of as employee’s tenure in a position. Onboarding programs help employees develop positive working relationships with their supervisors, coworkers, and other with whom they will need to interact while performing their work (SHRM, 2013).

I have designed, facilitated, and managed a number of orientation and onboarding programs in my career and the goals and approaches are different. In short, the goal of orientation is to acclimate a new hire to the larger organization and it’s culture. The goal of onboarding is to equip for productivity, quickly.  The best programs I have been associated with use both. The prevailing thought is that all employees need to go through orientation and only junior staff need onboarding. However, I have found that even seasoned, experienced, specialist new hires who are moving into the same role in a new organization are more productive when they have an understanding how to accomplish thing in their new environment. Orientation program will often cover an overview of organizational policies, procedures, history and vision. Onboarding can be department specific and contain information about where to find job specific information, who to go to for various answers, and how specific work is accomplished.

As an example, when I managed learning for a technology organization, orientation was where all the HR related forms and procedures where completed and/or checked. Orientation was also where compliance issues like sexual harassment prevention was covered. There was also sessions on the history, mission, culture and values of the organization. At the end of the day long event, new hore understand the ecosystem they joined and what was expected of them.  After orientation new hire would begin a 2 month long onboarding program where they would learn how to utilize technical resources in the companies specific infrasture. This would include getting access to all the sub systems, network drives, and equipment they would need to do their job. They learned for put a software project into production and the approval process and communication needed to do this effectively. The whole point was to ensure that when the first project that matter came to them, they weren’t hindered by process and were free to be exceptional.

Orientation and onboarding often build off each other and both when combined have an incredibly positive impact on retention and engagement.