The Onboarding Process 1

[Sparweb]

I recently changed jobs. The new employer gave me a series of training sessions they called "Onboarding" which lasted almost 2 days. I thought I would write about it and ask if others have had similar experiences, what they though about it, whether it seemed effective or not, etc. I have worked at several other companies, and none of them did things this way. I'm wondering if this is common or not. Note that this is a regional airline operator with a number of maintenance & overhaul facilities sprinkled across North America.

The onboarding training started with a series of online courses:
[ul][li]WHMIS (Workplace Hazardous Materials Information Systems)[/li]
[li]Human Factors in the Workplace (getting along with people different from you)[/li]
[li]Safety Management System (Federal workplace safety)[/li]
[li]Company organizational structure[/li]
[li]Company safety & Hazard reporting system (anonymous computer portal)[/li]
[li]Airport restricted access[/li][/ul]
All of the above training sessions were delivered online (I sat at a computer and watched) and each had a test at the end (I couldn't sleep through it). They each had a lot of material and this took more than a day to complete.

In addition to that online training, I was given two tours: one by an operations manager who showed me all of the building's exits and safety features (eg. fire extinguishers) and introduced me to several key personnel in a number of departments, then another tour by a co-worker who had several hours set aside just to show me where everything is in our own department (engineering).

Not done yet: then it was off to the IT department who was setting up my computer. They showed me where to access numerous things like payroll statements, help desk items, and other routine things on the network. Last stop was HR to finish paperwork. The whole process took nearly 2 days, before I

I was pretty impressed. There were several other new-hires with me and they seemed to agree. The training was tailored a bit for each of us; the guy going into shipping didn't get the airport security stuff, and two new pilots skipped the WHMIS but got some extra stuff about the operations center that I didn't see. Setting aside my boredom sitting through yet another WHMIS session (which I've already done before) I couldn't help think that this is an efficient way to get new employees up to speed about how their new employer works and cut down on the lost time wandering around needing hand-holding. I wish my previous employer had done this, but they didn't. I made a number of mistakes as a result, there.

Like I said above, it's the first time I've been given this kind of welcome, but at this place it seems normal to "onboard" all their employees this way.
Is this common? Have others been brought on board companies (~500 people) that dedicated as much time to giving them orientation?

STF

 

[JohnRBaker]

That was the case when our organization was acquired by Siemens AG. They had just come-off a series of scandals involving some questionable sales activities in the middle-east. Anyway, for the first few years we had to endure several training cycles focusing on ethical behavior and compliance.H

That being said, it was interesting to see how the Germans dealt with their 'bad apples'. When we were part of McDonnell Douglas, just before they sold our group to EDS, the CEO of the automation division was accused of several unethical and probably illegal actions, but rather than make a 'federal case' of it, the corporation simply forced him to retire, with a $30 million severance package. However, when it came time for Siemens to deal with their past problems, they took two former CEO's to court, suing them for close to $5 million each and eventually I think one of them was criminally charged by the German government. You never see that happening here in the states.

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

 

[D Scullion]

On boarding is a good idea in theory but did you really remember all of that 2 days worth of information? Surely a manual including all that information for each new start would be more useful so they can reference the information they need, when they need it.

I have only experienced one on-boarding process where the HR person ran through several handouts with me on various topics but was much more interested in getting my signature at the bottom of each page to say I had been trained and understood the info than in whether I actually understood it - all about accountaability