For the Last Time: ‘Training’ and ‘Onboarding’ Are Different

How do you welcome new employees to your company? A quick Google search shows just how confusing this can be for employers.

Orientation. Onboarding. Training. These terms are often used interchangeably, but they aren’t the same thing. What’s more, new hires need all of these processes when starting out at your company.

Learning the differences between these functions and how each applies to your organization is not simply important – it’s pivotal:

– Organizations with standard onboarding processes experience 50 percent greater new hire productivity.

– Companies that offer comprehensive training enjoy 24 percent higher profit margins than those that spend little on training.

– Up to 20 percent of employee turnover happens in an employee’s first 45 days on the job. You can combat this if you know how to onboard, orient, and train employees properly.

Orientation = Learning the Office

Orientation, which typically spans the first few hours or days, is when employees are introduced to the office environment. In this way, it is similar to onboarding in its purpose, but different in its approach.

The orientation process, usually hosted in a classroom-style setting, provides the employee with a crash course in the company’s history, its vision and values, and how the employee fits into the company’s mission. For example, if community involvement is a value, the company might implement a volunteering program that encourages new hire participation.

This type of information is important to growth and employee engagement. Unfortunately, studies show that only 42 percent of employees know their companies’ missions and values and how they themselves relate to theses missions and values.

Because this information is pertinent to all new hires, companies can choose to arrange their orientation sessions in a couple of ways. Some companies might put everyone from the new intern to the latest executive into the same session, while others may organize their orientations by department or level.

Either of these arrangements can be beneficial. An orientation session with participants from various departments allows new hires to form connections across teams and learn about the company’s overall operations. When orientation focuses on only one department or level, new hires are given a chance to build friendships with people they may work with on a daily basis.

Onboarding = Learning the Company

The onboarding phase builds on orientation, but it can (and should) begin before the new hire even steps foot in the building. Onboarding takes new hires to their desks, introduces them to their teams, and develops goals specific to their jobs. Onboarding is when employees do everything from receive their email credentials to meet with direct managers and leaders. A great onboarding program will have new hires feeling welcomed, comfortable, and prepared to take on their new challenges.

New hire onboarding spans months – whether or not your formal program accounts for this. But it definitely should: Employees who participate in longer onboarding programs gain proficiency 34 percent faster than those who participate in shorter programs.

Instead of speeding new hires through, give them time to learn the unspoken rules and norms of the company and to get comfortable with the office space and their new leaders and teammates.

It’s important that the specific professional and positional goals set for the employee in the onboarding phase actually account for the individual’s skills and understanding of the environment, so taking more time to acclimate a new hire to their new job is highly beneficial.

Training = Learning the Job

Training is where new hires begin learning the programs, tools, and processes that matter for their jobs, like how to report deliverables and how to meet the expectations of the job. The approach to training will vary based on a company’s size and the new hire’s position. Many companies pull tenured employees into this phase as mentors, giving new hires a single point of contact for guidance on both current needs and future goals. One study found that a formal mentorship training program can increase retention rates by 23 percent.

Unfortunately, because this is where new hires finally learn how to do the job they were brought on to do, many employers rush to start training – and many even rush to end it, too. Ignoring, skipping, or speeding through the onboarding and orientation phases leaves employees feeling as though they they have been pushed off a cliff and into the rapids below. Yes, the goal is for the employee to eventually swim on their own, but they can’t do that without proper preparation.

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The harsh truth is that your new hires are judging you. The way these first few months go can have a lasting (or ending) effect on how they feel about the company. Retaining new talent and engaging them to become productive employees starts with your processes, including all the training, onboarding, and orientation. Understanding the basics of these critical functions will allow your team to build successful onboarding programs,  training processes, and orientation programs that deliver great results for new hires and the company alike.