Incident 1:
It is your 1st day at your new
company:
 You were warmly welcomed by the
HR manager giving a brief
introduction about the company
and its background.
 You met with your immediate
superior and he gave you an idea
about your job responsibilities.
 You were informed about the rules
and regulations as well as your
benefits.
 You were introduced to other
managers and showed you the
important places of the company.
Incident 2:
It is your 1st day at your new
company:
 HR assistant showed you your seat.
 All your colleagues were very busy
only a few talked with you.
 You were asked to meet your
immediate superior but you had to
wait around 15 mins in front of his
office as he was on a phone call.
 It took you around 20 mins to find
the canteen during the lunch break
as you were not informed where
the canteen was.
 You felt ambiguous about the
responsibilities of your job.
Employee Induction / Orientation
• Induction is the HRM function that systematically and formally
introduces new employees to the organization, the jobs, the work
groups to which they will belong, and the work environment where they
will work.
• This is a process of welcoming the new
employees.
• Special training which provides basic
information to the employees.
 Types of Induction

Organizational New employee is introduced to the organizational

set up.
Induction

New employee is introduced to the particular

Departmental
Employee department where he/ she will have to
Induction perform.
Induction

Job Induction New employee is Introduced to the job

he/she is supposed to perform.

New employee is introduced to the other

Human employees, with whom he/ she will have to
Induction interact frequently.
 Induction Benefits
12. Familiarization with the job 1. Reduce real and cultural shock
quickly
2. Creating feeling of belongingness
11. Increase loyalty
3. Building confidence
10. Favourable attitude
Benefits 4. Low tardiness, absenteeism,
turnover
9. Start to contribute soon

5. Reduce wastage and accidents

8. Speedup socialization

6. Developing favourable attitude

7. Reduce startup cost

Culture Shock:
• The newcomer does not possess a basic understanding about the organisation,
superior, peers, and the culture of the organisation and may be confused and
embarrassed in the begining.
• A new employee might have a strong feeling of fear or distress when he/she
enters and then tries to learn things within the new organisation owing to a
significant difference between the organisational culture and his/her own home
or previous organisational culture.
• This strong feeling of fear or distress can be termed as culture shock.
• Induction is needed to reduce the degree of impact of the culture shock.
Real Shock:
• This refers to a shock felt by a new employee after realizing that the
expected state is different from the actual state.

• This reality shock is caused by the incompatibility between what the

employees expect in their new jobs and the realities they are confronted
with.

• By understanding that such things are not existing or lacking frustration

occurs within the new employee which may lead to dissatisfaction.
• Induction starts the process of socialization of new employees and it
will accelerate the process.
• Employees who are new attempt to learn new aspects of the new
workplace through socialization.
• They need to be accepted by other employees that they become a part of
the organisation.
• Induction programmes help speed up the socialisation process and
acceptance of newcomers into the work group.
 Induction Process

Preparation Conduct Evaluation

 1. Preparation
• The organisation should be ready to welcome employees who come to work as new
personnel. The new employees should be influenced so tha t they will feel that the the
organisation and they are important to the organisation.

• When the new employee came to the manager, and manager responds as ““Oh..! I did
not know that you come to work today, who are you?”

• This type of managerial behaviour is called as depersonalization.

• It is recommended that co-workers should be informed of the arrival of a new
employee so that both supervisor and co-employees should be prepared to induct the
new employee.
 1. Preparation
1) What information should be given?
• General Information
Nature of the organization, Policies, procedures and rules, Rewards, Job and job
environment, Peers and Superiors.
• Specific Information
Specific information on the above areas;
Eg: Policies, procedures and rules – Disciplinary rules and regulations, Health and safety
procedures, etc
Rewards – Wages and salaries, Welfare facilities, Training and promotion
opportunities, etc
 1. Preparation
2) Who should give the information?
Appropriate resource persons
Eg: Chief Executive Officer, Human Resource Manager, Immediate Superior
Buddy System
Buddy System

• Method of utilizing an experienced employee of the organisation to induct a

new employee.

• The method of getting the service of an old employee, who is currently

working for the organisation, to assist the new employee to get familiarised with
the job, job environment, and general organisational environment.

• It is recommended that the employee who is appointed to serve as the buddy

should be trained about inducting a new employee.
 Buddy System
Advantages Disadvantages
As buddy is a peer though he/she is more experienced if a right person is not utilized as the buddy the
within the organisation, it is likely that the newcomer newcomer may not receive right information in right
learns quickly. amount.
Propensity of asking questions from the buddy by the If the buddy is an employee who is dissatisfied with
newcomer increases as it is informal rather than the job, most likely he/she talks about bad things of
formal. the job resulting in developing a negative attitude of
the job within the newcomer.
The buddy is possible to show various places such as It is likely that a buddy who perceives the newcomer
canteens, toilets, safety instruments installed and as a threat to him/her does not give right information
others. in right amount.
This will save time and effort of the supervisor.

Cost effective.
3) How the information should be given?
Employee handbooks, Videos, Information booklets, Speeches, Visits /
Factory Visits
Guidelines for better delivery of the information:
1. A large amount of information that is more than needed should not be given in
order to prevent from the error of information overload.
2. To give handbooks and booklets which contain information that new employee
cannot remember easily.
3. The major objective is to give right information to the new employees not to make
them enjoyed through video films and presentations.
4. To give updated information. Make sure that handbooks and booklets are
updated.
4) Within what period of time should the information be given?
• Nature of the organization, nature of the job and the available time of the
management should be considered in determining the duration.
• Few hours, One day, Few days
Managerial employees – Duration is longer (One day or few days)
Non- Managerial employees – Duration is shorter (one hour or few hours)

5) Where should the information be given?

Training Center, Separate hall or a room
 2. Conduct
• Induction program is implemented actually in this stage.
• Induction Program Checklist used in this stage to assure the successful
implementation.

3. Evaluation
• This is a systematic attempt to assess the degree of success of the induction
program.
• This can be done using;
- Questionnaire
- Examination (written or oral)
- Special form or book
- More rigorous experimental study
• A specially designed form or book can also be used for evaluation purpose.
• Purpose of this type of evaluation is to get a sort of follow-up to ensure that the inductee
gets the right information in the right amount so that he/she becomes an efficient and
effective employee within a shorter time.
• Induction follow-up form is not an examination though it looks like so.
• Within a longer time and at somewhat leisure the inductee is in a position to complete the
form that requires him/her to identify and present areas or items for which more
information is needed.
• Results of the evaluation should be used for improvement of the induction function in
future.
 Principals of Employee Induction
1) Meeting of business needs.
2) Customer focus.
3) Involvement of senior management.
4) Direct relevance of the information.
5) Higher involvement of the immediate
superior/manager in induction.
6) Concern of the human side of the induction.
7) Gradual introduction.
1. Meeting of Business Needs
• Induction programmes are based on the business needs of the organisation.
• Ways of ensuring that induction process meets the organizational needs:
 Providing a clear definition of the vision and mission of the organisation to the
inductees is one way of ensuring that the induction meets business needs.
 Review the induction process regularly to meet changes when they occur.
 Evaluate results of the induction programmes systematically to ensure that they have
met the business needs.
• Induction should result in increasing business performance (higher profits, higher
productivity, higher customer, satisfaction etc).
2. Customer Focus
• The earlier inductees develop a clear idea of customer needs, the quicker they
are able to contribute to the organization.
• Every new employee should understand about the customers and their needs
as they have to interact with customers daily.
• Including a separate special item for identifying and understanding customers
in the induction, ensure the customer focus in the induction program.
• Involving customers in the delivery of induction training is also necessary to
assure customer focus.
3. Involvement of Senior Management
• This will enable to offer a clear communication of organisational
philosophy, vision and mission of the organisation to the
inductees.
• Also this will the encourage other managers to contribute to the
induction.
4. Direct Relevance of Information
• Essential to give only information that has a direct relevance to the inductees.
• Information that enables the inductees to become involved and productive
within the shortest time should be delivered.
• Also overloading the inductees with information should be avoided, because
important information can be missed, or underestimated, inductees will not
be interested and will increase their stress reducing their ability to retain the
information.
5. Higher involvement of the immediate superior/manager
• Responsibility for induction must always lie with the immediate manager of
the new employee.
• Also, sole responsibility of induction does not lies with the hr manager.
• Successful implementation heavily depends on involvement of senior line
managers and immediate mana gers of new employees.
• The role played by the immediate manager in inducting the new employee to
the job and job environment is pivotal.
Incorrect Concept of Correct Concept of
Responsibility Responsibility
6. Concern of the human side of induction
• New employees should be allowed to socialize with other human beings in the
organisation appropriately.
• Most significant part of induction is the human side, giving new employees knowledge
of what supervisors are like, and encouraging them to seek help and advice when
needed.
• The inductees should be informed clearly and encouraged to take initiative in
communication.
• Essential to influence believe in , feel positively, and tend to behave positively about
their jobs, the relevant departments and the organisation.
7. Gradual Induction
• New employees should be gradually introduced to the people with whom they will
work, rather than giving superficial introduction to all of them on the first day.
• Introducing the inductees to different parties (superiors, subordinates, customers, etc)
should be done over several days.
• Also the management should give some time to the inductees to become involved and
productive in the expected way.
• Even if an excellent employee to become involved and productive needs some time to
adjust to the new environment.
 Induction and Socialization
• Socialisation is the ongoing process through which an employee begins to
understand and accept the values, norms, and beliefs held by others in the
organization.
• Induction starts the process of socialization of the new employee.
• Induction prevents negative outcomes by enabling employees to socialize
properly.
• The new employee has to change their personality to suit the
organisation’s culture, and process of meeting of the organisation’s
culture and the individual’s personality is socialization.
 Induction
HRM function that systematically and
formally introduces new employees to
the organisation, the jobs, the work
groups to which they will belong and the
work environment where they will work.
Short-term process.
Short-term programme that informs
new employees about their new
positions and the company.
Socialization
The ongoing process through which an
employee begins to understand and
accept the values, norms, and beliefs
held by others in the organisation
Long-term process.
Long-term process with several phases
that helps employees acclimate
themselves to the new organisation,
understand its culture and the company’s
expectations, and settle into the job.
 The Socialisation Process
Socialization can be divided into three phases:
1. Anticipatory - the stage on which job applicants develop expectations about the
organisation and the job based on accounts provided by recruitment methods
(advertisements, word of mouth and so on) of the organisation being considered.

2. Encounter - the stage which the new employee have entered the organisation and is
facing the reality of the job and the organisation.

3. Settling - the stage on which new employees move down slowly and become used to
working in the new organisation. They begin to feel like part of the organisation.
• When the vacancies of the organization advertises, it only provides the positive
aspects on the job which tend to develop unrealistic expectations about the job.
• If these unrealistic expectations are not met, new employees encounter with real
shock and settle in unsuccessfully leading to numerous adverse consequences.
• Strategies to manage expectations of employees:
1. Realistic Job Preview (RJP)
2. Employee Mentoring Programme (EMP).
Realistic Job Preview (RJP)

• RJP presents realistic information about the demands of the job, the
organisation’s expectations of the job holder, and the work environment.
• A method of providing deliberately actual information to the applicant
regarding the job, the organisation’s expectations of the job holder and the
work environment.
• If done at the recruitment, it is good for the applicants as well as the
organisation.
Employee Mentoring Programme (EMP)

• EMP is a special programme designed to induct, train and develop the new
employee so that they intends to stay within the organisation for a long time.
• Usually a mentor is a well-qualified and experienced senior employee who
teaches the new employee and gives advice over a period of time.
• A mentor does mentoring that involves advising, role modelling, sharing
contacts and giving general support.