Get On Board!
As you might expect, more employees begin work at Virginia Tech in July and August than in any other months. Whether the numbers are big or small and regardless of the time of year, the entire Virginia Tech community bears a responsibility for 1) welcoming its new members and 2) helping them get off to a productive and successful start.
Organizations used to think about their responsibilities only in terms of the first part of the equation – welcoming new members. During this orientation, you would be provided enough coffee to keep awake while completing a seemingly endless supply of paperwork. We now recognize the second part of the equation – getting new employees off to a productive and successful start – is a key to retention and a part of a much more complex onboarding process involving Human Resources, the hiring department, and the broader university community.
Moving Virginia Tech in this new strategic direction, from orientation to onboarding, has been the work of a very talented group of employees from across the campus who have completely reengineered our approach to getting our new faculty and staff on board. Please follow this link for a list of all the valued Virginia Tech employees who collaborated on this project so successfully: http://www.hr.vt.edu/announcements/index19.html
Why Did We Change?
The answer to that is pretty simple. Sherwood Wilson, Virginia Tech’s Vice President for Administrative Services, mentioned to me on a couple of occasions that he saw room for improvement in new employee orientation. Since Sherwood is my boss, you can see why I paid careful attention! He thought we did a good job in getting employees the basic information they needed to get to work. He added that good wasn’t good enough – he wanted our new employees to have a great experience that would reinforce their wisdom in choosing Virginia Tech as an employer. He sponsored a project to take our orientation to a new level.
The project’s main goal was to bring Virginia Tech to life for new employees. Sherwood wanted a process that would communicate the pride we have in our community and provide a sense of our history, accomplishments, and aspirations. The Steering Committee and Orientation Improvement Team realized it would be important to highlight the importance of all of our employees, no matter their location or their job, in helping Virginia Tech achieve its ambitions and Invent the Future. New employees would still need to provide information on paper and on-line, but it would be a part of a broader on-boarding experience in which orientation would only be the beginning.
What’s Different?
There are a number of differences:
- In our old orientation, faculty and staff received different orientations on different days. Now, since we are all Hokies regardless of our position, all employees experience the same orientation on the same day. The first part of the orientation, which covers the Mission and Culture of Virginia Tech, is also open to wage employees with the approval of their unit.
- We are now holding the orientation at The Inn at Virginia Tech – a beautiful setting. Further, the bigger room size allows us to hold orientations less frequently than our eight time a month schedule at Southgate Center. In most months, we will hold orientation two times.
- We changed the duties of one of our current HR employees to focus more attention on the quality of the entire on-boarding experience. Sarah Castle, who led the Orientation Improvement Team, will serve as our On-Boarding Coordinator. She will coordinate with departments as we all work together to welcome and support the on-boarding of our new employees to the Virginia Tech community. She appreciates the excellent work of all her colleagues on the Team, and the support and guidance of her supervisor, Rich Charles.
- Finally, you’ve got to take a look at our New Employee site and take a virtual tour of not only what makes Virginia Tech so special, but what our new employees need to know to get off on the right foot (or Hokie Track in this case). Please go to http://www.ihokies.hr.vt.edu/ and see the new site. It is still a work in progress and will be enhanced with a number of new videos. The Orientation Team hopes you enjoy playing with it as much as they enjoyed putting it together. We wanted a virtual site so that all of our outstanding employees who work outside of Blacksburg have information right at their fingertips.
A Great Community
If you are a new employee, we would love for you to join our Virginia Tech Newcomers’ Network. As the website indicates, it is a great way to meet new people and appreciate the tremendous quality of life in our region: http://www.hr.vt.edu/employment/dualcareers/newcomers/index.html. The contact information for Cathy Jacobs and Susan Williams is on the site and they look forward to hearing from you.
Whether you have worked at Virginia Tech for many years or are beginning your journey, Sherwood, the Steering Team, and the Orientation Improvement Team hope you like our new approach. All of us play a role in making Virginia Tech a great place to work, and all of us can make a difference in helping our colleagues feel at home. Virginia Tech is a great community which extends well beyond the boundaries of Blacksburg. Let’s all do our part to welcome our new faculty and staff on board.
About Hal Irvin
Hal Irvin has been Virginia Tech's associate vice president for human resources since March 2008.
Before coming to Virginia Tech, Hal worked for 14 years at Georgia Tech. In his last assignment, he served as executive director of organizational development – reporting to the executive vice president for administration and finance and was responsible for employee learning, change management, and internal consulting services. He played a central role in Georgia Tech’s successful efforts to improve administrative services and transform its service culture.