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The Difference Between Employee Orientation Vs. Onboarding

As a business owner, hiring a new employee is an exciting time filled with opportunity and growth. While welcoming someone to your team is thrilling, transitioning them into their new role and educating them about the business can feel overwhelming and challenging.


Understanding the ins and outs of a company takes time and effort, so it’s important to educate your new hires and prepare them for their role and the responsibilities that come with it. This is typically achieved through an orientation or onboarding process.


Although many people use the terms “orientation” and “onboarding” interchangeably when referring to new employee training, they actually represent two distinct processes that are essential for a new hire. With effective onboarding and orientation, a new employee is more likely to be engaged, effective, and productive.

What Is Employee Orientation

An employee orientation is a one-time event to introduce new hires to the company and familiarize them with the people, processes, policies, and culture. Orientation can include going through the employee handbook, introducing team members and upper-level management, reviewing health care and benefits information, vacation policies, and more. Employers may have new hires complete additional paperwork and provide them with their laptop, login, and other resources. Employee orientation is an event that introduces the company as a whole, allowing new employees to gain a deeper understanding of its mission, values, and culture.


While every orientation differs depending on the company, an orientation can occur on-site, virtual, or in-person, though many choose to conduct it in the office. When you are organizing your orientation, it’s important to include the following:

  • Overview of your company’s mission, vision, and values
  • Tour of the workplace
  • Summary of company-wide policies regarding safety, health, and security
  • Introductions to company leaders
  • Overview of ethical practices
  • And more!

Benefits of Conducting an Employee Orientation

Conducting an employee orientation can be a challenging endeavor, but it will help prepare you and your employees in the long run. There are a variety of benefits for having a robust orientation, including:

  • Reducing employee anxiety
  • Improving employee trust and loyalty
  • Strengthening your company culture
  • Saving time spent answering questions in the future by preemptively conveying important company information to all new hires

What Is Employee Onboarding

Employee onboarding is a broad and strategic process aimed at introducing new hires to their daily responsibilities and helping them fully integrate into the workplace, team, and their new role. This process typically spans several months, sometimes extending to a full calendar year, and involves a series of role-specific training sessions, educational meetings, and introductory projects. Onboarding is typically used to help an employee slowly acclimate to their job, introducing them to the typical processes, knowledge, and technologies they’ll need to be successful in their role.

Separate from orientation, onboarding includes tasks such as:

  • Regular meetings with a manager or supervisor
  • Training on specific job tasks
  • Goal setting for what they hope to accomplish in this new position
  • Shadowing someone in a similar position
  • Filling out new hire paperwork such as I-9, W-4, and potentially direct deposit forms
  • Mentorships between long-term employees and new hires 

Benefits of Employee Onboarding


Similarly to employee orientation, onboarding has a variety of long-term benefits for employers and employees, including:

  • Increased productivity by helping employees learn the job faster
  • Greater long-term employee retention by reinforcing a robust and collaborative company culture
  • Higher employee engagement by helping employees understand their roles and how they can contribute to the company’s success

Improving The Employee Experience


Employees are the heart and lifeblood of every company. Business owners cannot grow their company without the help and expertise of their workforce. To ensure your workforce operates smoothly and efficiently, employees require the right training and tools for success. While business owners know the ins and outs of their business, it’s not always easy to explain or train new hires, especially when they have a business to run. That’s why a professional employer organization (PEO) like Group Management Services (GMS) exists.


Our online employee training programs, designed for small and mid-sized businesses, are tailored to meet the specific job functions of your employees. This approach streamlines the process, enhances employee performance, and reduces training costs. Your employees can easily access online training courses through our learning management system (LMS) to acquire the necessary skills to support your business. Our human resource information system (HRIS) will also help streamline the orientation and onboarding processes. Employees can easily fill out important documents and the necessary paperwork through an online program, effectively simplifying the process.

Are you looking to improve your orientation and onboarding efforts? Contact us; we would love to assist you!