Tomorrow is the first day of the new school year. Think back to the night before the first day of school when you were younger and remember how excited you were. Probably you went to bed with your new outfit out on the chair. You greet your old friends, and see some unfamiliar faces walking around the halls. The excitement was bursting inside you as you moved from class to class.

But by the end of the day you were bored, exhausted and even a little disappointed and let down. Isn't that the same thing when you start a new job?

Did you know that for 75% of turnover that occurs within the first 90 days of employment, the decision to leave was made on day 1? That’s why the onboarding and orientation of new employees is a critical function that often goes underutilized as a way to build loyalty, engagement and brand equity in the workplace.

Some best practices-

Split orientation into several days or weeks
Get employees involved into their work as soon as possible
Send all insurance forms, payroll and other paperwork into a beautiful Welcome Kit so that the critical enthusiasm on your first day isn’t wasted doing tedious work
Have a mentor who can guide the new employee
Have the President/CEO greet each person
Build an employee orientation presentation that builds enthusiasm, talks about the overall mission, vision and values of an organization and creates a line sight between those business goals into the employee’s daily work

Making an employee's first day memorable is critical- so think carefully about how they should spend it. And remember the teachers who spent the first day handing out the supplies list and all the forms you needed to have signed by your parents.

And remember how you spent the rest of the year hating that class.