When employee ownership plans are set up, they are often accompanied by great fanfare. Meetings are held, materials distributed, visits may be arranged to other companies, perhaps a video is shown, and all sorts of other efforts are made to introduce the concept. Several companies have developed ongoing programs that address this issue.
Any orientation requires a lot of good material.
Brochures, videos, manuals, and even computer question and answer sessions can provide a good start on an orientation program. The brochure's great virtue is that employees, not outside consultants, wrote it, and as a result it is more accessible and responsive to what other employees want to know. Worzalla Press, an employee-owned printing company in Wisconsin, followed a similar process, but there employee teams worked with a local small business development center to learn how to prepare training manuals. Not everyone responds to written materials, however. Videos are a popular alternative.