I am a Program Manager for our new hire orientation program. We are in the process of implementing an on boarding piece to orientation, which will include a buddy program. All if this is fairly new to me. Any assistance on how to get this started/developed and implemented will be much appreciated! If you have scope documents or any literature or websites that would help, please pass along!

Each new hire in our organization gets a buddy as a part of their on-boarding process. We work with the hiring manager to select someone in their department. The buddy is asked to help the new hire with learning about company culture, etc. The buddy also assists the new hire in making meetings that we place on a customized on-boarding calendar where the new hire meets people in their department/relevant business partners.

Hi!
I implemented a buddy system as part of our new associate onboarding program at another organization... just a word of caution - if you are working in a union or even hourly environment, you may want to consider spelling out that the buddy is a volunteer position. We almost got into some legal issues because the union thought that a buddy should get a premium. I don't remember if we went with the premium or not (it was 8 years ago!)

We also provided brief training for the "buddy" to help them understand what it was like to be new, how to be helpful and communicate, and provide a refresher on our harassment policies. The new hire's supervisor also either attended the training or had some other kind of refresher (at the time, I think it was a booklet that was covered in a managers' meeting... now, we'd probably do an e-learning)

One last thing... if this is for a production environment, you may want to plan for a dip in production of two people - the new person and the buddy who should be helping the new person to learn the job (instead of working their normal job.) Thankfully, we thought of this, and staffed up with some swing shifts and part-time help during the onboarding period to make sure product got out the door!

These books were helpful resources to me:

Improving On-the-Job Training and Coaching by Karen Lawson (ASTD publication)

Creative New Employee Orientation Programs: Best Practices, Creative Ideas, and Activities for Energizing Your Orientation Program by Doris M. Sims

New Employee Orientation: Bringing People On Board Successfully by Charles M. Cadwell

Good luck!!!