What is the company?
What is the area of the company this newbie is going into and at what level?
There are a lot more q's specific to the position, level, gaols of the firm & individual based on the roll being filled and it's function within the firm. Then there is the insight to the newbie goals garnered from the interview.
So punting here... as to orientation.. yes an overview of the goals of the firm.. i.e. msg to the world and how you are as an employee responsible to represent the firm... i.e. as a McDonald's employee, neat appearance, no facial hair, clean hygenic etc... Do you want fries/drink with your burger? There has to be simple clear example relative to where you work... state em, from President to the crew on the shipping dock this should be written out clearly and understood by all. Just as Insurance, hours, laws of the land i.e. fair employment, no harassment policy etc....
This is a lot of prep to consider before you can then consider how to tailor to level, dept, etc... however having answers for the above you now theoretically have a skeleton process for building employee integration from 32 employees to 32,000 +
As for Tom's input - I thought his point of view/incurable touchy feely boss that he obviously is with his pollywogs.... very apropos... You will have various types of people and unique personalities.... some will like a hand hold, some will want to jump into the fire while other lob fireballs at them... this distinction should be picked up on during the interview process as well as be clear based on the type of role you are filling... you might ask to be new employee ...how do you feel you could be best and most efficently brought up to speed as a new employee or new member of this department so that you are able to begin contributing immediately? What info would you like to have upon starting to feel as armed as possible to take on this new role/employement? Some will want minimal mentoring and intro's and others will want the touchy feely and still others somewhere in between - some will want no intervention but documentation as they garner comfort and security by seeing it in black and white and triplicate...
Last from shooting blind... any company should in almost any case want a person hired into a role to contribute to the team - either special teams or team as whole and while building excellence to excel and eventually move into other growth areas.... refer to how this will be assisted internally, and how and when it is applicable for the person to consider this as a new goal. (what I mean as an example .... A New President.... we want you to stabilize this firm which would be measured by....consistent moderate growth Qtr over Qtr for 2 years at total of 25% market growth, increase market penetration in emerging markets by 75%, 60% being international. Minimal employee turn over, increased employee count by etc. etc. upon reaching this targets we would like to consider mentoring you to replace the existing COO/COB - who is looking for a person, could be you, to eventually replace him as COB, his goals include phase out of COB role within 4 to 5 years.....)
In all cases an employee handbook is critical and as necessary as a phone line to the business. Doing the Q & A for all newbies from an hour to days - whatever is needed - could be goal set at 1st day of hire to Friday of 1st week. Some firms only start new hires the first Monday of the Month so that they can set up and establish these orientations... the employee books, insurance, what forms of ID etc.... to bring on first day etc... are sent out or handed to a person upon acceptance of a job offer. Group overview of all info relevant for all hires then break off to specific area for more specialized training/intro's etc. then goup returns for close - this group gatherings allow department heads or CEO etc. to address the audience.. final Q & A's then kick them all out of the nest and let them fly at their speed....
(some benefits of a group thing...without force of a buddy system one has been established by the group)
Good Luck!
I don't know if that was what you were looking for but ... your question was pretty big.