As the New Year begins, chances are there are a number of new employees. These days, there is a lot of emphasis placed on using the best recruiting tools, hiring and retaining the right employees and providing adequate training along the way – and for good reason. Sometimes, though, the (seemingly) little things can be overlooked. For example, sometimes not enough emphasis is placed on how a company reaches out and welcomes a new employee. When a new member joins the team, how can you make sure they feel welcome? Tower Group lists seven thoughtful ways to welcome new staff members.
1. Put Together an Awesome Welcome Kit
When new employees start you could give them a welcome kit, all neatly packaged within a box, reflective of your company. Inside can be the company’s core set of principles, a product sample, or whatever is relevent. At certain companies the last employee to join the team is responsible for creating a starter kit for the next new hire. Employees can fill these kits with whatever they want: there are no rules and no limits on their creativity. Focus on making the new kits thoughtful and useful, showcasing the culture of the company.
2. Write a ‘Welcome Aboard’ Card
In this digital age, there is something quite nice about receiving a handwritten card or note, signed by colleagues. It conveys more thought and care than a scripted welcome email. You could even open it up as a fun competition within the office to design a company welcome card, which will be professionally printed, with a prize of sorts for the winning entry.
3. Organise a Welcome Breakfast or Lunch
Just as you would organise a nice lunch for a new client, make that same effort with a new starter and get the entire team involved. A welcome breakfast particularly can be a fun way for everyone to meet.
4. Prepare Logins
For a new joiner raring to go and wanting to make an impact straight away, give IT advanced notice of when the new hire is beginning, ensuring their IT set-up is scheduled for the day beforehand, so that everything is ready and in place for them.
5. Efficient Workspace
Having a well-prepared workspace can make so much difference to a new employee and make sure it is spick and span.
6. Put Together a Helpful Information Pack
In any hotel room, there is generally a helpful pack of information containing useful phone numbers, local restaurant recommendations, information on attractions worth visiting and details of fire escape routes, et cetera. Something similar should be prepared by companies for their new starters.
7. Assign a mentor
Joining a new company can be quite a lonely process to begin with. There is a lot of information to process with a new role and mentors can be there to answer questions, give the new starter tips and tricks for the job and provide friendly support. This will help the individual to settle into company culture more quickly and feel more connected to the team.
