The way you welcome new employees makes or breaks your entire relationship with your hires. 80% of employees would stay somewhere longer if the role had a better onboarding process, while 86% decide how long they’ll stay at a company within the first six months.
So, the better your onboarding process, the more likely you are to keep your new hires and get the most from them.
But how can you welcome new employees and actually make them feel like valued members of your team?
Contact them before they start
65% of employees receive some form of preboarding. This could be an email, for example, detailing what they need to know—or bring—on their first day.
It might include:
- What time they start
- Where to go (especially if you have multiple entrances)
- Where to park/public transport options
- What software you use
- If they get a laptop, smartphone, or tablet
If you’re going to welcome new employees by onboarding them remotely, it might include:
- What date their laptop will arrive
- Any tools they need in advance to get started
- What time to log on
- The time of their first meeting
Set up the basics
When it’s time to welcome new employees, you need to set up the basics before they start. This includes things like:
- Laptop and other devices
- Microsoft 365/Google Workspace/similar account and email address
- Password manager
- Any other tools or accounts they might need access to, like social media
Doing this upfront provides a better employee experience and makes you look more organized. Employees having to wait around because their account hasn’t been set up provides a bad experience and adds additional stress for everyone.
Work together
Most employees believe onboarding is the responsibility of HR or people operations (42.5%), followed by 32.7% who think it should be a shared process between HR, managers, and team members.
Personally, I’m part of the latter camp. It’s managers and teammates your new hire will be dealing with daily, not HR (hopefully).
So at the very least, managers and HR teams need to work together to welcome new employees via a seamless onboarding process. One that covers everything from a legal standpoint, a technical one, and a company culture one. That can only be achieved through a collaborative effort.
Have a clear onboarding process
The more disorganized your onboarding process is, the worse it’ll reflect on your business. Even if you don’t have a consistent onboarding process across your organization, there should be some sort of checklist for each department to help them welcome new employees and ensure new hires learn everything they need to know.
Explain how things work
Some things may seem simple to you, but for new employees, they might be confusing.
Encourage your new hire to ask questions. It’s much better for them to ask what they might perceive to be a stupid question than struggle to get in a door because their pass won’t work, not know how to use a software, or be unable to find their way around the building. It’s the little things like this that really make a big difference when it’s time to welcome new employees.
And yes, I have stood outside an office door desperately trying to get my pass to work until someone took pity on me.
Train them
57% of new hires get on-the-job training. Online training videos, process documentation, virtual classes/modules, and peer-guided assistance are popular forms of training.
Whatever option you use, make sure it’s ready to go before they start, and make it clear how long they’ve got to get through the material. You don’t want to overwhelm them, but you want to ensure they know everything they need to know.
You also want to ensure they can refer to the training if they need to. There’s no way they’ll remember everything alongside the stress of starting a new job. And that’s fine. Just make it easy for them to reference what they’ve learned when they need it.
You want to welcome new employees with an eye towards their long-term success with your organization.
Make documents easy to find
Most onboarding documentation these days is going to be digital, which can be more eco-friendly.
But it’s not always time-efficient if those files are impossible to find.
We’ve all dug through a labyrinth of folders before, only to discover that we don’t have permission to access the file, and the person who can give us that access has left.
Make sure that if you’re not printing documentation off for new hires to read, they know where to find it in your folders. And that they actually have permission to view it. Otherwise, it’ll just slow everyone down and your efforts to welcome new employees may not feel so welcoming.
Introduce them to colleagues
I once had to message someone I’d never spoken to before asking for help with a project at work. I’m terrible with introductions, and this person had no idea who I was, nor did they care about my ability to do my job.
I never got a reply.
This is a pattern I’ve heard about from other people, too, where, because there was never a formal introduction, and that person didn’t know their new colleague, they weren’t willing to help.
What’s worse is that sometimes they’ll just outright ignore their new colleague, leaving a bad impression of that team and your company culture.
Introducing employees to people from other departments who they’ll need to work with ensures that when they do need something, they’re more likely to get a reply. They’re no longer just someone asking for a favor; they’re a friendly face in need of some help. That small introduction can go a long way toward helping them do their job better in the short- and long-term.
Simple steps like this can help you welcome new employees in a way that strengthens your broader team at the same time.
Set them up with employee groups
Your employee groups help your new hire form beneficial relationships with colleagues who have similar goals, interests, or backgrounds. The groups can support them to grow their careers, get help with projects (see example above), and make new friends.
Using Workrowd, you can manage all your employee groups, events, and programs in one place. It’s a one-stop-shop for everything your employees need. It makes it easy to welcome new employees and empower them to build a personalized experience that ensures they stick around. Want to find out more? Get in touch to book your free demo.
Conclusion
Your employee onboarding is your new hire’s first impression of what it’s really like to work for your company. They get to look behind the curtain, and if they don’t like what they see, they won’t stay long.
To effectively welcome new employees, you need to provide an onboarding process that helps them learn everything they need, introduces them to the people they’ll be working with, and ensures they have the tools and knowledge required to excel in their roles.
