Onboarding Tips For Your New Employee

How to onboard new employeesDo you remember your first day of high school?

I do.  I grew up in New York City, where the average high school had over 3,000 students.  I remember walking into the school cafeteria for the first time and seeing nothing but a sea of people.  They all looked like they knew each other.  I couldn’t spot one familiar face.  That first day of high school was nerve racking to say the least.

How does a new employee feel when they show up at your business for their first day of work?  They are walking into an atmosphere where everyone knows each other.  People have been working side by side with each other for some time.  Many have become good friends and they are comfortable in their roles and responsibilities.

While hiring the right employee is critical for the success of your business, the first days and weeks after you hire them are just as critical. During these initial days and weeks, your new employee will largely determine if this is a company they will want to be involved with for the long haul.  The same way you want to create a great initial experience for your customer is the same way you want to create a memorable experience for your new employee.

Peter Drucker small business

This proactive process of helping a new employee to adjust to your corporate culture, understand their new role, and reach productivity is commonly referred to as On-Boarding.

Some of the benefits of On-Boarding include:

  • Increased employee retention
  • Accelerated learning
  • Socialize employees into company culture, processes and values
  • Reduce new hire turnover
  • Shorten time to productivity
  • Create trust in the management and team members

 

On-Boarding typically begins the moment the employment offer is accepted and extends into the first several months of their career.  While every business will have a different method of On-Boarding new employees, the following five tips will help you set the tone for a great working environment for your new hire.

First Day Orientation

Too often, an employee’s first day of work is nothing more than handing them a stack of paperwork and telling them to watch what everyone else if doing.  You can do better than that.  That first day should be about making them feel comfortable.  Introductions to their co-workers, a tour of their new workplace, and assistance filling out any necessary paperwork will help them get the first day jitters out of them.

Welcome lunch with the owner or manager

As soon as possible during that first week, the business owner or manager should have a one on one with their new employee.  This is the perfect time to start forming the relationship, to set expectations, and to find out the goals (what drives them) of the new employee.  A survey from the landmark management book, “First Break All The Rules”, discovered that employees don’t leave companies, they leave their managers.  Start building bridges early.

Have a Mentoring System

A mentoring system is a great way for a new employee to get to know their co-workers on an individual basis. It’s also a great way for your veteran employees to be actively involved in the On-Boarding process and new employee training.  Having a plan where a new hire gets to spend one on one time with their co-workers will help to speed up the bonding process and will allow each of your employees to share their own experiences and advice with the new employee.

Daily Debriefings

For the first several weeks, there should be a daily debrief between your new employee and their direct supervisor.  Daily debriefings are a powerful way to learn as the questions (and mistakes) are fresh in everyone’s minds and solutions can be discussed and implemented right away.

A “Welcome Aboard” gift

Whether you give this out on the first day or wait a week or two, a welcome gift (even a light hearted ceremony) can go a long way in making your new employee feel like part of the team.  A gift doesn’t have to be expensive, just meaningful.  It may take the form of their name printed on the corporate coffee mug, or a corporate sweatshirt people like to wear for casual Fridays.

How do you make your employees feel welcome?

Setting expectations, making them feel comfortable, and speeding up the learning curve are all important parts of creating a great On-Boarding experience for your new employee.  There are lots of great ideas that can be implemented with a new hire.  I’d love to hear your ideas, feel free to leave them in the comments below or hit me up on Twitter!

 

 

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Gary

CEO at 3Bug Media
Gary Shouldis is the founder of 3Bug Media, a web marketing company that helps businesses create 360 Marketing Strategies to dominate their market. His blog is read by over 20 thousand small business owners a month and has been featured in the N.Y. Times Small Business, Business Insider and Yahoo Small Business.