The first day at the workplace could impose a lot of anxiety on one and might affect their initial working experience with a company, terribly. As common as the awkwardness is on the first day, it isn’t inevitable. Also, comforting a new employee on their initial days with the company could be a great decision since it will give a good impression of the work culture on the employee and they might just feel extra motivated for the fresh start. On the other hand, an awkward initial experience in the workspace is quite hard to get over and might completely jeopardize one’s fresh motivation and affect their efficiency and enthusiasm quite brutally. If an individual does not feel comfortable at the onset, rest assured that he would not want to continue with the employment experience beyond a few weeks at most. 

In this article, we shall be discussing some tips you could follow to make a new employee feel welcomed.

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1. Onboarding materials

A welcome kit, as part of onboarding materials, could be a really sweet gesture from your side to the employee and would symbolize your welcoming nature towards them. Add a small handwritten note for them to make it more personal. The welcome kit could contain some stationery items, a writing pad, some paper pins, sticky notes, and anything you find necessary. Also, you could make a small emoji sticker that says welcome and put it on their desk. 

On their first day of work, a person might feel quite uncomfortable asking for help from anyone, hence, you should prepare a brief guide for them and add it to the welcome kit. You could even assist them with the working materials that they will need. All this might take a lot of time and effort, however, you can always seek help from PEO services that will make onboarding easy for you. No matter the country, you can partner either with a PEO Georgia, PEO China, or a PEO Canada to get the assistance that you need. 

2. A welcome message on the group

The hiring manager is the one who usually knows first about the arrival of a new employee. The manager should therefore inform the rest of the employees about the arrival of the new employee by texting in the group. The rest of the employees could reply to the text by welcoming the new Hire. A warm welcome would boost the energy of the new hire and make them feel at home and more comfortable. It would save them from making any wrong assumptions about the workplace and overthinking the work culture. A slack message on the company’s group or channel is the easiest way to welcome an employee.

3. Work buddy

A person might feel uncomfortable and uneasy while approaching someone to seek help on their first day. Therefore, as a manager, if you assign them a work buddy, who would guide them through the process and help them out in need, will make things easier to pave through for them. Also, having someone they could talk to, in the office, will improve their altruistic experience in the office. They could converse with the person on a personal level and the other person could help them solve if there are any issues they could be facing in the workplace. Make sure the person you assign as their work buddy is someone who puts forth a positive image of the company. 

4. Showcase your corporate culture

The corporate culture of an organization defines it. As in it shows what the organization is all about and what it stands for as well. The organization’s core values, vision, and work ethics all combine to define its culture. You have to present a positive view to the new staffers to ease them into a new environment. 

5. Unity in diversity

This is very important from the new employee’s perspective. The organization has to show that all new employees irrespective of caste, color, race, creed, and orientation can potentially add value and richness to the tapestry of their human resources. In fact, the organization has to show through both words and actions that it actively encourages diversity as an ideal means of creating fresh new ideas and non-conformist ‘out-of-the-box’ solutions. 

6. Open door policy 

You have to show all new inductees that your company actually does believe in an’ open door’ policy. By this, it means that they take all your new staff members’ problems and issues very seriously indeed. You have to prove through action and words that the organization values all of its employees, both old and new, and tries its best to provide a positive work experience. All employees including new ones would have to be actively encouraged to bring their work to HR personnel. They may also report the same to their line manager or any other member of the management that they may think appropriate.

7. Conduct induction training 

Orientation training or induction training as it is often referred to is arguably one of the most important training sessions an organization can hold for new inductees.  Without proper orientation and induction training, it is inconceivable that a fresh employee would be able to give the same level of output or provide value addition from the first day, just like his more experienced counterparts. 

This is why a lot of new employees to your team may well find themselves hopelessly out of their depth and decide to leave the organization. In fact, lack of orientation and induction training is now considered to be one of the leading causes of high turnover rates amongst new recruits. 

However, it does not always have to be the case, not if you have done your homework and prepared a proper orientation program.

8. Use Visual Aids

While conducting an induction training session it would be a good idea to make sure that there are lots of visual aids around. A dull and dreary recitation of company-based statistics would only bore the new staffers and might make them feel inadequate for the job at hand. 

9. Create a Mentoring Program 

This is an oft-overlooked aspect of induction training. Here, the seminal importance of a mentoring program cannot be denied. Such programs not only help new inductees get a grip on their jobs but also foster team-building values as well. You may ask more experienced employees to mentor new members of the team, either individually or in batches of two or three. Mentoring is separate from the buddy system in the sense that a mentor has to take the inductee under his/her wings so to speak. It is not a simple one or two-day task but an ongoing assignment and it will continue until the time the new employee has learned the ropes. The mentoring program can be launched in conjunction with the buddy system mentioned above. 

10. Standardization of training programs and manuals

You should try and make sure that all induction training manuals, literature, and guidelines are completely standardized and they should be the same for all fresh batches. This will ensure that there is no piecemeal training and ‘knowledge gaps’ between different batches and all the employees can work together as part of the same winning team.  

11. Work plan

Having a work plan ready for them could be a real help you could offer them and ease their work. Make a list of all the tasks they need to accomplish on their first day. Make sure the tasks are easy and you don’t push them into something complex, on their very first day at work. Also, mention all the applications or software they could use to ease their task. If they need any help related to the technical issues, or if they have any doubts, they will have their work buddy to their resort. 

12. Technical guidance

Inform them about all the applications your employees use to communicate with each other and the authorities. Let them know which software or applications are to be used to send files and allow them to seek help from the tech department if there is an issue that their work friend isn’t able to troubleshoot. Also, inform them about the digital tech tools and software that your team uses so that their performance is at par with the rest of the team.

Conclusion

To welcome a new hire on their first day at work, send them a welcome kit that would symbolize your welcoming nature towards them. Add a small handwritten note for them to make it more personal. The welcome kit could contain some stationery items, a writing pad, some paper pins, sticky notes, and anything you find necessary for the benefit of the new recruits 

The hiring manager should inform the rest of the employees about the arrival of the new employee by sending a slack message. Assign them a work buddy, who would guide them through their work and any doubts related to it. Send them a work plan listing all the tasks that need to be accomplished and inform them about the applications used to send files or communicate with other employees.

In the long run, new employees only like working at a place where they are felt wanted, needed and get adequate remuneration for their hard work. Ultimately, you can make them feel special by rolling out the proverbial red carpet and taking care of their queries to the best of your abilities. 

Daniel Wilson is an HR manager with 5 years of experience. He tries to maximize employee performance and motivation.

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