As an startup manager, there is no question that you have a lot of responsibilities. You have the rather challenging task including but not limited to conducting interviews, hiring new employees and letting people go when necessary. However, your responsibilities also go well beyond that. You also have the important job of welcoming all of your new hires.
Indeed, ask any HR manager, and they will tell you that the on-boarding task is a crucial part of employee morale for their company. Since making new employees feel welcome is such an important task, here are five important steps that you can utilize in order to make the feel welcome and a valued addition to the team:
1- Get Their Desk in Order
When a new hire first walks in the door, the one thing they want to see would be all of their materials all ready to go. The one thing that a lot of those in human resources do not always realize is that a new employee is sizing up their work environment just as much as you are sizing them up.
Thus, if you have their work computer set up, their passwords ready to go, all of their cards printed up, it will immediately help them to realize this is a high-class company. Moreover, if you have their desk spruced up it will also go a long way to making the new hire feel welcome.
Of course, not all new hires are created equal. If you are hiring office cleaning staff you
probably would not need to go to the trouble of sprucing up their desk simply
because they would not have one. However, you could leave them a nice note and
some snacks as a welcome if you desire.
2- Get to Know the New Hire as Much as Possible in Their First Week
As a human resource manager, another thing you probably should do would be to fully understand your new hire when they first start their new position. This is especially recommended if your initial job listing noted that it would “offer opportunities to learn and grow.” Thus, in a nutshell one of the things you would want to know would be whether they have any type of professional “hang-ups”.
For example, if they have a fear of speaking in public, perhaps you and your staff could offer them some training in order to conquer this. Never forget that at least 87% of millennials value professional development opportunities. Check out some of the public speaking classes in NYC if you are in that area.
3- Value their Ideas
Another way to make a new hire feel welcome is to reassure them that their ideas will be valued in the workplace. Indeed, this is an issue that is actually very near and dear to my heart.
When you give value to the ideas of new employees, they do not just focus more on their job, but also have the feeling that they own the place. And, we have already witnessed the skyrocket growth of many companies with higher employee engagement.
4- Do the Best You can to Keep their Paperwork to a Minimum
If there is one thing that makes a new job difficult for an employee, it would have to be the immense amount of paperwork they are expected to fill out. You should keep their paperwork as low as possible by giving them a digital copy of as many items as possible.
When you consider that only 12% of workplace offices are fully digital, you will definitely be a little bit ahead of the curve if you use this method to help your new employee navigate the mountain of paperwork!
5- Engage in Some Team-Building Activities with the New Hire
One of your main roles with new hires would be to ensure they feel like they belong to the team. One of the ways to do this is through team building activities. The great thing about this is it doesn’t have to be anything fancy. It actually could be as simple as taking everyone out to lunch and inviting the new staff member to come along. Of course, there are other staff outings that you all can go on, including picnics, field days, recreational activities and even important seminars.
The Bottom Line
Above all else, organization is important when bringing a
new employee aboard. Developing a system for all new hires will help your
company attract the best talent. Having attention to detail and realizing that
every position within your organization is important will help your company
develop a reputation as a leader within the important discipline of HR!
