12 Modern Ways to Welcome Your New Employees
It’s a fact that HR professionals face numerous challenges daily. However, nothing is more intense than hiring valued candidates and onboarding them. If you have made every possible effort in hiring a quality employee, then congratulations! You have been through the hardest part of the hiring process. Your star employee is all set to start soon and is all set to achieve mutually beneficial goals. However, you must not forget one very important task, that is, extending a warm welcome to your new employee. So, to help you with this, here is a comprehensive guide on how to welcome a new employee efficiently.
Employees are the key to a company’s success. So, when a new hire joins, it is always an exciting, crucial, and challenging event for the HR department of a company. Transitioning to a new job can be challenging. It can leave new hires disoriented and even overwhelmed if not planned properly. According to a Gallup report, only 29% of new hires feel that they are fully prepared for their role after the onboarding process. Only 29%! That’s way too low!
Here’s another interesting statistic for you. Research by Brandon Hall Group suggests that a good employee onboarding plan can improve employee retention by 82%! That’s right, 82%! That’s why preparing for the first day of your new hires is extremely important. In this guide, we’re going to take you through why is it important to welcome a new employee. And then we’re going to look at some amazing and easy tips on how to welcome a new employee efficiently.
Why Is It Important To Extend Welcome To New Employees
Statistics show that 69 percent of employees are more likely to stay with a company for three years if they experienced great onboarding. After the initial excitement of getting the offer letter, your new hires will be looking forward to their first day. That goes without saying. So, you need to match that level of purpose and excitement.
Welcoming new employees in a way that makes them feel valued shows professionalism. When new employees’ onboarding process is smooth, they are most likely to feel welcomed and comfortable in their new job. This is practically the first step of retaining talent!
The amalgamation and retention of your potential hire start right from the hiring process However, it intensifies when it’s time to onboard them to their new roles. Also, welcoming a new employee to the team goes beyond just sending out welcome emails and making company-wide announcements. So, we have curated a full-fledged strategy for you that will help you with how to welcome a new employee to the team.
How To Welcome A New Employee — Steps And Tips
The plan to welcome new employees should start even before their first days. If you follow these recommended steps and tips, you’ll be able to retain them and gain their trust.
How to prepare before your new employee’s first day
Before the employee steps in and gets into their job, it’s very important to prioritize all the paperwork and formalities. Also, you need to prepare a checklist of IT pieces of equipment needed for the employee.
1. Prepare In Advance
You need to prepare all the paperwork and formalities that are needed beforehand. Stuff like new hire forms, declarations, and background check documents, should be distributed beforehand.
2. Make sure the employee is ready
The next important step is to make sure the employee has every resource they need to get started. This involves expediting the delivery process for their IT assets (in case of remote work) and making sure they have all the right guides to get them started.
3. Create their enterprise and other online accounts
Get started by enabling communication via their enterprise accounts (xyz@company.com) for the new hire before they start their new job. Also, it is very important to share the necessary steps for them to be able to set up these accounts on their devices.
4. Send out a welcome note
This is one of the most important steps to execute while welcoming a new employee. You need to send out a welcome email or a welcome letter that includes all the essential items like start time, date, dress code (if any), who should they report to on their first day, etc.
How to welcome a new employee on their first day
Here’s how you can manage your employee’s first day-
1. Introduce them to the team
Every employee is excited to meet their coworkers in a new job. So, make sure you introduce them to the entire team. A great new employee announcement can fill your new hire with joy. A tool from Recooty ATS can help you create a free new employee graphic- Create a Free New Employee Welcome Poster.
This amazing tool generates a Welcome Employee poster in just 30 seconds. It’s simple, once you hire an employee, create a poster, share it on social media and let the world know that you’ve hire a rockstar. So, with this tool, you can say “Welcome to the team” and welcome your new hires in your own creative way. All this, for free!
2. Give clear directions on how to spend the first few days
The first few days can be nerve-wracking for new hires as they transition to a new work environment. So, make sure that your onboarding plan doesn’t lack direction and attention for the new hires in any way. Make information and procedures available for the new hires before their onboarding begins.
3. Set expectations on how things are going to work
To help new hires get off to a good start, you must set expectations in terms of how things are going to work in their new jobs. Make sure they are well aware of the work schedule they are going to have, their job’s specific requirements, how the communication is going to take place, and information about payroll and leaves.
4. Make an effort to offer a fun welcome kit
With WFH implemented currently, making your new hires feel welcomed can be a difficult task. So, the best way you can make your new hires feel welcomed is by offering them a cool welcome kit. This will make your new hires feel appreciated while even letting them in on vendors your company has partnered with.
Five Amazing Welcome Messages
We’ve covered some of the very basic yet important steps to take when your employee steps into your company for their first days. However, nothing can change the importance of the fact that you need to greet your new hire with all the warmth on their first day. So, here are some amazing and unique welcome messages that you can use to greet your new employees and make them feel truly welcomed.
- “Welcome to our team, [new employee’s name]! We believe in making a difference and that’s why we hire people who we believe will make a difference here too. So, we’re proud to count you among that number. We look forward to helping you make an impact.”
- “Hi [new employee’s name]! We are extremely excited to have you on board with us and we sincerely hope you have an amazing first day. Your uniqueness and experience will be a great addition to this team. Looking forward to your contributions and what you bring to the table to enrich our productivity”
- “Welcome [new employee’s name] and congratulations on taking the next step in your career! We see great potential in you and hope that you achieve great things in your future. We hope you have the best learning experience with us, so we’ll all reach new heights together.”
- Welcome to [company name], [name]! We believe that change is the only constant. Our organization constantly focuses on changes that drive growth and we’re glad that you’re on board with us. We hope you make a real impact here and achieve immense heights!
- “Congratulations [new employee’s name] on your new job and welcome to the team! We’ve had an amazing time knowing you and we’re confident that you’re going to be a great fit for us. We truly believe in you and we’ll back you up in everything you do “
How to manage the first few days
As the new employee settles in, it is essential to have a plan in place to ease them into their new role.
1. Explain company jargon and codes
Every company has its language, code, and set of acronyms that become lost on the outsider. So, to make the transition of your new hires smooth and make them feel fully integrated, make sure they understand the vernacular. Take time and effort to define key terms and phrases early on in the onboarding process.
2. Have a training plan in place
Training is a very crucial element for every professional. It doesn’t matter if the new hire is an experienced professional or a fresher, make sure you have a training plan that is curated according to the job role and your company’s work style.
3. Have a frequent communication strategy
When starting a new job, employees may have a lot of confusion on various fronts. So, make sure you hold regular meetings and sessions with the new employee and their mentor to ensure that everything is going as planned. A clear and frequent communication channel can help a lot in making a new hire feel heard and valued.
4. Ask for feedback regularly
Asking for feedback from the new hires can not only help in establishing credibility, but it can also help you make sure that your onboarding plan is ever-evolving. This can help you identify the drawbacks and work on them for your next recruiting cycle. So, a little constructive criticism can be very productive!
In conclusion…
Welcoming a new employee is all about integrating them successfully into your company. They say, “You never get second chances to make the first impression”. This saying goes perfectly well when it comes to welcoming and onboarding new employees. You probably won’t get a second chance to welcome a new employee. So, we hope this post has given you an idea of how your welcome strategy should be!
