Business owners and managers hire employees with the hope that they will work hard and efficiently, be loyal to the company, and stay with it for a long time.
Making a positive impression on a new staff starts even before he or she reports for work for the first time.
Human resources expert Susan Heathfield, in www.aboutmoney.com, suggests the following steps to welcome the new hire pleasantly and productively:
- Call or e-mail the new employee shortly after he or she signs the contract or job offer. The purpose of the message or phone call is to express your excitement that the new employee has joined your team.
- Send the employee handbook early so that the new employee may review it at his or her leisure and arrive on the first day with questions. You may have other documents that are pertinent to your business to share as well. If these are online, provide the employee with a link and early access.
- Send an official company welcome letter which contains a confirmation of such items as start date, start time, work dress code, where to go, the first day’s schedule, and other details that the new employee needs to know.
- Assign to the new hire a mentor, a more experienced employee with no reporting relationship to the new employee. The mentor should call the new employee to get to know him or her prior to the start date.
- Prepare for the employee’s first day by having everything ready for his or her arrival.
- Develop a checklist for new employee preparation that includes assigning a computer or laptop, installing software programs necessary, preparing a desk and cubicle or office, providing mail access and an email account, and so forth. Every office needs such a checklist as well as a staff assigned to make the items available before the new employee starts work.
- Decorate the new employee’s office area with welcome signs, flowers, and snacks. A mug with the company logo and other items that welcome the new employee will make him or her feel quickly at home.
- Make sure that the first day’s schedule is full of meeting people and orientation activities. Schedule a good portion of the morning with the new employee’s boss and mentor.
- Make sure that the new employee meets with Human Resources staff on the first day so he or she can ask questions about benefits, policies, and compensation.
- Schedule lunch on the first day with the new employee’s coworkers and set up a schedule to make sure that he or she has a coworker with whom to eat each day of the first week.
Photo: from www.elgounaschool.net
