With the new team members starting constantly starting at the company, it is hard to know how to best incorporate them in a way that they will feel included immediately. Business is an interesting thing because it combines so many different types of people, backgrounds, experiences, and personality types. Everyone begins to feel comfortable at different rates.
For the first day of work, we try to have everything set up so that they can jump into first day activities immediately. A welcome letter is printed and on their desk, their computer is ready and waiting, onboarding paperwork is available, training is assigned, welcome emails are sitting in their inbox, and they have meetings scheduled with their supervisors. No, we are not always successful with having every minute of their first day completely filled. But the goal is to not have new employees sitting around, the goal is for them to feel useful throughout that first day.
Ensuring that there is a full calendar for those first few days really helps. They get introduced to the programs they will be working on along with the people they will be working with. We try to make sure that each new hire has spoken with our CEO by the end of their first couple of days, whether it be as a follow up conversation to their interview or as a lunch meeting so that the new hire gets to know leadership. Meetings like this help them feel valued and important and emphasizes their value to the work the business is seeking to accomplish.
In the end, the most important part of helping new hires to jump in quickly is to have a plan. A plan that makes them feel welcomed, busy, and a valued member of the team.
