If you’re reading this article right now, the chances are you’ve been ‘the new girl’ or ‘the new guy’ at work at least once in your life.
As a long-standing senior member of staff or business owner, it can be easy to forget just how nerve-wracking this can be and how those first impressions of a new workplace can have such a significant impact on your subsequent performance as part of the workforce.
Starting a new job, in a new office, with new colleagues is a pretty a daunting prospect even for the most confident of us out there and it’s your job, as the employer, manager or business owner to do all you can to make this as pleasant, easy and streamline a process as possible.
So, with this in mind, we’ve put together some helpful advice around successful onboarding and how to help new staff settle in.
Carry out an introductory walk-round
This might seem like an obvious suggestion to make but dedicating time to take a newcomer on a guided tour around the office is a great way to help them put names to faces, get their bearings and locate essential facilities like toilets and kitchen areas.
Provide them with a mentor
Assigning an existing member of staff to take a newcomer under their wing is one of the most effective ways to help them settle in and gel with the team.
Top tip: make the mentor a non-senior member of staff so that the newcomer doesn’t feel intimidated by the professional hierarchy.
Give them a warm digital welcome
If it compliments your digital profile, give them a shout out on social media to welcome them to the team. If this doesn’t really align with your online branding, send an internal email around instead.
Run through company policies with them
A new starter will most likely be issued with a company handbook or another similar document on their first day but in order to familiarise them with policies and company culture more effectively, make time to discuss it face-to-face.
Remember to check in with them
Although you definitely don’t want to crowd them or overwhelm them with information, it’s essential to touch base with a new starter to ensure they’ve got everything they need and to give them the opportunity to broach any issues they may have more naturally.
Some other ways to successfully onboard a new member of staff and ensure a smooth transition into the team are:
• Keeping them in the loop with company news before they even start
• Letting them start late on their first day to allow time for navigation and parking
• Making sure their email account, log ins and workstation are all set up before they arrive
• Organising a social event within their first month of starting to encourage bonding
• Including them in the tea and coffee rounds!
If you have any of your own pearls of wisdom around the onboarding of new staff, feel free to leave them in the comments below or share them with us on Twitter or Facebook.