5 Things Your New Hires Wish You’d Do

Every new hire a business makes is an investment in its future. And, considering the price of the investment – training, salary, benefits – it’s important that each new employee is quickly made to feel like a vital part of the team. Either they catch the vision and embrace the culture, or they get swept away in a tide of unanswered questions, feelings of isolation, and HR forms. So, to keep that tide at bay and enjoy the full benefits of your investment, try implementing these five things.

1. Ease their worries before their first day on the job.
Think about how you felt the last time you started at a new company. You probably experienced a mix of excitement, anxiety, and nervousness that continued to snowball until you finally stepped through the door for the first time as an employee. Even then, the feelings were slow to melt away. Now, imagine what it would have been like if your new manager had e-mailed you a welcoming note with an agenda attached outlining your first week a few days before you started. It wouldn’t wipe away all the first-day jitters, but it would help reduce them.

It’s common for everyone to feel a little scared and uncertain of the unknown. But, whether it’s an e-mail, a letter, or a phone call, any new hire would probably give a sigh of relief after this communication. And, even if you can’t send them the first week’s agenda, at least tell them you’re looking forward to working with them and what they can expect on their first day.

2. Be prepared for their first few days on the team.
Depending on the size of your company, your on-boarding process may take one day to six months. But, no matter your timeline, at least make sure you have the first few days planned out for all new employees. Welcome them at the front desk when they arrive and show them where they’ll be working. Most likely your new employee has brought some things with them that they’ll want to put down, even if it’s just a purse or briefcase. Plus, it helps to feel like you’ve got a space of your own to go to when everything surrounding you is completely new.

Provide them with an agenda of their upcoming days of training, and include everything from learning how to use the phone and e-mail, to going over benefits with HR, to meeting with each team member to learn everyone’s roles within the team. Also, make sure they’re not stuck eating in the break room on their own. Arrange a team lunch so they can get to know everyone.

3. Establish a mentoring system.
Training a new hire and bringing them up to speed is the manager’s responsibility. But, one way to take some of the burden off the manger and encourage team building is to create a mentor system. By pairing a new employee with a seasoned one, you’ll make the on-boarding process personal to the new employee and help them feel like they have at least one friend on the team. The mentor can be the one to help the new hire learn their way around the office. They can also provide insight into team members’ work styles that a manager might not feel comfortable sharing or even know, from bringing them up to speed on serious issues that will affect their projects to informing them about the unspoken rule about parking spots.

The system can be especially helpful if the mentor is someone who will work closely with the new person. It provides a jumpstart on team building, and it comes full circle later down the road when another new employee is hired and the mentored becomes the mentor.

4. Make the administrative stuff a little more personal.
There’s no getting around all that administrative stuff that has to be done when a new person joins the team. But you can try and make it a little simpler and more personal. For the forms that just require a signature, try sending them with a handwritten note explaining what they’re for prior to the employee’s first day. This will really maximize everyone’s time on the job. You could also include the benefits information with the key points highlighted.

A mentor can really be valuable in this area as well. Sure HR has to go through their spiel over the medical insurance, 401K, and paid time off, but what do all those things mean in the real world? Can you take vacation before you’ve fully accrued it? Is there really an unspoken rule in the department that half of the team gets to leave at three every other Friday? Does the insurance covers orthodontists and chiropractors? A mentor can explain how all the benefits work in real life, and those helpful bits of information can really ease an employee’s anxieties and help them focus on their new job duties faster.

5. Capture their valuable first impressions and enthusiasm.
Most new employees start off with a lot of bright ideas and excitement. This can be really valuable to employers if they can capture it in time. Before the new hire has been in your company long enough to accept the usual norms and politics, sit down and ask them their opinions on your processes. If you can glean their feedback in a non-threatening, sincere way, you could gain some important insight on how to improve your team or company.

New employees can bring a new enthusiasm to work, so channel it into new, cutting-edge projects. Or, run current or old projects past them to see what their fresh eyes can pick up on. Since everything is new to them, they will likely ask the same questions as your customers do, providing you with better sensitivity to your clients and customers’ needs.

Training new employees takes time and effort, but it can prove to be a valuable investment in the future of your company. So make sure you have a plan for the next time you add a new team member. Every minute you spend on the on-boarding process is a moment that will positively affect morale and productivity!