13 Techniques to Make New Employees Feel Welcome

When you’re bringing new folks onboard, you want them to get to know their coworkers, get a feel for your corporate culture, and feel welcome enough to bring their own ideas or energy to help the team. More, if someone feels like they can’t fit into the team dynamic, they’re very likely to go hunting for another team, something that’s a loss for everyone.

So what’s the best way to help them get to know everyone? To find out, we asked 13 members from Young Entrepreneur Council this question:

 

Q. What’s one thing your company does after onboarding to help a new employee feel welcome? 

Their best answers are below:

1. Add to the wall of inspirations

 My office has a wall that prominently displays photos provided by each team member. These images can be of anything that inspires them personally to achieve at the highest levels. When a new hire comes aboard, we all talk through each of our photos. The new hire then has the chance to explain his or her photos, as well as physically contribute something meaningful to our new shared space. – Ryan Wilson, FiveFifty

2. Invite them and their family to a meal

We do a dinner or a lunch for them to welcome them and create a relaxed way to get to know each other. It’s a way for the team members to also get to know the new hire. Often, we invite their spouse and kids along, too, to help that welcome family feel we are focused on. – Murray Newlands, Sighted

3. Test their pop culture knowledge

In the professional services business, it’s important to get a team fully engaged with one another. We, of course, take them to lunch, but another practice is that managers will ask pop culture questions with no clues to what they are in reference to. In their quest for answers, they always leverage the team around them that’s been through the process! It gets everyone talking and laughing. – Michael Spinosa, Unleashed Technologies

 4. Provide a welcome box

For every new hire, we put together a “welcome box” that not only contains various materials to get them up to speed — such as a first week’s checklist and handbook, for instance — but is also filled with random swag and goodies to make them feel like part of the team. – James Simpson, GoldFire Studios

5. Give them a small, company-branded cake

We have a tradition of welcoming each new employee with a custom-designed Distillery cake. There is a lot of companies that put a lot of swag on new employee’s desk, but I haven’t seen anyone welcoming new teammates like we do!  – Andrey Kudievskiy, Distillery

6. Have them meet other departments, one on one

One of the first things we do to welcome a new hire into the fold is have them spend one-on-one time with members of other departments.Not only does this promote cross-functional collaboration and a culture of continuous improvement, it increases teamwork, improves communication and allows everyone to challenge ideas and continue to learn and grow as individuals. – Stephen Ufford, Trulioo

7. Introduce remote workers to the entire team

Remote workers typically don’t have that same opportunity for bonding as traditional employees. We make a simple introduction via Slack. It’s effective at making the new hire feel welcome and makes other employees aware that someone new has joined the team. You can also create a specific Slack channel called #Welcome or #Newbie, where everyone can joke with and educate the new hire. – Dave Nevogt, Hubstaff.com

8. Meet over lunch, dinner and a BBQ

We use a combination of lunch, dinner and a BBQ. Lunch is a casual affair, intended to get to know the person on a personal level. The talk is about life, their interests and their personal goals. Dinner is intended to be more formal and is meant to gain insight into their professional ambitions. Then we finish with a BBQ at our office, where they can mingle and bond with the rest of the team. – Blair Thomas, eMerchantBroker

9. Have every team member greet them on day one

For small and medium-sized companies, one of the most effective ways to get a new hire to feel included is to hear from every team member. They will be happy to know that everyone is aware of their presence and will begin opening a dialog for them to feel like they can reach out for help. Even if it is a short email, getting a message from everyone will make a happy start. – Diego Orjuela, Cables & Sensors

10. Ask: Coffee or Tea?

As part of my hiring process, I’ll ask a routine question like “what’s your favorite coffee or tea?” in the application to test if applicants pay attention to the details and answer every question. When we’ve hired, I’ll refer back to that data to send our new team member coffee, tea or a gift card as a way to say “welcome” and “you’re gonna need the caffeine.” – Kelly Azevedo, She’s Got Systems

11. Talk about interests and why we work here

My company has a small team, so it’s not difficult to introduce new hires to every person who already works here. We like to say who we are, what we do here at the office, what we like to do in our free time, and what we like about being a part of this company. It’s also a great way for us to remind ourselves who we are, why we’re here, and why we’re happy to have new employees join our team. – Zev Herman, Superior Lighting

12. Meet during an optional, all-hands coffee break

At some point during the first week of onboarding we have an optional all hands coffee meeting with the new employee. Everyone sits down and we just have some casual conversations over coffee or tea. Ultimately you end up with a really laid back, casual meeting that helps the new employee build the much-needed connections early on. – Christopher Swenor, East Coast Product

13. Hold monthly follow-up one-on-one’s

For the first three months that a new employee is with us, we do monthly one-on-one’s to check up on their integration and encourage them to reach out in-between if they need anything else that can help them feel welcome. – Drew Hendricks, Buttercup

The answers above are provided by members of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

The post 13 Techniques to Make New Employees Feel Welcome appeared first on AllBusiness.com

The post 13 Techniques to Make New Employees Feel Welcome appeared first on AllBusiness.com. Click for more information about YEC.

from neb biz feed 1 http://ift.tt/2wGDYL6
via Nebula Biz Local Loans