Too often in today’s workplace, a celebration is thrown when an employee leaves an organization, but little is done to recognize the new employee joining the company. After all, this is the person you will be motivating and engaging for the next two, five or (hopefully) more years. Why not start doing so right away?
A new employee’s first impression of your organization is equally as important as your first impression of the employee. An orientation party is just one tool to put in your work belt to make an impact on new employees. In this article I will go into further detail and give you practical tips on how to maximize an employee’s first two days on the job, which is the most crucial period when it comes to establishing whether a new employee will be a superstar employee or lame duck.
Day 1
What is the first task you remember doing when you joined your organization? Odds are, it involves reading a thick manual, filling out forms and signing employee agreements. Nothing says “Welcome!” like sitting in a room reading page after page of information that ends up flying right over your heard. To maximize absorption of this plethora of new information, let your new employees take these documents home and bring them back the next day.
Instead of this wasted time, meet with new employees to determine how much training they require and what they would like to get out of their orientation process. At this stage you should also set specific objectives and measures as well as a development plan for their first few months. Ask them how you can make their new position their “dream job,” and then do everything you can to make it happen!
Upon their arrival, ensure that new employees have their email address, passwords, telephone number and identification card ready for use. It’s also a great idea to courier new employees their business cards the day before their first day.
Assign new employees a “mentor” who will give them a detailed tour around the office. The mentor should be a manager, not an HR employee, because it shows the importance of their assimilation to the company and gives the manager a sense of accountability for getting the employee productive as soon as possible. Make sure the tour involves a stop at the CEO’s office as well as the offices of other key upper management personnel. An excellent conclusion to the tour would be at their surprise welcome party!
If a cake, candles and balloons seems a little over the top, a luncheon or potluck will also do. This is where you will give the new employees a welcome card signed by their coworkers that contains a gift certificate for dinner at a nice restaurant (where you already made reservations), so they can take their spouse/friend out for dinner and talk about their great first day!
Day 2
The helpfulness of coworkers is a huge aspect of an effective employee orientation, so here’s a tip to give incentives for coworkers to answer questions and offer suggestions and tips: before new employees arrive for their second day of work, place an envelope full of gift certificates or movie coupons on their desk. Encourage them to give the rewards away to coworkers who do a great job of easing the transition.
Schedule a department or team meeting that involves new employees. Not only will the meeting give them a chance to get to know their coworkers better, but it will make them feel important and valued.
Towards the end of the day, have a meeting with new employees so you can evaluate how the orientation process is progressing. Make sure you quickly solve any problems that have arisen. It is also a good idea at this point to ask them if there is anybody they would like to meet with, and then schedule these meetings yourself right away. The purpose of this meeting is to ensure any existing remorse concerning accepting their position is eliminated and they are excited about their new job. At the meeting’s conclusion, schedule similar weekly gatherings.
Unhappy workers will not hesitate to leave your organization after a dreadful orientation. Sadly, that may be the best-picture scenario. Would you rather offer the position to the second-best applicant or devote countless time and resources orienting and training an employee that isn’t motivated, isn’t engaged and certainly isn’t putting maximum heart and effort into his or her work?
Your work belt is now full of tools that you can use to get your new employees as productive as possible, as soon as possible. Go ahead and use them, and see the results for yourself.
After all, who doesn’t love a good party?
Advance Corporate Training Ltd. provides active, participant-centered training and consulting to performance-driven businesses, institutions and organizations. Visit www.actraining.com for more info on how we can design, deliver and implement an employee orientation program customized for your workplace. Janet Dean can be reached directly at dean@actraining.com.
