A great way to make your new hire feel like part of the team is to set them up for success. The last thing you want them to do in their first few weeks on the job is to struggle unnecessarily. Fortunately, you can eliminate that chance by doing small things like providing them with a list of people to meet with. But don’t stop there; when you hand off this list, explain to your new hire the relationship you’ll have with the people listed and give them some talking points for when they meet them to make the time most productive for everyone.
Employers and managers across the country are facing major issues when it comes to hiring. In a recent survey from Express Employment Professionals, a whopping 84% of companies said they expect to face problems hiring this year, with almost a third saying that they currently have open positions they can’t find anyone to fill.
On top of the current hiring challenges, LinkedIn Learning found that most employees know whether they want to stay long-term at a company within just one week on the job. In other words, if you’re hiring a new team member today, you simply can't afford to fumble when it comes to onboarding your new hires.
In light of this, we’ve put together a list of tactics you can use to formulate an onboarding plan for your new team member that will make them feel welcomed, part of the team, and reassured that the team culture is right for them.
According to a LinkedIn onboarding study, the most important thing to new hires is one-on-one time with their direct manager during the onboarding period. So, when building the schedule for your new hires' first few weeks on the job, it’s better to schedule in more one-on-one time than you need than too little. To ensure you’re maximizing this time together, you may find Niagara Institute's One-on-One Meeting Toolkit helpful.
Did you know that when employees have friends at work, it correlates to fewer safety incidents, more engaged customers, and higher profits? So besides making sure your employees have plenty of one-on-one time with you, the best thing you can do to make them feel like part of the team is have a tenured team member befriend them and keep an eye on them. Pick someone you trust, who embodies the company/team values, who will take them under their wing, and show them the ropes in ways you possibly can’t.
You’ll want to be available during their first few weeks on the job for your new hire. If you’re never around or always cutting conversations short as you run between meetings, it makes it unnecessarily hard for your new hire to get settled, ask their questions, and generally feel like part of the team. So, as soon as you know their start date, open up your calendar and use the timeboxing technique to ensure you have time to simply be around, partake in impromptu conversations, encourage relationship building between team members, and of course, answer questions.
When you bring your new hire to meetings, you’re not only introducing them to the work at hand, but the inner workings of the team and its culture. While you’ll undoubtedly spend countless hours explaining all this, nothing solidifies that knowledge like first-hand experience. So, in the first few weeks, select a mix of meetings with clients, project teams, departments, or consultants to give your new hire a good sense of how things work in reality.
If you want your new hire to feel like part of the team and like they’re contributing from the get-go, collaboratively create a 30-60-90 day plan together, providing you both with a roadmap for the first three months. This plan should include everything from meetings with colleagues to documents to review and sign. Not only will this provide your new hire with some much-appreciated clarity, but it gives something tangible for providing coaching and feedback.
A great way to make your new hire feel like part of the team is to set them up for success. The last thing you want them to do in their first few weeks on the job is to struggle unnecessarily. Fortunately, you can eliminate that chance by doing small things like providing them with a list of people to meet with. But don’t stop there; when you hand off this list, explain to your new hire the relationship you’ll have with the people listed and give them some talking points for when they meet them to make the time most productive for everyone.
If you want to make a great impression, go a step beyond the formal introduction email and personally introduce your new hire to your leadership team. It makes a real difference in the life of a new hire to be able to put a face to a name.
If you want to make a great impression and truly make your new hire feel like part of the team as quickly as possible, then the tactics listed above are a great place to start. But you may also consider that to be the best leader for your new team member, you need to be on the top of your leadership game. By enrolling in a leadership training program that covers topics like inclusion, coaching, communication, delegation, and accountability, you can ensure you are.