Onboarding Tips for Welcoming New Employees to the Office

We’ve all been there. The first day at a new job is as thrilling as it is disorienting:
What’s the WiFi password?
Where are the bathrooms?

The list of questions is endless, but there are simple tricks to ease the transition for new hires.

Check out these tips to up your onboarding game!

1. Welcome Aboard Letter

This may seem like a no-brainer, but it’s sometimes hard to think about what to include and what to leave out in this initial correspondence. The letter can be an email or a hardcopy letter on company letterhead (or both).

Be sure to hit these key points when crafting the letter:

• Welcoming tone (make sure the new employee feels excited to be joining the team!)
• What to expect on the first day
• Basic HR-related requests, i.e. “Be sure to bring a copy of your passport by the end of this week.”
• Who to go to for questions
• A basic run-down of company culture events, i.e. “Sign up for our monthly book club!”
• An exciting send-off, i.e. “Welcome to the team! We’re looking forward to working with you.”

2. Onboarding Kit

Breather’s onboarding kit

An onboarding kit is a great way to make a new hire feel appreciated and like they are a part of a team—right from Day 1. Breather‘s onboarding kit is educational and informative: it includes basic housekeeping info like IT tools, but also incorporates branded postcards with the company values and inspirational quotes.

The kit empowers your new employee (you can even have a hardcopy of the welcome aboard letter in the folder) and also gets the new hire excited about your brand and its values!

3. Company Swag

Who doesn’t love getting new swag? It’s another great way to get a new employee jazzed about your brand, and make them feel at home.

The swag options are endless, but the most important thing to keep in mind is that you want the items to be useful. Think about t-shirts people actually want to wear, tote bags people will actually use, etc.

Here are some excellent examples of onboarding swag:

Percolate’s swag stash includes business cards, a notepad, a t-shirt, coffee mug, and a tote bag.

Swag for new hires at Boxed includes sticker decals and a branded water bottle.

The swag can also be a great way to demonstrate the product. For example, Sub Rosa, which oversees the Pantone Color of the Year campaign, includes in its swag kit a Pantone Color of the Year mug (Rose Quartz in 2016).

The swag also includes a Moleskine notebook, design pens, and Sub Rosa branded stationary.

4. First-Day Office Activity

Another way to welcome your team member is to have them do an activity or exercise that’s related to the company—an “initiation” of sorts.

At DigitalOcean, team members draw a shark on the morning of their first day, which is added to the wall of shark drawings. It’s a tribute to their mascot, Sammy the Shark. The drawings are a fun first-day activity, as well as a way to see everyone’s personality in their illustrations!

5. Team Lunch

A catered in-office lunch is the perfect way to welcome new employees and have them meet the entire team at once, especially if your office has a communal kitchen where everyone fits.

If your office isn’t equipped for the entire team to dine at the same time, a group field trip to a nearby restaurant is a great option as well!

Did we miss anything? Tweet @TheSqFt with your fave onboarding tips!