Customers today want the best customer experience! And so do candidates, and employees for that matter. You spend a lot of time and money recruiting, and sometimes only to lose that new hire and have to start again searching for a replacement.
As a recruiter for many different businesses, I often see. after months of recruiting to fill a key position, and then months of training a new employee, managers frustrated when they find out that new employee is leaving for another position elsewhere, and they have to start again with a new search.
It is well known amongst HR professionals that employees with less than one year of service are most at risk for leaving a company.
We can do something about this however to ensure that the new employee is more likely to remain with our company, than not. Many small businesses don’t do anything to onboard, orient, develop and nurture the bond between the new employee and the company.
The 30 and 90 day periods are all critical time frames for the new employee. A proper welcome for a new employee takes planning and preparation.
At a minimum, here are the secrets to a warm and inviting welcome for a new employee in your company.
- Make sure you keep in touch with that new hire prior to their start. Send a welcome card to their home, connect with email weekly, send a box of cookies or flower to their home congratulating them on their new position. It’s the little things that matter, and establishing a bond and connection with the new employee and you and the company is critical at this juncture.
- Prior to the employees start, hold an afternoon huddle to share with current staff, the new hire’s background and start date so that they know a bit about the new team member coming on board. Ask each staff member specifically, to welcome the new employee, by name, and to offer to help them with anything they need, and share with them their background and experience working at the company.
- Assign one current employee to be a “Mentor” to the new employee. This is not a supervisor, nor trainer. This is an employee who is there for the new employee and can spend time with them daily, keeping a watch over the employee, spending any free time with the employee, and being there for the new employee for questions, concerns, and issues. The Mentor should complete a formal weekly checklist ensuring they are sharing the information we want shared with the new hire. Weekly, the new employee, would be asked to complete a survey as well, as to their feelings about the job so far.
- Prepare the new employees equipment, new hire paperwork for them to get onto payroll, IT access, uniforms, lab coats, PPE, their work space, desk; a space of their own. Have flowers, candy, a paperweight or other personalized desk item waiting for them on their desk, the first day of work. I have seen new employees start work with no place to sit, no one even showing them where the restroom or refrigerator is, and no PPE assembled and readied for them on the first day of work.
- On their first day, hold a morning huddle with refreshments for the team to get to know them. If there is no time due to the client or patient schedule, bring the staff in early that day. It is important to have the time for the new employee to identify as part of your team from the outset.
- Schedule a lunch for the team on the first day of work.
- Check in with the new employee at days end each day for the first day of work, and then weekly thereafter.
- Schedule a one-one-one in person, 30 day lunch and review of the new employees performance. Inquire as to the employees satisfaction with the job.
- Schedule a one-one-one in person, 90 day lunch and review of the new employees performance, Inquire as to the employees satisfaction with the job.
- Schedule a one-one-one in person, 180 day lunch and review of the employee’s performance. Inquire as to the employees satisfaction with the job.
- Recommend an annual review process for allemployees to include the new employee.
As a recruiter, I frequently receive the “emergency” call. that a vital position needs to be filled “asap”. Sometimes, I get the same “emergency” call from the same organization months later. Upon investigating, I find that very little effort was taken to “bond” that new employee to the team and company once the new employee began employment. I more often than not, see that once a position is filled, and it is off someone’s “to do” list. I see that the new employee fades quickly into the background of a busy work day, and sometimes, just gets lost in the shuffle. The new employee becomes background noise (white noise) and no longer a priority.
New employees feel this shift in priorities and know that they are not it. This does nothing to keep the employee engaged, and in fact, their engagement level starts slipping, once they know that everyone is too busy to notice them. We all need attention, and a new employee needs more time and attention than any team member we have. But it is a group effort, not just the manager’s role to show a warm welcome from a team which they will feel pleased to be a part of.
We are all social creatures, and we need lots of nurturing when we join a new team to build relationships with the folks we will work with. Lots of effort and activities must be planned and put forth to make that employee feel like a part of “us”. As much effort that went into filling the position, now has to go into keeping the new employee connected and engaged.
I hope these ideas are useful to you as if you employ even some of them, your welcome and reception for your new employees will certainly be raised up a notch, with the outcome being that you will be more likely to hang on to them.
Welcome to Our Newest Expert, Deb Parent!
Culture is nurtured, not manufactured.
Debra J. Parent, PHR, SHRM-CP, CHHR helps outline how the seed is planted and cultivated.Debra J. Parent, PHR, SHRM-CP, CHHR has 34 years of HR Management experience, an MBA, three national HR certifications, a certified coach, is currently teaching the capstone senior Strategic Management course at UMASS Dartmouth, former adjunct business professor at Bristol Community College, and Supervisory and Leadership Skills Grant Trainer for Bristol Community College.
She is an active member of the UMASS Dartmouth Charlton College of Business Advisor Board, ProVisors, and successful business owner of an HR recruitment and consulting firm with clients throughout New England.
Debra assists companies develop and implement effective recruitment and retention strategies, fill key hard to recruit positions, design a well-thought out HR program, smart HR policies, and provide workable HR solutions to respond to workforce challenges. She leads with integrity, balancing company and employee interests, and has a forward-thinking approach.
For more information, contact Debra J. Parent, PHR, SHRM-CP, CHHR at
rightfitrecruiting@comcast.net,
(508) 884-6798.
Or connect with Deb via LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/debra-parent-11941b163/
