How To Welcome A New Employee To The Team

Onboarding new employees is one of the most crucial but overlooked aspects of building a great team and a great culture. It’s crucial because the first few days of new team members’ tenure determine how included they feel and how much they internalize the mission and culture of the team. 

Because of this, researchers like Keith Rollag at Babson College found that how you onboard employees dramatically affects their productivity, engagement, and tenure.

But it’s also overlooked because of the emphasis on using that same time to make sure every legality and regulation is taken care of. That’s understandable. There is a lot of paperwork to handle. Amid all those policies and procedures, it can be difficult to remember to add culture and collaboration.

But the more we prioritize connection over documentation, the more successful our onboarding effects and our people become. 

In this article, we’ll cover four ways to do just that—four ways to truly welcome a new employee to the team.

Start Before Start Day

The first way to welcome a new employee to the team is to start before the start day. In other words, make sure that new employees know multiple people through multiple touchpoints before they even begin working for the team. 

One way is through phone calls, emails, or text messages welcoming them and saying how excited current team members are to have them on board. But it can also be more immersive, like inviting them to share a meal with their future team or even having them on campus for a few visits beforehand.

While there may be a few legal reasons why this can’t be done, in most cases, starting before the start day ensures that team members know most of the team before they start—which avoids awkward “first day of school” feelings. But more importantly, it reinforces just how important new team members are. They’re so important that getting to know them can’t wait.

Expose Them To Culture

The second way to welcome a new employee to the team is to expose them to culture. They’ll have plenty of opportunities to be exposed to training manuals and corporate policies—but exposure to company culture matters more, and it takes more deliberate action. 

Every organization has a culture and artifacts and rituals that hint at that culture. Every company has a list of acronyms and a history of past shared experiences that new employees don’t usually get to see at first.

But exposing them early and often to those elements is what makes the difference between feeling like a “newbie” and feeling like a real teammate. 

It may even be worth creating new employee rituals, like meeting them at the door with a round of applause, that becomes an experience everyone in the company eventually shares—and a better-shared experience than having a company manual slammed on their desk on the first day.

Find Uncommon Commonalities

The third way to welcome a new employee to the team is to create opportunities that help them find uncommon commonalities with their teammates. Uncommon commonalities are those elements of someone’s personality that they have in common with some members of a group but not all. 

This could be biographical commonalities like where they grew up or attended universities, or it could be preferential commonalities like favorite sports or hobbies. These uncommon commonalities are found through self-disclosure opportunities like icebreakers before meetings, shared meals, or water cooler chats.

Teammates don’t have to find something in common with every other teammate, but it is important that they find commonalities with a few people. 

Research from Jessica Methot at Rutgers University suggests that uncommon commonalities become the beginnings of bonds, and bonds become the beginnings of friendships—and those friendships can increase employees’ engagement, productivity, and even tenure with the team and company.

Add A Small Win

The final way to welcome a new employee to the team is to add a small win. Exposing new members to culture and getting them well-versed in the policies and procedures is important, but so is making sure new employees feel like they’re actually making a contribution. 

That can happen by thinking about their task list for the day and making sure there are a few opportunities for that contribution. But it can also happen in small ways, like inviting them into a team meeting and giving them a chance to speak up and offer an opinion.

Research from Teresa Amabile of Harvard Business School suggests that progress on the job is a powerful human motivator. Yet, many employees’ first day of work involves making zero progress on the job—or even really knowing what their job is. Adding a small win changes that and ensures that everyone knows they are making a contribution—and hence progress—from day one.

It’s important to note that onboarding is an ongoing process. So, while these actions are vital to take on day one, there will be more work to do. 

It takes time to get someone comfortable with the culture or to build friendships with the team. It takes time to feel significant progress, even as small wins accumulate. But starting these actions on day one will help ensure new employees feel like valuable members of the team—a team that helps them do their best work ever.

Importance of a Thoughtful Onboarding Process

Employee onboarding is not just about introducing them to the job and their responsibilities. It’s about creating a sense of culture and belonging and making them feel part of an organization.

How you onboard the employees will have a direct impact on their engagement, productivity levels, and retention. In fact, as per a study by Brandon Hall Group, those organizations that use effective onboarding processes can improve new hire retention by up to 82%.

If you give it a bit of thought, then as an employee, you will also feel more at ease and will be likely to stay in a company where you are welcomed and well-equipped for the tasks. 

So, the onboarding process must be complete. The new employees must be introduced to the company’s mission, values, and workplace dynamics. It must be a complete process that ensures the new employees are aligned with the organizational culture so there is minimal risk of ambiguity and cultural mismatch.

Common Mistakes in Welcoming New Employees

Many companies often make mistakes during the onboarding process that can alienate new employees. 

These mistakes can be costly and can make it hard for the newly onboarded people to integrate into the system, further creating confusion and leading to high turnover.

Overloading with Paperwork

Often, the new hires are bombarded with paperwork. They are given extensive forms to fill out, policies to go through, and files to look into from day one. This can be rather overwhelming, especially for someone who has just walked into a new place.

So even though the administrative tasks are important, they should be balanced.

You can keep up with activities to keep up the engagement and familiarize the new employees with the company culture during the initial onboarding process.

No Social Integration

Usually, there is little to no focus on introducing the employees to their colleagues, which can build feelings of isolation. 

When you help the employees associate or connect with other fellows, it can build connections that help collaborate and make the new hires part of the team.

The new employees may also struggle to meet expectations or perform the job as required. Lack of clarity or unfamiliarity with the workplace can lead to frustration and affect performance.

Unfortunately, it’s very common to make these mistakes. As per Gallop, 12% of employees agree that their organization has a great onboarding process for new hires, which means the vast majority feel inadequate efforts are being made.

Wrap Up

The structured onboarding process is not just a formality; it is the foundation for ‘s success an employee’s success in an organization.

The moment you hire a new employee, begin their onboarding process, which continues throughout their first days and even their first weeks inside the organization.

Make sure they are engaged and form long-term connections with other employees alongside the work. Make them feel welcomed and valued so they are more prepared to perform and contribute to the organization.

Onboarding is an ongoing process, not a single event. By keeping these pointers in mind, you will likely have more committed, motivated, and productive employees on your team.