Dis-orientation: Transform Your Employee Onboarding Process

When your new employee’s best friend asks, “So, how’s the new job?” what answer can you expect? Is it a weary remark about endless PowerPoint presentations, or is it a story of surprise and delight?

Unfortunately, employee orientation is often unintentionally disorienting. It doesn’t have to be this way! Seize the opportunity to transform trepidation into engagement by taking deliberate steps to induct your newest team member into a uniquely welcoming workplace.

A Personal Welcome

Preemptively relieve the first-day jitters with a handwritten note, phone call, or email welcoming them to the team.

• Reach out prior to their starting date.
• Be personal and specific.
• Compliment something unique that makes them a great addition to the team.
• Invite them to join you for lunch or coffee break on their first day.
• Encourage them to contact you directly with any questions.

Early Success

Don’t drown trainees in a flood of new information; it’s not nice and it’s ineffective. Build employee confidence and retention with a stepping-stone start.

• Foundation: Initial training on job components they can try right away
• Solidify: Time to jump in, make mistakes, and ask questions
• Build: This context makes subsequent trainings stickier

Go Team!

If you don’t already have team traditions for welcoming new employees, start now! Ditch the contrived “teambuilding” activities! Wanna build camaraderie and collaboration among team members? Engage them all in celebrating their new teammate. Here’s some creative ways to say, “We accept you! One of us!”

• The whole team wears name tags during their new teammate’s first week
• Ask each team member to write a short welcome message on a post-it. Cover the newcomer’s monitor or locker with these before their first day.
• Allow team members to lead various walking tours, answering questions, and sharing anecdotes along the way:
  • Meet and greet each team member
  • Building tour: bathrooms, parking, light switches
  • Safety & security info: first-aid kit, fire extinguishers, exits, tornado drills
  • Helpful tips about daily schedule, process, and productivity

An Unexpected Gift

Gifts are an expression appreciation and respect. A well-chosen welcome gift incites surprise, delight, and rapport.

Bergman Incentives will maximize the impact of this first impression with one of our special onboarding kits. We customize everything to match your needs: the contents, the branding, even the packaging. Then we’ll do the work of getting this swag-bag into the hands of your employees.

Ready? What are you waiting for?

Use the form below to contact Bergman Incentives for a free consultation. We’ll meet your goals while considering your needs:

• Your budget
• Your expected number of new hires
• Info about the recipients (remote vs in-office)
• Elements of your company culture you’d like to include

Our reps will help you curate and customize a welcome kit worth bragging about.

We’re the experts, lean on us!