Avoid New Employee First Day Nothings

When you were a kid, did your parents ever ask you, “What did you do today?” Typically the answer, “nothing,” would roll off the tongue and away you went doing something else. Or, maybe you now ask your children this same question as you have gotten older.

What if someone asked one of your new hires what they did with your organization on the first day of work? Would the answer be “nothing?” Would that response be justified? If I spent my entire first day filling out forms, being told to read this or that, and setting up my desk I would most likely answer with “nothing” as well.

Use the Pre-Boarding Time Period

So how do you onboard your new employees in such a way that their answer will be far from “nothing?” My advice would be to take advantage of the pre-boarding time frame – that time span from when the new hire signs the offer letter to the point where he/she starts the first day. However, you do have to be cautious not to overwhelm the new hire with so much information that he/she doesn’t have time to get through it all, either.

An easy way to keep the balance is to have the new hire complete much of the new hire paperwork in advance of the first day. Our OnboardCentric employee onboarding software can help with that. The new hire logs into a portal that contains all of your company’s new hire paperwork. The individual completes the forms assigned based on position/department/division. This portal can also contain handbooks and other supplemental information that you want all new hires to review. Depending on how long a new hire normally spends filling out paperwork and reading information on his/her first day, you could free up that entire amount of time.

Warm Fuzzy Feelings for New Employees

If you provide a new hire with any type of uniform or apparel pieces, you could be reminded to gather sizing information via a task reminder in your onboarding software platform and have those garments available upon arrival. Giving the new hire the impression that you have been anxiously anticipating his/her arrival and inclusion as part of your company, can help create the “warm and fuzzy” feelings for the new hire. First impressions can help employees determine if they see themselves as a “lifer” or if your company is a stepping stone. The OnboardCentric portal also helps encourage the assertive hires that your company does truly move at a fast pace, accepts technology, and promotes forward movement.

Free up new hires’ first day so when they report back home, they have something more to say than “nothing.”

If you’d like to schedule a live demo of our employee onboarding software, please contact ExactHire.