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26 Best Employee Welcome Kit Ideas For HRs

10 min read   |  
Last Updated on
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The act of engaging an employee starts the moment when they enter your door. But, sometimes, even before that. Thus, it’s of the utmost importance that you have a list of the best employee welcome kit ideas with you for a successful onboarding process.

An employee welcome kit, also referred to as employees welcome packages or employee onboarding kits, is essentially a new hire welcome kit. It is designed to make a new hire feel like part of the team and appreciated.

Although it might seem like a non-essential but an employee welcome packages are an essential part of the employee onboarding process. It hugely affects the new hires’ perception of your company.

A fantastic welcome kit says that you care about your employees and want them to have a good company experience. Additionally, new hires feel more comfortable, happy, and engaged from the first day itself. Thus, such displays are necessary for showcasing and advocating the company culture.

“The Induction Box”- Ogilvy & Mather

A great example of an employee onboarding kit is the “Induction Box” presented by one of the giants of advertising agencies- Ogilvy & Mather.

The inspiration for this employee welcome kit comes from David Ogilvy’s famous Eight Habits of Highly Creative Communities and The Eternal Pursuit of Unhappiness.

The Induction Box is nothing sort of a design marvel that has won many accolades for its creativity. Nevertheless, here is a glimpse of what it looks like.

While you don’t necessarily need to design an award-winning welcome kit, you can certainly work on creating one which will make your new hires feel valued and welcomed at their new organization. So let’s take a look at our 26 favorite employee welcome kit ideas:

The Only List Of “Employee Welcome Kit Ideas” That You’ll Ever Need

1. Company Swag

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Company SWAG (Stuff We All Get) is an excellent addition to any employee welcome packages. Company SWAG is a term used to describe fantastic company branded products that every employee looks forward to getting.

Ranging from water bottles, coffee mugs, t-shirts to notebooks- almost any essential can get turned into a company SWAG.

A great way to add a personal touch to the generic company SWAG items is to inscribe them with individual employees’ names. Company SWAG (Stuff We All Get) is an excellent addition to any employee welcome packages.

Company SWAG is a term used to describe fantastic company branded products that every employee looks forward to getting.

2. Office Supplies

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Nothing says “welcome” like supplying the essential items of a workday. Office supplies are perhaps the most basic but integral part of any employee welcome kit. Ensuring that the new hire gets them in their welcome kit overcomes the need to seek out these items by themselves.

Office supplies can be anything that an employee might require on a day-to-day basis of his work-life. We refer to these items as “necessities,” and the lack of having these can hugely impact the ease of doing a job. Here is a brief list of office supplies that will make a new employee’s life a lot easier:

  • Notebooks/Notepads
  • Pens, Markers, Highlighters
  • Post Its
  • Office Storage Box
  • Folders and business cards
  • Staplers and scissors
  • Desk cleaning supplies

You can use an employee care platform like Caroo to customize your welcome kit with branded office supplies and necessary items to start your new hires' tenure off on the right foot.

Take this 60-second quiz to learn more about personalizing your own company welcome kits.

3. Employee Handbook

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A new hire should be made well aware of the crucial rules and regulations of an organization. As an HR, you would probably have verbally informed them, but it’s debatable whether someone can remember them. Hence, the employee handbook.

An employee handbook is used for giving employees clear instructions on the dos, don’ts, and policies of the organization. Including the employee handbook in the new hires’ welcome kit ensures that they have a physical copy of the company’s missions and expectations that they can refer to.

4. Fun Employee Handbook

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While an employee handbook is about highlighting rules and regulations, the fun employee handbook is about showcasing the company culture’s fun part. The idea behind the fun employee handbook is to display what makes the company culture so unique and exciting.

In this handbook, you can:

  • Introduce team members through clever bios and anecdotes.
  • Display pictures and experiences of the team building activities.
  • Highlight the hall of fame, i.e., your top performers.
  • A dedicated page where employees share what makes them proud to work for the company.

It is an excellent way for new hires to familiarize themselves with the team and get them excited about being part of the company culture.

5. Personalized Note

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A personalized note from the CEO and other executives instills pride and belonging in a new employee. Personalize the note to include what the company stands for and what its expectations are from its workforce.

6. Tech Necessities

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Every job needs the use of technology nowadays. Be it a desktop, keyboard, mouse, or (the most essential) wifi password. Ensure that your new hires get the proper access to the applications, equipment, and guidance to do their job without hassle. Remember to set up any required permissions or programs onto their workstation beforehand.

7. Information on Employee Benefits

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Your new hires must have a clear picture of the benefits and perks available for them. Ensure that you include a list of the same during the onboarding process and help them understand what benefits entail.

8. Safety Essentials

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Now that we are in a pandemic era, it’s of utmost importance to ensure our workforce’s safety even when onboarding new employees. It calls for some basic hygiene and safety measures for everyone. In your company’s employee welcome packages, make sure that the kit includes:

  • Hand Sanitizers
  • N95 masks
  • Disposable gloves
  • Instructional pamphlets on social distancing and Covid pandemic.

Ensure that you know what should be done for reopening an office post-covid.

9. Gift Cards

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Gift cards are great as welcome gifts for new employees. Since you have little to no idea of what they like, gift cards are a perfect way of letting them choose the gift that they want.

Also, gift cards allow employees to revel in the shopping experience, which increases the happiness factor. Non-fussy, cheap, easy to distribute- the benefits of gift cards are numerous.

10. Snack Box

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Who doesn’t like to snack while working? A snack box is an excellent refreshment for the hunger pangs that strikes while working. Not only does it satiate a person, but it also makes a person concentrate and focus more.

However, if you want to incorporate healthy living as your company culture’s core value, invest in healthy and high-quality snacks. Healthy snacks ensure that your employees get the benefits of snacking while not compromising on their wellbeing.

11. Headphones

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A good pair of headphones is a given in any work environment. Unless you want the hustle-bustle of every day to interrupt an employee while working, gifting a pair of noise-canceling headphones in the employee welcome kits should be a priority.

12. Desk Plants

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Desk plants are a great welcoming gift to make new hires feel at home. Plants impart a positive vibe and act as a personal touch in brightening up an otherwise empty desk.

Additionally, desk plants will prove to be an incredible stress reliever and help clean the air (snake plants). Talk about being an all-rounder, huh.

Succulents are low maintenance plants that require little time, attention, and water.

13. Stress Balls

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That might be a wrong indication that your workplace is stressful. But believe me when I say that the new hire will thank you for putting stress balls in their employee welcome packages.

No matter how calm and collected a workplace may seem, stressful times cannot be avoided. In such times, a stress ball will be more than helpful to dissipate stress and ease tension.

14. Fitness Bands

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The health and wellbeing of an employee should be promoted from the first day itself. Given that most office jobs are sedentary, employees are at a higher risk of developing various health problems. An unfit employee is unfocused, unproductive, and disengaged. Thus, you must include some fitness options in your list of employee welcome kit ideas.

Fitness bands are great because they are an all-in-one tool that encourages people to move. Additionally, they are cool to look at and easy to carry. These bands lend a competitive edge to fitness, inspiring employees to compete with their peers on healthy initiatives such as step challenges. These are just a few of the many reasons why fitness bands are a great wellness perk for any company.

15. Books

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Books are perhaps a strange addition to the employee welcome kit ideas, but not without reasons. Not only are books great to relax for a short time, but they are also incredibly informative.

By gifting new hires with books covering their job roles, you’ll be giving them manual how-to’s. Additionally, you can present some of the motivational greats that’ll inspire them whenever they feel down or at odds.

16. Photo Frames

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For new hires, the ability to add a personal touch to their desks will provide a lot of comfort and a feeling of belonging.

In addition, photo frames are a great option to add to their employee onboarding kits to get settled on the first day by surrounding themselves with pictures of their loved ones.

17. Tote Bags

Tote bags make great complements to welcome kits if you are onboarding new hires from newer generations. In addition to being stylish, tote bags are also eco-friendly, which is why millennials and members of Generation Z love them.

18. Fun Coasters

Adding coasters to welcome kits is a small gesture but will turn out to be a big help toward preventing pesky stains on desks (from the multiple cups of coffee) and keeping the work area clean.

19. Customized Keychains

If you want to make your welcome kits look more personalized and impress new hires with the amount of thought you put into making them feel at home, customized keychains are the way to go.

Caricatures of the new employees can be created and turned into resin keychains. Do this and watch the joy on your new hires' faces when they discover this item. After all, the devil— as the saying goes— is in the details.

20. Motivational Posters

Regardless of how fun your work culture is, there will inevitably be days when your employees feel worn out or simply have a bad day.

For those days, equip your new hires with miniature motivational sayings that they can stick to their cubicle walls.

These motivational posters will act as the light at the end of the tunnel, and you will feel glad that you decided to include them in the employee welcome kits.

21. Hoodies

Since this is practically a fan favorite to receive in any swag pack, we shouldn't have put it so far down the list. Yes, we are talking about comfortable hoodies.
Hoodies are popular among all demographics and are not only a great way to combat the chill of office air conditioning, but they are also a powerful tool for promoting your brand.

22. Stickers And Laptop Decals

Creative stickers and laptop decals are always welcome additions to swag bags. This is also where you can really dive into the fun part of brand promotion by coming up with stickers displaying some quirky hashtags unique to your brand and describing your company's motto.

23. Laptop Sleeves

Including laptop sleeves in welcome kits is a good investment because you are essentially helping employees protect the company's property, i.e., the expensive laptops.
Related Articles: Should You Allow The Use of Social Media in the Workplace?

24. Desk Calendars

Miniature desk calendars are a lovely and functional addition to any workspace. It also helps that they are extremely useful for marking important dates and making an otherwise boring desk look inviting.

25. Figurines

Want to make your new employees feel at ease in their new environment? Include a figurine of their favorite character or comic book hero in their employee welcome kits. They will undoubtedly appreciate your kindness.

You can collect such information during the pre-onboarding survey.

26. Box Of Chocolates

We wholly agree with Forrest Gump when he says:

Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.

Just like life, the workplace can throw surprise curveballs your way. That's why you make the journey easier for your new hires by gifting them something yummy and sweet, like a premium box of treats.

Finally: Additional Employee Welcome Kit Ideas

We are always open to suggestions and would love to hear from you. If you have any employee welcome kit ideas you love, we'd love to hear from you and include your suggestions in the list!

This article is written by Barasha Medhi, who is a part of the marketing team at Vantage Circle. Barasha can be found either searching for interesting HR, company culture, and corporate buzzwords to write about or looking at pictures of cozy Bel Air mansions. For any related queries, contact editor@vantagecircle.com.

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