First Day at Work for Your New Employee-Checklist

According to research, your first impression is created in seven seconds. The Society for Personality and Social Psychology says that although these first impressions are often incorrect, people are unwilling to ignore facts especially when they do not support their first impressions. Ironically, once you form a first impression, you are likely to continue believing in it irrespective of the actual truth. Hence the power of first impressions!

No organisation hires employees with the expectation that they will work with them for a couple of months then leave. Every organisation hires employees in the hope that they will be here for the long haul. It’s therefore, important for you do everything possible to improve your chances of creating a good first impression.  You want your new employee to feel at home on the first day at work. Let’s take a look at some of the ways you can make your new employee feel at ease during their first day at work.

First Day at Work: New Employee Checklist

1. Have the workstation ready. Do not wait for your new hires to show up at work and then start getting their workstations prepared. In fact, you must set up a new hire’s desktop/laptop, usernames and passwords, email addresses, etc. before they begin their first day. You must also ensure that their workstation has all the necessary stationary (such as pens, marker, sticky notes, notepads, etc.) that they may need while working.
2. Plan out the right amount of work for the first week. It usually takes around six months before a new employee becomes fully productive in their new role. It is unreal to expect your new employee to dive straight into work and get a full grasp on it right away. You can get the, started by planning a reasonable amount of work during the first week. Prepare some assignments and materials well ahead of time, so that it helps the new employee to ease into their new role with time.
3. Talk to the team. To ensure that your team doesn’t feel out of place working with a new employee, inform them about the new starter. Give them a brief introduction to their background, experience and the role they will play. Try to include a member or two from your existing team during the interview process. This ensures additional feedback and inputs which may increase your chances of hiring the best candidate who fits the requirement at hand.
4. Avoid drowning them in paperwork. We all know that new employees are required to fill statutory & legislative forms. Apart from this, they also need time to review their benefit and pension packages, etc. Ideally, you have invested in a paperless onboarding system that introduces them to your brand well ahead of start date, & takes care of all the paper before the actual start date
5. Formally introduce them to the team. It is a good idea to introduce your new employee to their immediate team members. The first couple of hours or days on a new job can be awkward for a new hire. So the sooner they get comfortable with their team members, the more eased out and welcome they will feel at work. Even better, assign a team buddy.
6. Send a company-wide introduction email. While you may have introduced the new hires with their new team, it may not be practical to introduce them to the entire company or department on the first day. You can send out an email to the department which briefly introduces them to everyone. It is less time consuming and reaches out to all members in any location.
7. Familiarising them with the office. Your new employee will probably not know where the stationary cabinet is, the printer or the best barista. It is a good idea to spend around 15-20 minutes during the lunch hour to show them around the office premises and inform them what’s there in and around the premises. This will create a sense of belonging and also familiarise them with the new environment.
8. Allocate a mentor. Your new hire may need some handholding during the first couple of weeks at work. It is a good idea to designate a certain senior member of the team to answer any queries that the new hire may have on the job. You would certainly not want your new hire to sit at their desk wondering and figuring out on their own how to use a certain platform or new software. When you assign a mentor, your new employee feels supported and confident to reach out in case they have any questions while working.
9. Organise a team lunch. To get to know a new co-worker well, it’s is a good idea for the team to spend some time outdoors away from the office. A great way of team bonding is to organise a small team lunch. Once everyone settles in at the restaurant, play some get to know each other, ice-breaker games and create the foundation of team bonding.
10. Regularly check in. As a manager, you have a lot going on at your end. That’s where mentor the mentor comes in. That doesn’t necessarily absolve you of your duties. Make some time to walk around and say a quick hello and check in. If possible, offer them a small memento such as a coffee mug or a t-shirt when you stop by their desks. This will make them feel especially welcomed coming from you. While it is important to ensure that your new hire is productive, it is also significant that you establish a strong connection with them to help them sustain a longer tenure.

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When you know that it takes an average of 8 months for an employee to perform, you better understand the importance of creating a solid onboarding program to engage your new hires from day one.

This guide to new employee onboarding contains a series of onboarding checklists and cheat sheets to help you get started