After a long search, you’ve found the one—that is, the one who’ll fill the vacant post in your company. Congratulations! But don’t think that this is where your job stops. Because after hiring and recruiting, it’s now your mission to make sure that your new employee doesn’t only stay, but is also engaged. Did you know that you can engage your new employees even before they start? We list down some things you can do to engage your hires before day one.
How to engage your new employees before they start
Have personalized welcomes
In large corporations, the head of the company is often a nameless, faceless, and personality-less entity. Very few employees can really interact with the CEO. A personalized welcome from the head of your company can help boost a new hire’s engagement. This will help them feel that they’re really important to the company and that they know and understand the organization better.
You can do this in various ways—you can have a letter from the CEO given to your new recruit, a personal meeting, or even a video! You can follow this up with a one-on-one catch up in their first week.
Answer questions before they ask
Your new hires will most likely be coming into your company with next to zero knowledge. During orientation, your new hire can be overwhelmed with the amount of information they need to absorb. To lessen the burden to them, identify beforehand the questions that they most likely have, and prepare responses to them. You may also give them a brochure that contains the most essential information about your company that a new hire needs. Bonus points if these resources are always ready and can be a resource for future use.
Set up everything before they arrive
First impressions are important. They have an impact on an employee’s view of your organization, even if they can change. Make sure that before your new employee arrives, the things that they’ll need to work are already prepared. Stick to the basics—the work station, phone, computer, and if needed, business cards. If you have other tokens that you can give to your employees such as company tumblers or pens, you may also place them in your employee’s workstation so that when they come in, they already have what they need to start working.
Have a good onboarding strategy
Onboarding is essential in your employee engagement and experience. It’s more than just orientation—onboarding, according to an article by PeopleAdmin, is the process of conveying your organizational brand and values, explaining your people and professional culture, aligning institutional expectations and performance, and providing the tools for the employee to successfully assimilate into his or her position with a quicker ramp-up to productivity.
Effective onboarding strategies have a great impact on performance, satisfaction, commitment, and retention. It’s good to carefully plan your onboarding, and include ideas that will inspire your new employee.
You get the employee engagement you deserve. Show that you care for your employees even before they start in your company and see the results of your efforts to engage your new employees.
