The way your department welcomes or “onboards” new hires can set the course for the employee in many ways – including engagement. In larger organizations, it’s not uncommon for employees to get swept up in the sea of their own area once company orientation is over. Many companies are so focused on terms like “customer experience.” What about the “employee experience” or “new hire experience”?
It’s not uncommon for a new hire’s team to welcome that person – and whoosh! They are swept in by the silo’s strong tide, rarely wading out into the rest of the division’s waters. If you work in a large division made up of many small departments, how can you enhance the new employee experience? How can you make it a consistent experience that reflects what your division is all about?
- Take the new hire on a “tour” of the division. It’s always good to feel welcome when people take time out of their busy schedules to step away from their desks and say hello.
- Create a mini new hire curriculum. This can include fact sheet handouts or brief presentations for each department within your division.
- Post relevant educational materials (fact sheets, glossary of key terms, FAQ) on the intranet, Yammer or other internal social media sites used by your division.
- Arrange time with the division leader. Many senior execs make a point to sit down with new hires and get to know them a bit more. But many execs don’t and that’s a missed opportunity to build a connection as well as help the new hire understand their role in the bigger picture.
- Create an itinerary of meet and greets with other key business partners around the company. This can help set the course for business relationships by giving your new hires a chance to chat with people outside the division before they cross paths with each other in a future meeting.