An Inauguration for New Hires

Today we’ll hear from Kelly Martin on how to make new hires feel special, with their own sort of inauguration.
By Kelly Martin

In case you missed it, the 45^th presidential inauguration was held last Friday. Before the inauguration, President-elect Donald Trump stated, “We’re going to have a very, very elegant day. The 20th is going to be something that will be very, very special, very beautiful.”

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if every new hire felt that their transition into a new job was going to be very special?

Onboarding new employees can and should be an exciting time for both the company and the new hire. However, not all onboarding programs are created equal. Since a smooth transition promotes productivity within a company, and a rocky transition can foster frustration, it’s critical to get it right. With the recent presidential inauguration under the microscope, here are four tips that companies and HR teams can follow to best transition their new hires:

1. Plan Ahead. The president has everything he needs to succeed at his disposal. So should the new hire. Before your new hire walks through the door, ensure that their desk, computer, and any other work-related requirements, like access to all necessary tools, are in place and set up. The faster your winning candidate can become a successful new hire and employee handling real work, the better.
2. Start Early. While much responsibility falls on the president to learn about the country and his role in shaping it, a substantial amount falls on the government and his predecessor to provide the essential tools he needs to be successful. For new hires, this is no different. They too are responsible for their fate, yet a good deal of responsibility also falls on their employer to set them up for success.

Kick off the transition process through automated tasks and educational tools assigned to your team and new employee. Invite new hires to a customized cloud-based portal that allows you to welcome them—consider an embedded video that captures the culture of your company. Then share any tasks and educational learning you’d like them to view before they come in for their first day. This will help streamline hiring processes to ensure things like important new employee paperwork and company guidelines are shared electronically then comprehended, completed, and automatically documented.

3. Coordinate Meaningful Connections. Just as the president needs to attend intelligence briefings, new hires should get the opportunity to meet with employees of teams critical to their roles. One way to do this is to work with the hiring manager to identify people that the new employee needs to know to be successful. By creating a reference sheet or network map of key stakeholders and co-workers with names, pictures, and important details listed within, new hires can reach out to the appropriate co-worker to help bridge any information gaps. This enables new hires to get to work quicker and with more confidence.
4. Show gratitude. During a presidential transition, there’s ceremonies, celebrations, a parade, and even a ball to help welcome the new leader. New hires should be greeted too. To make employees feel welcome and like they made the right choice in accepting a job offer from your company, create a process that gets your new hires that much more enthusiastic about their new roles. Maybe have their manager take them out to lunch and reiterate how happy the team is to have them onboard. Take this as an opportunity to detail how their performance affects the company and the team. Keep it positive so that your new hire will want to get acclimated to everyone and everything fast.

A well thought out transition process—whether for the next president or for a company’s new hires—will accelerate performance and productivity while also encouraging engagement for the long run.
Kelly Martin is a writer with iCIMS.