15 Ways to Incorporate Employee Recognition into Your Onboarding
Onboarding is an essential part of employee retention. Up to 20% of new employees leave within 45 days. By incorporating recognition into your employee onboarding, you can increase employee engagement and longevity.
But, many managers express uncertainty about how to recognize new employees. It’s especially difficult when employees haven’t been there long enough to be a part of major projects. But, the connection employees gain from recognition is crucial for new employee retention.
Don’t forget these great award names for new employees.
Prepare New Employees For Their First Day
Before your employee starts, make sure they are ready. Be sure to let them know how to dress and anything they should bring to make their first day easy. You don’t want your employee showing up dressed in a suit when everyone else is wearing khakis.
Inform them whether there are places for lunch nearby, a company cafeteria, or if most everyone brings a bagged lunch. Let them know if they have the option to take a 30 minute or hour lunch break.
Let them know what their schedule will be like as well. It’s frustrating for new employees to not be able to tell their spouse or kids when they will be home.
Be Prepared for New Employees
Few things say “you aren’t important” quite as well as not having anything ready for your new employee on their first day of work. Even busy workplaces should take the time to prepare a computer, desk, or any other essentials prior to a new employee starting.
Of course, some setup will be required and the employee will need to create passwords and such. But, everything that can be prepared should be.
Communicate to other managers, IT, HR, and any other applicable teams that a new employee will be starting and ask all involved to be ready with materials or supplies.
Don’t Forget to Handout the SWAG
Some managers prefer to save SWAG for employees who have made it through a certain stage of employment (such as the first 90 days). But, giving SWAG to employees on the first day helps them to be able to dress like the rest of the team and feel a part of that team.
Other SWAG items are great because they get to take them home and share their excitement with family and friends, or display them on their desks. It helps build the excitement.
Take Time To Introduce the New Employee To The Whole Team
Too often, employees are introduced to a new team as an after-thought. Even worse is when they aren’t introduced at all. Some employers unintentionally isolate new employees in a training program and never give them a chance to meet or build relationships with existing team members.
Make the effort to introduce each new employee to their team.
Don’t Wait to Recognize Them
It can be hard to recognize a new employee. That’s especially true at the beginning when recognition may feel superfluous.
But, it’s still important to recognize new employees for their accomplishments. That could be completing their training, showing up on time, lightening someone’s load, or a million other things.
It will take a little effort to be aware of the things they are doing, but recognition from the beginning will help your employee feel appreciated and be engaged from the start.
Getting to Know You Games Can Make Employees Feel Included
Often, when an employee starts work, it’s a very busy time. Existing teams have had to “make do” without all the support or positions the job usually requires. A new employee is hired to help fill this need.
But, even if the team is busy if you take a few minutes to play a game or for a team-building activity, the new employee can immediately feel like they are part of the team. This helps to solidify relationships and build a sense of belonging.
Getting-to-know-you games can make a huge impact on retention and recognize that the new employee is a critical part of the team. They are important enough for the whole team to stop and get to know!
Clearly Define Job Expectations and Roles
One of the top frustrations that new employees express is that their job description doesn’t clearly match their actual job role. Make sure that your job descriptions match the requirements of the job and clearly explain the job when interviewing and onboarding.
Employees have many roles to perform and it’s tempting to highlight only the more glamorous or challenging ones. But, new employees will be happier if they understand how their time will be spent.
Take a few minutes to go over the expectations of the job and clearly communicate how the new employee should allocate their time and set priorities. This can be very helpful and assist your new employee in succeeding better.
Welcome Your New Employee With A Welcome Sign or Card
Make your new employee feel welcomed by having your team sign a welcome card or creating a Welcome Sign everyone can write a message on. Too often, new employees show up, get introduced to a few key people, and go largely unnoticed by the rest of the team.
A welcome sign lets them know right off the bat that the team is excited for them to be there. It alslo has the added advantage of getting the team involved in welcoming them (which makes existing employees more likely to feel welcoming of the newcomer. That’s one of the reasons peer recognition benefits both the receiver and the giver (link).
Invite Them to Social Events
Make sure to invite the new team member to the social events. In most teams, there are unofficial events such as having lunch together, gathering for coffee during break, or a quick walk around the block.
Encourage your team before the new person starts to invite them to these activities. It will go a long way toward helping the employee to feel welcome and comfortable with those they will be working with.
Find Out Your Employee’s Language of Appreciation
Find out what makes your employee best feel appreciated. Every employee has a specific “love language at work” and feels most appreciated when they are recognized in that language. Some employees appreciate a written note, while others thrive from public recognition.
It’s critical that you understand how your employee enjoys being recognized because employees will love public recognition, while others may withdraw from it. Recognition is important, but it’s just as important for the employee to feel recognized and appreciated.
5 Main Languages of Appreciation:
- Words of Affirmation:
- Written Recognition: Cards, emails, notes
- Verbal Recognition: Public recognition, Private in-person “thank you’s!”
- Quality Time: Coaching, Mentoring, Team Activities
- Gifts: Trophies, Gift cards, Tangible recognition items, SWAG
- Physical: High-fives, Fist bumps
- Service: Take the time to help, answer questions, assist
Host a Welcome Luncheon
Within the first week or two of your new employee(s) starting, host a welcome event. This can be something as simple as taking the whole team out to lunch. Invite upper managers and other teams to come and introduce themselves.
Lunch provides a casual setting where new employees can get to know those in the organization. This can also be a great time to cover important company information that wasn’t covered in onboarding.
Give Your New Employee Choices
Autonomy is a critical aspect of employee engagement link. New employees often feel like they have even less choice than existing employees because they don’t understand the layout, culture, or expectations of the workplace. Plus, their schedules aren’t normal until they get out of the initial training period.
Give new employees additional choices by allowing them to have a say. Look for opportunities you can give your new employee a choice instead of simply telling them which way to go, or how to do something.
Some possible choices may include:
- Whether or not they train remotely or in the office (for text or computer-based training)
- What days to train versus what days to job-shadow
- How rapidly or slowly they’d like to advance through training
Help Them Set Realistic Goals For their First 30/60/90 Days
New employees often feel an absence of mission or purpose. Help your new employees feel purpose by taking the time to help them set goals that align with the corporate mission. This requires taking time to help them understand the mission and how that helps the overall community.
Millennials tend to especially care link about how their work positively impacts the community and world at large, but they aren’t the only generation that cares. A new employee may not understand how their specific role makes an impact on the community.
Take the time to explain the importance of what they do. Then, guide them as they set goals for their first month, quarter, and year of employment.
Then, take the time to meet with them regularly to make sure they have the tools, knowledge, and help they need to achieve their goals.
Partner New Employees with a Mentor
Mentoring has benefits for both the mentor and mentee. Pair your new employee up with a mentor that can help them navigate the ropes of the new job. The mentor can be someone on the same team, or from another team.
Mentors provide an avenue for employees to get questions answered and guidance that doesn’t involve managers. This is invaluable for new employees because there are often questions they don’t want to ask the manager.
Millennials cite mentoring as an important factor they look for when job hunting. The absence of mentoring is also in the top 5 reasons millennials leave a job. Mentoring increases mentee engagement. Plus, mentoring helps to deepen the engagement of the mentor.
Challenge Them to Recognize A Colleague
Further, engage your new employees by challenging them to find and recognize a peer. The act of recognizing a colleague is invaluable. It engages employees and creates new bonds with that team member.
New employees looking to recognize a peer are primed to better notice the ways that others help them and feel gratitude for it.
Provide the employee with a prize or reward points that they can give to the employee they are recognizing. The Thanks Platform makes this easy because the receiving employee can then redeem points for the prize of their choice.
Conclusion
Most managers recognize the importance of immediately welcoming and engaging new employees. However, the workplace is often hectic and recognition may be missed. As you incorporate even a few of these recognition methods and help new employees to feel a greater part of the team, it will set the foundation for a happy and loyal employee.
About Thanks
Thanks is a leading provider of a recognition-based platform that increases communication, builds teamwork, and makes recognition a part of company culture. Fast, easy and simple Thanks makes it easy to bring data-driven employee recognition to your entire organization. O.C. Tanner purchased the Thanks platform in 2019 to fulfill the recognition needs of smaller businesses.
Thanks customers benefit from the same decades of research in employee motivation and company culture that O.C. Tanner enterprise clients enjoy, but in a product that is geared for fast, easy and simple deployment. Whether you’re starting a recognition program or improving and expanding on what you already have, Thanks has everything you need to engage your people with effective, scalable recognition.