New environments tend to stress people out, especially when it comes to working. We come in and be completely clueless about every person who resides in that line of work. As a manager/higher-up, I am sure that you have also been in their shoes, and you’ve experienced that stressful circumstance when you were new to the job too. Check out these fun ways to welcome new employees.
Being in a new place with a new set of people surely triggers anxiety to most, so it is management’s job to make new hires feel comfortable and welcomed in the office. To have a safe and healthy work environment, boost everyone’s morale and make uniting your employees easier.
Here are 8 ways to make your new employees feel welcome in your workplace:
1. Send Welcoming Messages
Before everything else, send them a quick message through social media or emails to make them feel that they are being well-received by the company. This welcoming ritual has long been practiced by a few companies and since there is a rise of new technology, it added new ways to welcome new employees. A simple message with a few words of encouragement can go a long way, especially to employees that feel nervous about the new job.
There are a few ways that you can do to properly greet a newly hired employee:
- Facebook messages – through a private message via a company page
- Email – a quick welcoming greeting, expressing well wishes towards the newly hired employee
- Zoom announcement – organize a call to greet your employees along with a welcoming committee
- Bulletin board – have employees write up welcoming messages and post them on the bulletin board for recruits to see.
2. Gatherings
It is very important to be familiar with everyone that you will be working with, to avoid alienating the new employee among the others, and to have unity and better work morale in the office.
Here are ways to integrate new employees with the old employees:
- Welcoming party – Who doesn’t love parties? This could be an opportunity to have all the employees get acquainted with each other, to have them loosen up and get rid of tension among themselves.
- Have everyone introduce themselves – a good old 2 truths one lie can make everyone aware of each other’s likes and dislikes, or simply have everyone stand up and introduce their name along with a few facts about themselves.
3. Organize Fun Activities
To coerce everyone to practice unity in a fun and engaging way, organize fun activities to help employees bond and get to know each other better. By making new friends, employees feel more welcomed and less stiff around fellow employees. Bonding would boost everyone’s morale, thus making work feel less threatening.
- Lunch activities – a perfect way to please people is through their stomachs. A few games could help the new employees engage with old employees.
- Small games – to keep the workplace fun and appealing; can also defuse tensions across the office.
4. Send a Welcoming Gift
To make new hires feel welcomed, an employer must show their appreciation not just through words but through gifts and actions. It doesn’t have to be pricey too!
- Trinket – A small item to help them remember, either a company pin or an item that they can use in the workplace.
- Flowers – Who doesn’t love flowers? We all want them right beside our desks to refresh us or to have something colorful.
5. Decorate the Workplace
A beautiful environment ensures a positive ambiance. As a result efficiency among employees are tripled and improves mental wellbeing. New employees will find the workplace desirable. Who wants a dull workplace?
- Decorations – Putting up colorful decorations and engaging points in the office will surely make the workplace look more of a fun place rather than a jail cell.
- Creative freedom – Let the employees choose how to decorate their spaces. Give them the creative freedom to express themselves through their decors.
6. Converse with Them Regularly
Communication is truly the key. In a new environment, a new employee may feel alone and have no one to depend on. As a higher-up, it is your responsibility to make them feel included and heard.
- Personal emails – Use emails to talk to them and to know their ideas for improving their work.
- Group calls – Arrange group calls to check on everyone, and to listen to their thoughts about their work.
- Safe places – Provide a safe place for them to pour their thoughts into, for expressing their thoughts towards the company or co-workers.
7. Provide guidance
Everyone feels lost once in a while, especially at work. We all have wished we had someone that we can talk to when we have difficulties in handling work-related problems.
- Office visits – An allotted time for a one-on-one conversation with new employees to discuss their improvements and failures and to give them advice will help make them feel more comfortable at work.
- Messaging – Regularly message them about their performance at work, and present them with viable directions to proceed, and improve their performance.
Provide new hires with a welcoming atmosphere and a pleasing environment to ensure good results and little to no mistakes at work. This will also avoid awkwardness and stiffness towards other employees and will help achieve a pleasant work environment.
8. Tours
To be well acquainted with the workplace, tour the new hires to every room and their functions. This way, new employees will not get lost. Show them where everything gets done and where everyone relaxes; places where an employee can take a break and have some time for themselves. It’s important to note that employees might have a hard time maneuvering around a new place. Giving them a guide to where everything is may put them at ease.