 How to welcome a new employee is a big deal, after all you've spent time, effort and money finding a great person to join your team and help solve some of the problems that you're wrestling with. You want them to be excited to get off to a great start and be happy working in the team so they stay and do the best work they can. I've had some great welcomes with everything laid on the desk, lots of colleagues to meet etc, all the way through to some terrible ones where the IT is not set up, everyone's busy and I'm twiddling my thumbs for half the day worrying about whether I made the wrong decision to join. These first impressions stay with you for a long time. Make sure new joiners into your team look back with fond memories and remain excited about wanting to work in your business long after they join. So I'm taking you through these 10 tips today. I explain how to make each of these tips actionable and effective in providing a great experience for your new team member. My name is Jess Coles and I've had a 25 year management career in corporate and household names through to SMEs. I personally have had some great welcomes as mentioned from places like Innocent Drinks and I've also had some really poor ones. A great welcome does make a big difference to the new team member. Do put in the effort and get the benefits from doing so. If you're new to this channel, enhance.training shares business and people management expertise to help you improve your performance and that of your team and business. If you like this video, please give it a thumbs up and subscribe. Tip 1 when planning how to welcome a new employee is to send them pre-reads before they start. When a person has gone to the trouble of applying, getting through the recruitment process and getting an offer from you, they should be excited about joining and starting a new chapter in their career. Your new team member is likely to have to work a notice period. Anywhere from one month to three months is typical, though notice periods can be a lot longer. A great way to keep up this excitement and to help them have a better start is to send them information about what is happening in the team and in the company so they can learn and feel part of the team before actually joining. Your examples of information include firstly company news, new product launches, custom wins etc. Secondly, team news, projects delivered, projects coming up and new customers they've just won and so forth. Thirdly, organisational charts, team bios or anything else to help them get to know the people that they'll be working with. Fourth, mini projects planned or being undertaken that the new joiner will be involved in. Fifth, information relevant to the new joiner's job. Sixth, team events, socials and any other opportunities for the new joiner to meet the team before starting officially. Keeping up contacts also reduces the risk of counter offers being successful and starts to build positive professional relationships early on. Don't just send over the boring official documentation such as the employee's manual or generic training or induction material. Make it personal to them, your team and their new job. Tip two when planning how to welcome a new team member is to introduce them within the company before they start. There is nothing worse than joining a company and most people have no idea who you are and what you are here to do. This really does not make you feel welcome at all. You want your new team member to feel welcome from day one with the current team knowing who they are and what they have joined to do. Even better is to provide a bit of information about your new joiner to your current team so they have some talking points to get the conversations going. So send one or a couple of emails out to your team and all the stakeholders are likely to come into contact with your new team member. Or if you work in a medium or small company, send it to all your staff. Introduce the new employee. Some of the things you could share as well as their name of course are firstly the position for which they're joining. Secondly, some of their key tasks, deliverables or projects. Thirdly, which company they're coming from. Fourth, any memorable stories about their hobbies, sports, interests, travels, etc, which will help team members remember them and start talking to them when they join. Fifth, some of their achievements from their CV. Sixth, a recent photograph. And seventh, anything else you think will be interesting to share. Share information that will help the current team. Firstly, learn about their new team member. Secondly, understand where they fit into the organization. Third, provide talking points. So speaking to them for the first time is a lot easier. And fourth, anything else to help build personal connections. Do ask the new employee if you're okay to share information before you do so. Even better is to get their help in drafting what you actually share. Tip three when planning how to welcome a new joiner is to get all the IT set up. Getting all the IT organized and working before a new employee starts is about presenting an organized welcoming company that demonstrates they care. You don't want your new team member having to chase around to get things sorted on the first day. So as a minimum, make sure the following are set up. Their email address and it's working. Secondly, their computer, that's both the hardware and all the software that needs to be put onto it. Third, their desk or mobile phones if they have them are working. Fourth, their access to the right systems and at the right levels are set up. And then fifth, anything else that's needed for them to do their job well from day one. And of course, make sure they have their desk set up and it's neat and tidy. Add any welcoming presence so they have a lovely surprise when turning up to their desk. Tip four when planning how to welcome a new employee is to ask them to start late on their first day. You're asked them to start at 9.30 AM instead of 9 AM on their first day. Give yourself and everyone else in the team a chance to get in and get settled. When your new employee arrives, your team will be ready to greet them properly without being distracted. And starting a little later also takes the pressure off your new joiner and gives them a more relaxed start to their new job. The days and weeks ahead are going to be busy and tiring enough for the new employee so give them an easier start. A later start also gives you a chance to remind the team that the new member is starting that day and gives you a chance to send out one last reminder email to the rest of the company and check everything is ready. First impressions count for a lot, so make sure everything is organized and ready. Tip five when planning how to welcome a new team member is to be there to greet them in person. Book out the starting time in your diary so you are available to greet them in person. Don't let others book you into meetings or call you away. Your relationship as manager to your new employee is very important. You want this professional relationship to start on the right foot and being there to greet them in person demonstrates that they are important, that you care and will put the effort in to support them. It will also be good if their immediate team members are also available and at their desk so you are able to introduce them in person as soon as they arrive. Give them a chance to settle in and have a bit of a chat with the other team members before kicking off within the induction plans. So tip six when planning how to welcome a new employee is to take them through the induction plan. Focus the induction plan on helping them get to know and start building relationships with colleagues and team members as quickly as possible. Starting to build these relationships are a lot more important than reading through the HR employee handbook or other official documentation. That background reading could be done later or as part of their homework. In the weeks leading up to your new team members starting, you should have been creating their induction plan, detailing out what activities are going to happen when and with whom. Again, focus on helping them build relationships and work out who to speak to about what area. Get them meeting as many relevant people throughout the business as possible. Book in these meetings into the new employee's calendar and also who they're meeting and make sure they happen. Talk your new joiner through the plan, explain why you have included what you have and answer any questions they have. Listen to any suggestions or requests that your new joiner makes. Their input can be really valuable too. Tip seven when planning how to welcome a new team member is to book time in to train them. No matter how experienced the new employee is, they will need some training on the systems you use and how to use them. You'll need to show them your company's way of doing things, what the rules and expectations are, what the meeting rhythms are and so on. If you have training materials, videos or other reference documents, make sure they have access to these, which will give them a clear instructions and make them self-sufficient as quickly as possible. Show them where to find all the information they need and how it is organised. Now could be a great time to introduce them to a buddy so they have another person responsible for helping them settle into the company as quickly as possible. A buddy should ideally be a peer. Set expectations out early and clearly. This ensures that the new joiner knows exactly what's needed and how they can meet those expectations. The training by you or other team members gives them the tools to meet the expectations set out. Tip eight when planning how to welcome a new employee is to organise lunch and coffees. Organise your current team members to individually or in pairs take out your new employee to lunch on the first day and over the first week or two. The aim is to help build good working relationships between your current team and the new joiner. It is also very nice touch to have team members looking after you over those first few weeks when you are trying to get your bearings, get to know people and how everything works. You as their manager should also book in a lunch or two with your new employee. The lunches don't have to be anything extravagant. Building relationships and looking after your new employee are the key aims. Arrange for other stakeholders outside your team to invite your new team member for coffee over the first few weeks. The coffee meetings could be part of a formal induction program or as part of a much more informal approach. Having an informal setting such as lunch or coffee gets the personal side of relationships building which is just as important as a professional side. Meetings in workplace settings such as meeting rooms are not as good for early relationship building in my view. Tip 9 when planning how to welcome a new employee is to plan a mini project. The purpose of planning a mini project is to give your new employee a project to keep them busy from the word go. Ideally it would be a mini project that firstly the new team member can own. Secondly that gets them into contact with a wide range of people. Third that asks a new employee to review and potentially challenge the status quo. New employees are perfectly positioned to look at the processes, ways of doing things and the rules are current in place with an unbiased eye. Use their natural questioning and openness at this stage to bring immediate benefits to the company. And be prepared to implement any sensible changes suggested through these mini projects. I mean what better way to create a sense of achievement for them and show the company's openness while getting great value from the process. Tip 10 when planning how to welcome a new employee is to book in a team social night. Social meetings with team members are great places to build positive and long lasting relationships. The more personalized settings allow team members to let their hair down more and get to know each other quicker. Building the personal side of relationships helps with the professional side of the relationship. Think of all the reasons behind all the team building exercises and offsite activities many companies run to build relationships between team members, which in turn increases trust and teamwork. Consider stopping work early on a Thursday or Friday and get the team to the local pub, bar or coffee shop or take them out, temping bowling or to crazy golf or to something fun. Make it as easy for everyone to attend as possible and enjoy it. So there you have 10 actionable tips when planning how to welcome a new employee in the best possible way to get them up and running as quickly as possible and adding value to you, the team and the company. As a quick reminder, the 10 tips are. Firstly, send them pre-reads before they start. Secondly, introduce them within the company before they start. Third, get all the IT set up. Fourth, ask them to start late on the first day. Fifth, greet them in person and send a welcome note. Sixth, take them through the induction plan. Seventh, book in time to train them. Eight, organize lunch and coffees. Nine, plan a mini project and ten, book in a team social night. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comment section below and I'll get back to you. Thanks very much for watching and I look forward to seeing you again soon.