How do you settle a new employee when their first day and week, even their first few months, is filled with stress and anxiety? How do you make this adjustment period easier for both your new employee and existing team while you help your new hire acclimate into their position? While there are many tricks and tips to onboarding employees effectively, we’ve put together this quick list particularly focusing on the most brilliant (and cheap) pieces of advice.
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How do you settle a new employee?
1) Have them start on a Friday
A brilliant way to settle a new employee is to get them to start their new position on a Friday. On a Monday, your existing employees might feel stressed out by the pressure to get their work done while also trying to greet the new employee, but on a Friday, everyone will have more time to step away from their desks without worrying about their productivity. With a full 48 hours ahead of your new hire to properly recharge and transition into their new role, instead of a full week, there will be less pressure, stress, and anxiety on their first day. }
2) Take them to lunch
It may seem like common sense when you think how do you settle a new employee, but it’s worth a mention about how important this is. If the manager takes the time to have a one-on-one lunch with the new employee, this speaks volumes about how much they value them as a member of the team. This first impression will be what the employee carries throughout their position at your firm, so make it a good one. Take the chance to start a strong foundation for your relationship moving forward; make them feel special and let them ask you all the questions that they need to. (Discover the 4 key things you need to do to onboard your new member of staff so they get up to speed quickly)
3) Create a staff cheat sheet for them
A brilliant and cheap method to welcome new employees is to create a ‘get to know the staff’ cheat sheet for them. One of the most anxiety-producing concerns of a new employee is meeting a lot of new people, all of which already know each other, within their first few days, so if you can make this as easy as possible for them then they will instantly feel a lot more at ease. Again, this makes a great first impression and make your employee feel welcome within the existing team.
Need help with your onboarding? Download our “free new employee onboarding checklist” here.
4) Implement a mentorship system
It may take a while for this strategy to really work but when it does, the benefits are huge. The most effective onboarding processes all utilise the mentorship system. This is where every new hire is assigned with a company mentor. The idea is that the new employee has someone experienced to show them the ropes and learn about the company culture as well as somebody to turn to when they feel overwhelmed, while the mentor has the opportunity to sharpen their own skills and the benefits that come with new responsibilities. Numerous studies have shown that 88% of employees are more satisfied with their jobs when given active roles in collaboration and knowledge sharing so this really is a win-win situation when done right!
5) Put together useful welcome gift packs
Another brilliant strategy which will help you to improve your onboarding process generally is to develop a welcome gift pack system. Either you can create general gift packs that will be given out to new employees or you can make a tradition where the last employee who joined the team is responsible for giving the newest member a gift pack of welcoming treats. The gift pack could be filled with useful office supplies, tea bags or coffee, chocolates or snacks and/or decorations for the newbie’s desk. Anything personal to make the new employee feel welcome.
6) Create a database of FAQs
When you’ve onboarded a few employees to your small accounting firm, you’ll soon find that they tend to ask very similar questions in their first week. The solution? Create a shared document which serves as a database of frequently asked questions. This is brilliant because it saves you the time and frustration of answering the same things over and over again, plus it comforts your new employee having something that they can refer to when they feel they need it.(Find out the 6 things your staff want from your firm, to stay and thrive)
7) Utilise your existing employees
As your accounting firm grows, you’ll want to improve and define your onboarding process and one of the best ways to do so is to seek advice from your existing employees. They’ve been through the process before, so what did they think on their first day and week with the company? What could you have done to make them feel more welcome and at ease? By asking your employees questions about their experience, you can get some completely new ideas for how to improve and grow your firm whilst also making them feel more a part of your growth and success too.
Be creative when welcoming new hires
As promised, these are 7 brilliant and cheap ways to settle a new employee! Brilliant because they make your employee feel instantly at ease but also because they help you to create a more streamlined and effective onboarding process for the future! You can always improve this aspect of your firm, so keep asking your existing employees for their opinions and implement the changes to see better results.
If you don’t know where to start, don’t forget to download our “free new employee onboarding checklist” to help you.