As your small business grows, you’ll hire more employees. In order to make them feel welcome and help them adjust to their new surroundings, here are a few things you can do to help the process along.
1. Welcome The New Employee Yourself. Whether you interviewed the new hire or not, make sure to greet her on her first day. Introduce her to key staff she’ll be working with and make sure she knows your door is always open.
2. Assign an Ambassador. Rather than plopping your new employee down at her desk and have her review company material (classic move for a company who really hasn’t planned out training for new hires), assign someone to show her the ropes her first weeks. It should be someone who works in the same department who can show her how to perform her role.
3. Talk to Your Team. Make sure the team that the new hire will join is aware of the new person joining their ranks, and make sure they are clear on what her responsibilities will be. This can help avoid confusion and keep them from dumping extra work on her.
4. Make Sure She Gets Taken to Lunch. You might not have time to take her to lunch (and she’s better off with her peers than the company owner or President), but make sure someone offers to take her to lunch. That will give her plenty of opportunity to get the dirt on the company.
5. Check In Often. Don’t forget about your new employee after her first week. If you pass her in the hall, ask her casually how work is going. Then schedule a meeting after a month to ensure she’s on track to understanding her responsibilities and to make sure she’s getting along with everyone.
And remember: having a clear cut training policy in place is key for helping new hires understand their roles in your company. Make sure your human resources manager has the tools he needs to create training for each role in each department.
Susan Payton is the President of Egg Marketing & Communications, an internet marketing firm specializing in marketing communications, copywriting and blog posts. She’s written two books: 101 Entrepreneur Tips and Internet Marketing Strategies for Entrepreneurs, and blogs for several sites, including The Marketing Eggspert Blog, as well as Mashable, Small Business Trends, FutureSimple, BizLaunch and Lead411. Follow her on Twitter @eggmarketing.
