Engaged people make a huge impact on your bottom line. This extends to your new hires! Engaging new hires before their start date is a critical process often overlooked by hiring managers and organisations.
Put yourself in your new hires shoes. Starting somewhere new can be a little intimidating! Engaging your new hires before they start helps ease their nerves and shows them you care. This not only familiarises them with you, your people, culture and organisation, but helps you maintain your competitive edge. According to Stuart Hearn reporting for TLNT, this goes a long way in reducing employee turnover, as “we see a 22% new employee attrition rate within the first 45 days.”
“So how do you encourage your top new recruits to retain their level of excitement following a job offer? This can be particularly difficult if the notice period is long. If there is little to no communication between your company and your new recruit, it’s very possible their enthusiasm will start to dwindle and disappear altogether.”
To ensure the new people you’re bringing on board remain interested, informed, and enthusiastic about their new role and organisation, here are a few simple and effective ways to engage your them before they even get their name badge.
Have your CEO welcome the new recruit with a personalised message
Your CEO and leadership team play an important role in employee engagement. Leaders represent the company, so when an employee knows them, they feel more connected to your organisation and values.
“Increasingly, employees want to work for companies with good values and ethics — they also want their leaders to embody these ethics. If your new employees don’t hear anything from your CEO and simply regard them as a nameless, faceless, and personality-less entity, they will ultimately feel less involved in the business. To get things off on the right foot, share a personalised welcome from the CEO and create a sense of connection with your new recruits. This can be followed up with a one-on-one catch up in their first week.”
Prepare an induction plan and a welcome pack
Pre-boarding is essential. This means creating an onboarding plan for your people, including how they’ll spend their first day. Preparing in this way enables your new people to focus on their roles and build valuable workplace relationships.
Creating a welcome pack keeps your employees excited and helps relieve any nerves. It also shows them you’re considerate, thinking of them, planning for their arrival, and helping them understand their new role and organisation.
It’s a great idea to include the names and emails or LinkedIn profiles of the people they will be in regular contact with so they can contact them prior to their first day if they would like.
Also include a handbook about your organisational values and culture if you have one.
“Include a copy of your business newsletter and invite them to any upcoming social activities, which will give them an opportunity to meet their new colleagues and develop relationships early.”
Engage your new recruits on social media
Invite new candidates to connect with you on your organisation social networks, which they can do after they’ve submitted notice to their previous employers.
Engage them in conversation. This is a quick, effective way to ensure your new recruits form a connection with your organisation
If you use a group communication tool, such as Slack, consider setting them up on the platform early. This encourages social interaction and gives them a better idea about the inner workings of your organisation.
Promote your organisation values
Employees value organisations with strong, authentic values, especially if they align with their own! Because of this, your organisational values should be visible and transparent on your website and social channels. This is a crucial aspect of strengthening your employer brand.
Do you have an organisational values video, or a video that highlights your work culture? Share this with them, and provide them with insights as to your culture, workplace activities and whether or not you offer any social activities. This is a great way to get your employees excited about their first day and to encourage a feeling of belonging.
Add other initiatives as you see fit. Do you have an upcoming social event you can invite them to? Do you have a virtual walk-through of your office space? Or other brochures, collateral or videos you can share with them? Engaging your new hires before they start keeps them warm and excited. It’s a great way to build and engaged workforce and strong employer brand.
Source
How to engage your new hires before they start
Stuart Hearn
TLNT