The Welcome Pack

Jan 15, 2016
2 min read

I have been working for the last ten years and sadly to say all the companies I have worked for has lacked in this area. Yes, of course when you start at a company you will have the basic intro to the company and a handover from the current employee who is on his or her way out and if you lucky enough you might even score a free lunch! But is this enough?

Studies have shown that preparing a well put together welcome pack and making the employee feel part of the team increases productivitiy and shows the employee that you value them.

What is a welome pack and what should go inside one?

A welcome kit is similar to a survival kit and should not be confused witht the Human Resource / Operations Manual. The survival kit should consist of to much info but rather with the basics to get an employee started. The Human Resource/Operations Manual will have a more in depth approach about the operations and how the company is run. When it comes to the kit you can be creative and add your own things to it. I have listed a few of the basics below with a few optional items.

A note book
A pen or two (Always nice to have a black & a blue pen)
Stapler
File
A list of passwords (Office, Computer, Wi-Fi)
A personal collage of all employees with images, names, titles, emails, contact numbers and maybe even add a sentence or two about each ones personal life ie: hobbies, pets, family.

Optional items:

A flash drive - this can include the Human Resource/Operations Manual, Event Calendar, Infor about their role etc.
Post-its
Ear phones
Dictionary

Here are a few tips on additional things to do to welcome new employees:

Send a welcome email cc'ing the new employee to the team
Assign a work buddy (someone friendly and bubbly)
Plan an office tour
Place a desk gift on the new employees desk ie: an ornament, flowers, Water bottle etc.

Have a welcome lunch - it might be nice to have a lunch where the entire company is invited but if that gets to costy I suggest only inviting the direct supervisor and the assigned buddy.
Get to know your employee by having them fill out a sheet on their hobbies / religion / family life and you can do special things around their info.