Written By: Mary Gwyn | The people experience for new hires doesn’t start their first day on the job! There’s a potential big black hole between the time the offer letter is accepted and the employee’s first day. What you do during that gap can make a big difference in how long you retain someone, and maybe even whether they actually show up on day 1!
After the offer letter is accepted there’s the business of hiring: the drug screening appointment, silence while background checks are done, and then a confirmation of a start date. Don’t think for a minute that acceptance by the candidate and silence for 2 weeks from you is the end of a prospective employee’s hunt for a job! While you’re moving paperwork and trying to survive the vacancy till the new hire starts, he/she is continuing to receive calls/emails from the other organizations. In fact, if they searched on Indeed or another platform, their resume is still being pushed to many different employers who have anything close to a match to your open position and their resume! At this point that person you want to hire is yours to lose!
So it's not a surprise that 1 out of 5 new hires doesn’t show up on the 1st day!
How do you change that? Take a few of these simple steps and WOW them! Woo, Overcommunicate And Win Them!
Woo them!
- Send a welcome email from the person who hired him/her – don’t back out and let HR do everything from here!
- Send pictures and fun bios of their future teammates
- Send a video of the team welcoming the new person by name
- If there’s a resident event send pics!
- If there’s a special resident – you know, the “Mayor” of your community, have them welcome the new hire too!
Overcommunicate – you can’t really, but try!
- In advance send the employee handbook
- Send the forms package and have an online way they can docusign
- Have HR call at least once and ask if they have questions about anything!
- Have a team member call or email with where to park, what to wear day one, area restaurants as well as what is on site (refrigerator, microwave, etc.) and other special things they should know
Win them
- Send some company swag, a ballcap, a t-shirt
- Send a handwritten note signed by the whole team
- Send flowers, chocolates, maybe even a gift card to a restaurant near the property
- Send a box that pops open and a balloon pops out or a spring with a note that says you can’t wait to have them on board
- Invite them to a lunch or breakfast so they can meet team members before they start
These are just a few ideas to W.O.W. your new hire and do your best to make sure that person starts and starts well! You don’t have to do everything, but to guarantee they start you better do something! What ideas do you have to help guarantee a great people experience even before they start?
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