Don’t neglect this important part of your company’s hiring process

You’ve reviewed dozens (or hundreds!) of applications. You have done your homework with background screening. And you’ve just hired a great employee. Now comes an aspect of the hiring process that’s often neglected: Onboarding a new hire.

Why is the process of onboarding a new hire so important? Even that first hour a new hire spends at your company can shape the future course for your new staff member. Get it right from the get-go with these five new-hire how-tos:

1. Send an electronic welcome packet, which will ease a new hire’s first-day jitters. Don’t e-mail a tome, but do include instructions on where to go, what to wear and who to go to once the new hire walks through the door on day one. If you also distribute a code of conduct to all new hires, you’re more likely to head off future conflicts in the workplace.
2. Don’t leave a new hire waiting for instructions. Once your new employee arrives, pair that person with an existing high-performing employee – someone who understands the company’s mission and culture. New employees will tend to model the attitudes and behaviors of those first company workers with whom they interact.
3. Give the new employee freedom to tweak processes that belong in that person’s domain. For example, if the previous employee sorted work documents in a particular way, but the new hire has a comparable, yet different, way of handling workflow, let loose the reins. Self-empowerment has proven to be a powerful productivity incentive.
4. Ensure a light workload those first few days. Don’t ever dump a foot-high stack of papers on a new hire’s desk with a hearty, “Here you go!” Those words might become a prophecy, as the new employee walks out the door in frustration, never to return.
5. Create an atmosphere of hospitality. In the U.S., people tend to skimp on social protocols, compared to other cultures. Yet, first meetings often set the tone going forward when the new hire seeks clues as to what social mores are expected in the office. Spell out some of these ‘unwritten’ rules. For example, let the new hire know right away that Fridays are dress-down days, so they don’t show up in a suit and tie, while everyone else is feasting on barbecue in the break room! Consider having lunch with the new hire the first week to answer any questions or concerns they may have.