NEW EMPLOYEE INTEGRATION2

Nearly 28% of new employees quit inside 90 days of employment due to poor onboarding procedures. Effective onboarding increases retention rates and employee satisfaction and lowers stress on both the employee and employer ends. These techniques should extend beyond the training period of the new hires. New ways to support employees should be actively sought out to ensure the continuation of employee satisfaction. This document serves as a guide on how to best integrate new employees and induct them as a member of your company family.

Welcome Packages

Welcome packages offer a positive introduction to workplace environments. This is an opportunity to integrate company culture and important information into a reward for new employees. Welcome packages do not need to be expensive and might include a greeting card signed by managers, new breath mints, and small ‘thank you’ cards to promote employee recognition throughout all departments in the hospital. These gifts give subtle nods to your company culture. Showing new hires your culture on day-one of their new job is important, as your company culture will likely play a large role in guiding the company’s decision-making processes. Examples and advice on building welcome packages for new employees can be found here.

Introduce Your New Employees

Share the value that your new hire(s) will bring to the hospital or specific department. If your established team knows why you chose a particular candidate, it may allow for an easier integration process for the new employee. This can be done through a group email or in your next team meeting. Providing background information such as years of experience, their degree, any professional certifications, special talents, hobbies, their new role in the office, and a brief statement of why you are confident in their ability to perform this job can increase employee morale and make the transition special for the new hire. Connect them with any social media pages your company has, and where possible, play team building games. Most games can be done in online meetings as well.

Social Events Outside of the Workplace

Social gatherings outside of work are a good way for candidates and new hires to see your company culture in action. This seemingly simple act can lower stress in new employees, mitigate your turnover rates, build healthy relationships between current and new employees, and promote team building. These gatherings might also be a good place to start learning how your new hire(s) best receive appreciation. The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace Quiz is a good resource to start understanding how your employee receives and gives appreciation. There are many ways for these social events to be held in-person or online. 

Create an Individual Development Plan (IDP) Partnership

An individual development plan partnership helps employees improve their job performance. Learning a new hire’s aspirations and what motivates them can be a great opportunity to align their goals with those of the hospital. Some employees have a passion for doing certain things such as organizing, while others prefer patient interactions and would enjoy making follow-up calls to patients. Understanding their aspirations will help them flourish. This is also a great time to outline the first 90 days of the new hire’s job. Clear and concise expectations of organized, realistic plans should be available for the employee. Writing down a schedule of what the new hire(s) should be learning, observing, and doing each day can help the employee stay on track with new information. Meeting with them at the end of each day to track their progress can aid in filling in the holes where they may have questions and need further guidance.

Shadowing/ Mentoring

Immersive, hands-on training is more engaging than reading guides and watching training videos. Shadowing and mentoring can be an effective way to adjust new hires quickly and help them understand subtle nuances of an occupation by seeing how an experienced employee completes similar tasks. Assigning the mentor can be another way for new hires to be integrated into already established teams and grasp the goals of the company. This mentor should either be able to answer questions for the new hire(s) or have the knowledge of who to contact for the new hire(s) to get answers. Ideally, this mentor should also be able to have lunch with the new employee, and if they cannot, a manager should.