That time between an employee signing an offer letter and their first day on the job is an untapped opportunity for managers to eliminate anxiety, develop a direct line of communication, and ensure new employee success!
Consider this scenario: You just received a call from the recruiter you've been working with - congratulations, you got the job! Woohoo!! The salary looks good, you connect with the mission of the company, and you are so excited to get started. But then you remember, you still need to give a 2-weeks notice to your current employer and of course you've got that two week vacation you negotiated before you get started. So after a few days, the initial excitement of the job offer starts to fade and you start feeling a little anxious - will I be able to do the job, will I fit in, will I like my new manager... The Sunday scaries start and you haven't even had your first day yet!
I don't know about you but I go through this emotional rollercoaster ever time I start a new job. It's completely normal! It's scary to uproot your routines & relationships to move on to a new job and work environment. These feelings are inevitable for most of us and are often overlooked by employers and/or managers. Many managers think that onboarding a new hire starts on their first day. WRONG! Onboarding begins the moment an employee signs an offer letter. The moment that happens, they are now part of your team and community. And if you want to truly set your employee up for success, and ultimately make YOUR job easier, complete the six item onboarding checklist for managers outlined below!
Definition
Pre-onboarding is the time between an employee signing an offer letter and their first day. Often times, this is a period where new hires taking care of bureaucratic details before their start date. Think updating your address, setting up your banking details for payroll purposes, making tax elections, etc. This is different from onboarding, which is where an employee is introduced to the company culture, operations, and product offerings once they officially start their role.
Leveraging this pre-onboarding period between offer and first day is a strategic moment for managers to solidify the new hire's commitment to the organization, shorten ramp-up time to productivity, and ensure a smooth first day experience.
But thinking of pre-onboarding as strictly tactical, and not transformational, is a mistake. Leveraging this period between offer and first day is a strategic moment for managers to solidify the new hire's commitment to the organization, shorten ramp-up time to productivity, and ensure a smooth first day experience. This is also a critical time to ease anxieties and get team members excited for their new opportunity.
Why Managers Should Complete a Pre-Onboarding Checklist
As a manager, your job is to set your employees up for success and then let them shine. You can get off to a strong start by investing time in the pre-onboarding process. By engaging your employees from the moment they sign an offer letter, you are beginning to foster a culture of engagement which has huge benefits.
Research from Gallup shows that having an engaged workforce has massive impact on employee performance. There is a 41% lower absenteeism rate among engaged employees. There is 40% fewer defects in products when employees are engaged. And there is 21% higher profitability at organizations with an engaged workforce.
Pre-onboarding can help reduce the anxiety and jitters that many of us feel leading up to our first day at a new job.
We also see social-emotional benefits when we invest in engagement during the pre-onboarding experience. Pre-onboarding can help reduce the anxiety and jitters that many of us feel leading up to our first day at a new job. It can also start the relationship building process early so your new employees can begin to form community and feel a sense of belonging. You can also begin the process of sharing relevant first-day information with your team members so they can feel confident and excited to start with your organization.
Checklist: Top 6 Pre-Onboarding Activities for Managers to Complete
I've spent the last 15 years onboarding new hires and coaching managers on how to successfully welcome team members to organizations. I have compiled an onboarding checklist for managers that includes the top 6 high-impact activities that every manager should complete for a strong pre-onboarding experience.
1. Congratulate After Offer Letter is Signed
As soon as your new hire signs their offer letter, congratulate them and let them know you are excited they will be joining your organization! This could be done via email or text. Or even better, give them a call and share in their excitement. Doing this helps your new hire know that you care about them and that you value them - you can't wait to get started working together! It also sets a precedence and expectation surrounding communication. This subtly communicates to your new employee that you are a strong communicator that is available and communicates regularly (this is something most employees need).
2. Draft a 30-60-90 Day Onboarding Plan & Share
Putting together a comprehensive 30-60-90 day onboarding plan for your new hire AND sharing it with them before their first day is HUGE! If you aren't familiar, a 30-60-90 day onboarding plan outlines what tasks, meetings, and responsibilities your new employee has for their first 90 days on the job. The first 30 days will be more detailed (what meetings to attend, what colleagues to meet with, who is going to be training them on their specific job functions, etc.) whereas days 30-90 are less structured, but no less important. Admittedly, this is a lot of work for a manager - it takes time to think through all the logistics and details. However, with big effort comes big reward. By creating a 30-60-90 day onboarding plan and sharing with your employee before their first day, you show that you care, you are organized, and you are prepared for their arrival. This helps new employees feel excited for their new role AND helps to solidify a new hire's commitment to your organization.
3. Schedule Day 1 Lunch
The first day at a new job, a lot of employees don't know if they should bring their lunch, if there are restaurants near the office, or even if they will even get a scheduled lunch (especially if virtual). By scheduling time on the employee's first day for you and the employee to sit down and have a meal, you help alleviate lunch anxiety for the new employee and it provides you an opportunity to build rapport and a relationship with your new team member. It's also just a nice gesture; it shows you care. Hot tip: for virtual employees, send a gift card to a food delivery service so they can order food and have it arrive to their home on their first day; then you can do your day 1 lunch virtually!
4. Send Company Handbook
Before the employee's first day, send them a separate email sharing with the company's Employee Handbook or Culture Book. This is another touchpoint where you can continue to keep the new hire's excitement going while at the same time sharing some important information about the organization. Encourage your new hire to peruse the document before their first day. And to personalize the communication, highlight a section or two of the handbook that you think they would appreciate. For example, if they asked you about the PTO policy during the interview process, highlight what page the PTO policy is on so they can read that section. This continues to build the momentum before a new hire's first day.
5. Prepare Your Team & Encourage LinkedIn Love
Before your new hire arrives on day 1, take time to prepare your current team for their new colleague's arrival. Share with your current team the name and start date of the new hire and a brief background on the team member. Share how excited you are for them to join the team. One thing I love doing is encouraging team members to love bomb the new employee on LinkedIn before they join. What I mean by this is to share the new employee's LinkedIn Profile with the team and encourage them to connect with the new hire on LinkedIn and send them a nice welcome message. This helps the new hire feel important and lets them know that the whole team is excited for them to join.
6. Assign a New Hire Ambassador
Sometimes when a new hire joins the company, they have questions they want to ask but would rather ask a colleague vs their manager. Like maybe they want to know the PTO policy, the holiday schedule, or culturally how people use Slack. Providing new hires with a peer who is a cultural ambassador gives them a structured way to ask questions they may be uncomfortable asking their manager. This serves double duty as it also helps facilitate the relationship building process. I always encourage the assigned ambassador to reach out the new hire before their first day to say hello and introduce themselves.
Pre-Onboarding Makes YOUR Job Easier as a Manager
The six steps I've outlined above aren't rocket science, but they do take time. I know all managers are busy trying to manage a team, get their day-to-day responsibilities completed, and manage a healthy work-life balance. But if you are able to create a working environment that fosters employee engagement, you are going to find that your life gets easier. Your employees will be more productive, make fewer mistakes, and exceed your performance expectations. So I know it's a lot of work (I get it!!!) BUT if you take the time to congratulate a new employee when they sign their offer, craft a thoughtful 30-60-90 day onboarding plan, schedule day 1 lunch, send the Employee or Culture Handbook, prepare your team, and assign a new hire ambassador, you will create a great experience for your employee. But more importantly, you'll create an engaged work environment which will make your job easier!
The Growth Edge Project Can Help!
Do you or your company need help building out a thoughtful pre-onboarding and/or onboarding program? At the Growth Edge Project, we build and design Employee Engagement & Retention Programs to support the entire employee lifecycle. Specifically, we partner with businesses to develop comprehensive new hire onboarding programs to accelerate ramp-up and integrate employees into an organization's culture. Our programs are tailored specifically to an organization’s culture, products, and industry. Engaging with the Growth Edge Project allows you to sit back and let us do the work to develop a program from a to z, with onboarding session topics including: culture, founding story, industry, business operations, customers, product, engagement, and much more!
Additionally, if you'd like to meet directly with me, Jordan King, Founder & Principle at the Growth Edge Project, I offer 1:1 Manager Coaching as well as 1:1 People/HR Advising. Follow those links to book a time with me directly.
Keep your eye on the Growth Edge Project website for great manager resources, including guides and templates for onboarding new employees (coming soon!).
Make it a great one!
Jordan
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