The Hardest Day of your Career - the First Day of a New Job!
Newspapers are filled with bad things happening in the world. It put a smile on my face and warmed my heart to read a story last week about The University of Texas at Arlington.
James D. Spaniolo, President of the University, was wearing gray slacks and a navy polo shirt and was outside in the Texas heat while he welcomed new and returning students to campus. I am sure he was there with a big smile on his face as he said hello, shook hands and passed out blue-and-white bracelets that read “Be a Maverick” (the University slogan) to anyone who would take one.
Mr. Spaniolo wanted to show his appreciation and stated “The University wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for these students.”
Most employees dislike their first day of work on a new job. They have NO familiarity and a lot of companies these days aren’t that organized with new employees. If you ask new employees, they can’t wait to start month 2 or 3. I truly believe that if you start new employees off on the right foot, it will pay huge dividends in the long run by decreasing employee turnover.
My cousin Alan just started a new job with Monster Worldwide. I spoke to him last week and asked him how his first week was. He was beaming like a Christmas tree around the holidays! He said the training program was incredible and the execution was flawless and perfect. He wouldn’t have changed a thing. In fact he went on and on for my entire trip home which lasted over ten minutes.
It got me to think about what we do for our new staff.
- Do we do enough at M/A/R/C?
- Do people feel comfortable?
- How long are they a fish out of water?
Here are ten things we do on day 1 for all new employees:
- Make sure they meet with Human Resources within the first two hours to fill out all of their paperwork
- Have their business cards not only ordered but ready for them to start handing them out
- Make sure their work area is cleaned and filled with office supplies
- Make sure they are added to our email system and able to receive emails
- Have a computer—don’t laugh but a friend of mine didn’t have a computer for his first five weeks on the job
- Make sure their supervisor introduces them around the office
- Make sure their supervisor discusses their first two weeks of training and sets expectations
- Schedule a few people to take the new employee out to lunch
- Make sure they understand how to use our electronic timecard system
- They are informed that after 100 days they will be asked to fill out a new employee survey. This is very important to our senior management team and is used as a springboard for additional strategy and also to refine the program.
Some of these things are very basic—in fact very, very basic. But you would be surprised as to how many companies don’t do much at all.
Do we do enough? I will let our staff be the judge of that.
What do you do?
September 27th, 2006 at 2:18 pm
You might also add that if there are going to be any terminations, you should, buy all means, try to get those out of the way prior to a new employee coming into the office.
I worked at an agency several years ago in which the owner, who was a nice person, brought in a new receptionist (one of the most important people in the office — this person is your front line account manager and responsible for the first impression many people form about your business).
The same day the receptionist was trying to figure out how the phone system worked, the boss terminated another employee. She knew beforehand that she was going to have to terminate that person. To do so on the same day you bring in a new employee gives that employee a rather shaky start.
Being the newbie is bad enough without having to watch someone go out the door on the first day. Give these folks a break.
October 3rd, 2006 at 8:32 am
On my first day on the job at Bristol Myers’ Market Research Department, I was told; suits, no sport jackets and no wing tipped shoes!! Boy things have changed…!!
ed case
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:53 pm
One new hire policy that works well for us is a buddy system. Each new team member is paired up with a peer for the purpose of learning how we operate as a department and an organization.
It can often be confusing and or intimidating to start a job in a large organization and this system makes it easy to know who to ask questions or to point you in the right direction.
Pam
October 3rd, 2006 at 3:28 pm
Upon taking a new position a couple of years ago, the company went through a rigorous informational session that first day, discussing health care programs, 401K, etc.
But when I got to my desk for the first time, I did not know how to use
their phone system….either how to make internal calls, outside calls or
long distance calls.
Don’t laugh…..
It took me 3 days before I received a list of internal extensions for my own department.
Companies need to go back to the basics of what a new employee really needs. It’s the little things that cause the stress for a “newbie”.
October 3rd, 2006 at 10:41 pm
Was this a set-up? I started with MARC this week, and yes, it’s been one of my best new job experiences.
I’d like to suggest another requirement… positioning the new hire to the current work force. I had an uncomfortable first few months once, as the existing staff was not highly valued and the new staff was hyped as people who were going to “turn around the department” (the department built by the existing over-worked group). The barriers in place before I walked in the door made for a rough beginning, though we worked through it in time.
Make sure your existing staff understands the need for the new hire, so they can be as excited as the new employee and hiring manager.