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Welcome to episode 5 of Claire Shares. I’m so glad you’re here. I’m going to be sharing with you high energy, bite size videos, about all things talent attraction, talent acquisition and talent retention. On previous episodes, we talked about workplace communication processes and new hire onboarding which tie in closely to today’s topic as well. Be sure to check them out if you missed it!
Today’s topic is positive new hire communication. Before we get started with that, I want to share with you my recommendation of the week!
Recommendation of the week
I’ve been loving engaging in HR focused slack channels lately. One I love in particular is the PeoplePeople Slack channel, hosted and managed by HR Chief. Picture the biggest, most bustling office party – that’s PeoplePeople, with over 10,000 members! Founded in 2016, it currently hosts the largest and most active Slack group not run by an HR software company. PeoplePeople gives HR, People Ops, and Recruiting professionals a place to ask questions, share best practices, and learn from one another. I’m in there each week networking and answering questions. Search for us online or send me a message and I’ll send you the information to join! I love to curate resources and share recommendations, so please reach out to me if there’s something you’re looking for.
What do I mean by positive new hire communication?
Let’s get into our talent topic of the day, positive new hire communication. What do I mean by positive new hire communication? When someone joins your organization, they don’t know anything about how work gets done in your company. What they should know, who they should know, where to go for information, things like that. Thinking about all of the touch points necessary for your new hire within their first 90 days, contributes to positive communication and a positive experience which has a direct impact on employee retention. I’m about to share with you some of my favorite ways to engage and communicate with new hires, to give them the best joining experience possible. As we go through today’s topics, you can also think of this from the perspective of your current employees who may not be new anymore. When was the last time they had a check in with their manager or received some recognition for example? Getting started with these simple but actionable tips can make a huge impact and help prevent someone from leaving the organization. Here’s why this is worth investing in. You just spent so much time, effort, and probably money to find the person you want for this role and they just started with you. The communication and touch points during their first 30-90 days is critical for talent retention.
Let’s start with some basics
When someone joins your company, make sure they are invited to all necessary company and team meetings, and added on to all meeting invites. I know I hate as a new person finding out that I missed an important meeting that would have been helpful, I didn’t even know about it! It’s happened to me before.
I also highly recommend managers set up 1:1 meetings with their new hire. What’s worked well for me in the past is to meet with my new hire once a day, at the end of the day, for 30-60 minutes, during their first week. Then we move to a standing 1:1 weekly meeting. It may make sense to keep that 1:1 meeting indefinitely, or maybe another cadence makes sense such as biweekly or monthly. Maybe after the new hires first 30-90 days, regular meetings aren’t needed anymore. It can definitely depend on the role and the individual. In the beginning, it’s better to meet more, than less. In a previous organization I’ve worked for, a manager came to me to share that their new hire was having performance and behavior issues within the first 30 days. We narrowed that down to being caused by a lack of time with the manager. They did not have set 1:1 meeting time each week. This time is necessary to give positive reinforcement on good things, but also squash bad habits, performance or behavior. It’s hard for people to know what is expected of them if it’s not over communicated in the beginning. We can’t assume that someone new in our organization should know the expectations. Again, during these 1:1s between the new hire and manager, is a great time for the manager to share specific praise and what the new hire is doing well. Specifically stating something you’ve noticed that the individual has done well, helps them to keep doing it.
Additional positive communication methods
Aside from giving praise during a 1:1 meeting, Microsoft Teams also has a cool Praise feature, where you can send someone kudos with a fun graphic and thank them. If you’re not a Microsoft house, check out if this type of functionality exists in the communication or collaboration tool you use at your workplace. If you don’t have a chat or messaging tool, you can always create a fun and quick thank you graphic on Canva, that can be sent via text or email.
These meetings are also a great time to reinforce company values, and encourage them in action. For example, if your team is used to challenging each other in a healthy way to grow and improve, explain the importance of this cultural aspect, and either give an example of it in action, or tell them to look out for that in action during the next team meeting. On the flip side, be sure to address performance, behavior or attendance issues you have noticed that aren’t acceptable, and reset expectations. Sometimes we may want to ask a question to figure out why that took place and allow the new hire to share. In my experience, their answer is typically they just didn’t know yet that they were doing something the wrong way and were grateful for the communication so they could correct it.
From an HR side, once your new hire starts, consider meeting with them at 30, 60 and 90 days to check in. You likely built rapport with the new hire as part of the recruiting process, before they even met their manager, so hopefully these meetings help you get honest feedback from them about how onboarding is going. It’s also a great time to offer support, answer any questions, ensure they completed their new hire benefits enrollment or any other HR tasks. And again, this is a great time to reinforce company values, expectations, and get them on board early with company involvement. Maybe that’s attending the company provided breakfast on the first Thursday of the month, or engaging with the company’s posts on LinkedIn. You may have heard the saying that people need to hear a piece of information 7 times before they really comprehend it. Be sure to keep this in mind with your new hires. There are likely key benefits, company information or role information you want to reiterate throughout those first 30 to 90 days.
Remember that small, thoughtful actions build trust. Get creative. Depending on the role, and your company, it may make sense to encourage teammates check in with the new hire, or to assign a buddy. Here’s another idea: give your meetings a change of scenery. Here at Lighthouse, we like to take our meetings on a walk, in the Seneca One courtyard outside, or down to the lobby. And remember, as a manager, check in with your team when there are big events gong on globally, as it may be impacting mental health. Listening IS an action. You don’t have to do anything, but just offering the space to be there for them and listen shows a lot of care.
As always, be sure to think about the people, process and technology involved in positive new hire communication. Map out what those touch points should be, who needs to be involved, and how the message will be delivered. This week, think about your new hire’s communication experience, through the lens of employee retention, and then the people, process and technology involved to make that a positive experience. Thank you for being here with me and joining me for these bite size videos all about all things talent attraction, talent acquisition and talent retention. These areas of HR and People Ops are my favorite and specialty, and I’m so excited to dive in with you. This work is what I do, if you need help with the tools, technology, and process around how you attract, acquire and retain talent, reach out to me and let’s talk!
Claire is Coaching 