Cognology
  • Products
    • 360 Degree Feedback
    • Competency Management
    • Compliance Training
    • Course Builder
    • Learning Management
    • Onboarding & Inductions
    • Performance Management
    • Profiles
    • Skills Management
    • Talent Management
  • Resources
    • Agile Performance Management
      • Balanced goals
      • How does performance management work?
      • How to write SMART goals and objectives
      • The Ultimate Guide To Agile Performance Management
      • What Remote Working Means for Performance Management, Plus 7 Other PM Trends
    • 360 Degree Feedback
      • What is 360 degree feedback?
      • How to run a 360 degree feedback process
      • 3 Easy Tips For Your 360 Feedback Questionnaire
    • Induction and Onboarding
      • Employee Onboarding Resources
      • Easy guide to a great Onboarding Process
      • Get the Onboarding Business Case Whitepaper
      • How To Switch From Face To Face New Hire Inductions To Online
      • Selecting an Onboarding System
      • Sample Orientation and Onboarding Program
      • Forms You Will Need For A New Employee In Australia
      • What Is Information Onboarding
    • Competencies & Skills
      • The Ultimate Guide To Competencies
      • What is a competency?
      • 7 reasons you should be using competencies
      • What is competency based assessment?
      • Competency Assessment Methods
      • Competency Assessment Template Form
      • Easy Guide to Competency Based Assessment Tools
      • Competency Management
      • What is skills audit?
      • How To Conduct a Skills Audit and Identify Skill Gaps
    • More about Performance Management
      • What is Performance Appraisal?
      • Performance Appraisal Template With Tips
      • What is performance management?
      • Social Performance Management Explained
      • What is talent management
    • Samples
      • SMART Goal Examples
      • Sample Goals and Objectives
      • Sample competencies
      • Sample competency review comments
      • Sample goal review comments
      • Sample development activities
      • Sample one-on-one check-in conversation notes
      • Sensitive items to avoid in feedback/comments
    • Learning & Coaching
      • A leaders guide to coaching
      • Coaching conversations
      • How to give feedback like a pro
      • How to conduct one on one meetings with team members
      • Seriously Good Learning and Development
    • More
      • Designing a Work-From-Home Policy: Where to Begin
      • How to Keep Employees Informed During a Crisis
      • How To Keep Staff Working From Home Productive
  • About
    • About Cognology
  • Ask Us Anything
  • Search
  • Menu Menu

10 Must Haves For Your Employee Welcome Pack

Most experienced leaders can tell you a story about the “one that got away”. The new hire that fell through at the last minute because they got a better offer, or because they got cold feet and decided to stay where they were.

From research and first hand experience, we know that initiating and maintaining communication immediately after the initial job offer can help ensure your new hire makes it to their first day of work.

The best way to welcome your new employee and make them feel a part of the team is with an Employee Welcome Pack. More than just a set of forms to fill in, the modern Employee Welcome Pack (also known as a New Employee Start Pack) is an entirely automated process. Delivered straight to your new hire’s inbox, it contains links to websites, wikis, blogs, company social media sites, and videos that describe and introduce your firm.

If you are reviewing your preboarding or thinking about automating it, here are Cognology’s top 10 must haves to include in your Employee Welcome Pack:

1. Personalised welcome messages
The welcome message says a lot about the personality of your company. For an elegant and formal touch, you could include a video message or a personalised letter from the CEO. Alternatively if you want to reflect a more fun and youthful vibe, you could enlist the help of the entire team to create humorous GIF’s or lighthearted videos. The options are endless, so get creative.

Employee Welcome Pack

2. Employment Contracts and New Employee Forms
Unfortunately, forms are a necessary evil. However, with onboarding software, employment paperwork can be completed, submitted and processed with minimal time and fuss.

This is also a great opportunity to provide your new employee with information about the benefits and perks they can take advantage of when they come to work for you.

3. Corporate History, Vision, Mission and Strategy

The key here is to keep it simple. Your goal should be to paint a picture of where your company started out and where it is headed in the future (in the most interesting way possible). That said, make sure to provide links to annual reports or strategy documents for those staff who are eager to learn more.

4. Culture and Values
Rather than just talk about the corporate values, think of ways you can show them at work. Photos and video footage of staff are a great way to convey the company culture in action. Real people relaying real stories about their jobs and experiences with the company.

5. Organisational Structure
Laying out the organisational map also tells your new hire a lot about your business. Is it hierarchical and structured? Or flat and fluid? Are there centralised functions? Most importantly, where does the new hire sit in this picture?

6. Onboarding Plan Overview
Sharing the onboarding plan with the new employee demonstrates that you have thought about their learning needs and gives them confidence that they will be supported through the transition into their new job. More than that, it tells the new hire that you value them as an individual.

7. Logins and Social Media Access
A computer login, email account and internal social media access immediately opens up communication, helps establish connections, and promotes a sense of belonging. Imagine your employee’s delight at finding an announcement on the company’s social media page about them starting with the firm.

8. Staff Profiles
Staff profiles help your recruit get to know their colleagues before they even start. In addition to contact details and a photo, employee profiles reveal a person’s work and educational background, areas of interest and expertise, hobbies, and recent social media activity.

It is amazing what your new hire will find they already have in common to talk about with their new team members.

9. General Information
To reduce first-day anxiety, provide your new recruit with some general information like:

  • office location and directions;
  • parking information;
  • details of facilities and shops in the area;
  • what they should wear; and
  • what they should bring on the first day.

10. Survey
Send your new hire a survey about their experience so far. Once again this will reinforce that you care about them as an individual and value their feedback.

Do Your Inductions and Onboarding Online

Get an obligation free trial of Cognology’s easy to use induction and onboarding system. See how you can make welcome packs a rich experience for new hires while improving tracking and reducing workload for HR.

GET A FREE TRIAL
LEARN MORE

Recommended

Onboarding screenshot

Onboarding Software

Automate welcome letters, compliance, forms, policies and contracts.

Get answers.

Guide to Onboarding

Easy Guide To A Great Onboarding Process Guide

90% of employees make the decision to stay with a company within the first year, so it’s vital to ensure onboarding is effective to reinforce engagement from day one.

Download the guide.

Employee success with Onboarding

New Research on Onboarding

Find out about research linking onboarding and employee success.

Learn more.

Recent Posts

  • Course Builder
  • 7 Trends Driving Change in the Skills Landscape
  • How HR Can Boost Talent Retention, According to New Research
  • The Worried and the Well: How to Boost Your Employees’ Wellness in a Time of Crisis
  • The Quick Pivot at ACSQ

Subscribe

Get our latest news, tip and tricks

Receive our occasional newsletter

Products | Pricing | Resources | Blog | About | Contact

© 2021 Cognology

© Copyright Cognology 2019
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
Onboarding Tasks You Shouldn’t Wait To AutomateAutomating Onboarding TasksOnboarding. Turning the tables on the traditional induction.
Scroll to top