Woohoo! The interview process is finally done! Your offer letter has been accepted, a start date has been confirmed and your new employee is ready to roll. Here's how to make them feel like part of the team from Day 1.

A Great Welcome Letter

A welcome letter, either sent electronically prior to or on the first day, is a great way to communicate with your new employee.

The welcome letter can be as simple or complex as you like. In it, you can simply say “welcome!” and reiterate how excited you are for your new candidate to join the team.

You may also use the welcome letter to introduce a mentor, outline your expectations for a specific project and do some minor housekeeping notes. As silly as it may seem, you might outline the dress code, explain where the bathroom is and direct your new employee to your HR person for other onboarding details.

Outreach from The Team

Once your employee has signed an offer letter, encourage some of her coworkers to reach out. If you hired a junior graphic designer, have the senior graphic designers reach out via email. In these emails, they can offer advice, share some of their experiences and encourage your new employee to reach out with any questions prior to her first day.

This small detail will give your new employee an immediate sense of belonging. In addition to communication, these interactions will also give your new employee a first taste of what the company culture is like. By communicating with the team before the first official day, your employee can take the initiative to familiarize herself with the big players.

When your new employee arrives on her first day, she will already be ahead of the game, having communicated with her coworkers via email or Facebook.  

Assign A Mentor

Form a relationship between your new employee and more experienced, senior employee. A mentor will guide your new employee in more than one way. Choose a mentor within your new employee’s department. If you can assign a mentor who has worked in the new employee’s role in the past, even better!

When choosing a mentor, however, don’t go “too senior”. Mentors are often also interchangeably known as “buddies”. These mentors strike a balance between being slightly senior to the employee at hand, but at a relatable (and achievable) stature within the company.  

Not only will a mentor guide your new hire through the intricacies of the job at hand, but a mentor can also give your new employees valuable insight into the company culture. This is something that is more difficult for a senior-level or HR manager to do. Mentoring not only helps an employee to function better (quicker!) at their job, but it helps overall assimilation.

With company culture becoming an increasingly important element of the modern workforce, mentorships are possibly more important than ever.

Set Up A Nice Space

Nobody wants to start their new job only to find they have no physical place to sit. It’s every bit as bad to relegate your newest employee to a dingy corner of the office where they have a wall to stare at all day.

Again, these first impressions are of utmost importance. Have a clean, well-located desk ready for your newest employee before she arrives on the first day. This not only reduces those new employee “where do I fit in?” jitters, it also shows that you took care to make sure your new employee is well-placed and comfortable.  

Have an open office? Seat your new employee close to her team and within a stone’s throw from her new mentor. Encourage her new neighbors to be friendly and open to fielding questions, within reason of course.  

Swag

Now that you have your new employee’s desk setup, consider sprinkling a little swag on it. A simple notebook and company-branded pen will go a long way. Maybe consider putting together a little welcome package. Some items you can include are:

• A notebook (for your new employee to write down her big visions)

• A pen

• A company-branded t-shirt

• A granola bar

• A La Croix (everyone loves La Croix!)

• A handwritten note of welcome

Small details like this will make a big impression on a new employee. The idea of a welcome swag pack might seem silly, but it will really set you apart.  

Onboarding a new employee can be a pain in the bum. There is company paperwork to be signed, agreements to be read and dozens of small little details along the way. However, once you find your great new hire, you should use this introductory time to make her feel as special and heard as possible. The first few months with your new employee will dictate the entirety of your professional relationship. Make it count!

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Caileen Kehayas is the Director of Marketing at Proven, a small business hiring tool, where she writes about job trends, job seekers and employers. When she is not working, she likes to curl up with a good book. A New York to Los Angeles transplant, Caileen misses bagels but not snow. Let's be friends on Twitter!