Employee Onboarding: Setting Up for Success

Creating a Welcoming and Engaging Onboarding Process with Luna Park

• Author

  Arlen Marmel

• Date Published

  Sep 26, 2024

The first day jitters are going to happen to nearly any employee regardless if they are remote, hybrid or in person. Employee onboarding is the first step in setting up a new employee for success at your company. If you're a seasoned pro at creating a welcoming onboarding process or a newbie, we have all the tools you need here at Luna Park. This article will help walk you through this process or add some new, fun content into an existing one.

Before the First Day

In addition to your internal onboarding processes (setting up emails, program access, etc), we suggest having the manager or HR leader send a welcome note 48 hours before their first day - typically the Friday before works well. Congratulate them. Emphasize how excited you are about the new employee joining your team. Lastly, give a brief overview on what they can expect in their first week or weeks at your company. This will ease some of their nerves on the onboarding process while allowing them to understand what is in store for them. If in a fully remote environment, providing meeting times or a suggested attendees list is helpful. We'd also suggest creating an environment of open communication - allow them to ask any and all questions from their first interaction with you.

Key Meetings to Set Up

If you haven't already set up their key meetings for the week (or outline them in the introduction email), it's especially important to set up calls to go over the following:

• Company Mission, Vision and Values
• Company Timeline and Goals
• Department overview & organizational chart
• Context around your company's products and/or services (a walk through the sales process is also helpful!)
• Company-wide tools, systems, processes, and procedures.
• Role specific information and resources.
• A meeting with HR to go over pay schedules, payroll information and any benefits offered at onboarding.
• Welcome the employee by using our First Day Partay as an interactive way to welcome them on board with your team.

The First Day

On their first official day, welcome them publicly, and ensure you add them to our Intros via our Slack, which will regularly pair them up (at random) with a colleague for an icebreaker! What better way to make someone feel welcomed, than announcing it to the entire organization?

Fostering Connections

Research shows that new employees are often intimidated to make connections - have your current team members send a Slack message to set up a coffee chat and get to know their new colleague. It would be a great time to play Interspeller to break the ice and have a laugh. Providing a space for the new hire to interact with coworkers in a stress free environment will help create a sense of trust and camaraderie. Schedule these calls over the first 2-3 weeks depending upon your training calendar. Also have your Luna Park admin enroll the new hire in our global pairing tournaments for the opportunity to win prizes each month and interact with folks across the organization.

Ice Breaker Games

If you're still in need of some additional tools to use help break the ice, we have some other suggested games for you:

• ⚖️ Would You Rather - break the ice with your team by taking turns decadent which less-than enjoyable task you would rather do
• ✏️ Drawing a Blank - spark creativity and put your art skills to the test!
• ☝️ Never Have I Ever - An icebreaker that is sure to allow you to learn more about each other
• ❓ Who's Who - Answer the prompt and take your best guess at who the answers belong to

The First 1-2 Weeks

The first 1-2 weeks should consist of basic understanding of the business, company overview and understanding how each department works for the new employee. Now is the time where they gain the most insight about the company and culture. While it's important to provide space for breaks and to reflect, we suggest structuring their week with the most impactful items first. Some of these can include:

• Introductory meetings with department heads that support cross-functional initiatives.
• Set up a recurring one on one. We offer some stress free 1:1 games that can be woven into your format easily.
• Include the new hire in any recurring departmental or company wide meetings.
• Outline best practices for your meetings, how the team works together.
• Review goals in depth by using a 30-60-90 goal format.
• Create time for the employee to ask questions.

Week 3 and Beyond

If you have provided the framework, by week 3 the employee should be ready to dive into many of the tasks they will be handling. They should have a sense of how your team is running, who they can rely on and how to navigate asking for help. Continue to encourage your new hire and team to build relationships by using our team building gallery during an end of week team check in, biweekly department all hands or during your next company wide meeting.

Conclusion

Welcoming your new hire into the team can be a stressful time for both the manager and new hire, but it doesn't need to be. Luna Park is here to help alleviate some of that stress and create a fun and engaging environment for remote, hybrid or in office teams of all sizes.