Why we will always remember starting a new job and how to make the most of your welcome process
Do you remember the first time you met your best friend, or your current partner? What about the first days of school or University? As humans we tend to be good at remembering first experiences. Be that times we meet significant others, embark on a new adventure or immerse ourselves in a new book or television series.
Psychologists refer to this as a cognitive bias (or as I call them brain quirk) called the primacy effect. Simply stated, humans tend to remember first experiences or information more strongly than those they receive later on.
First experiences matter in life. And they matter at work.
Our first experiences when starting a new job have an outsized influence on our perceptions and beliefs about the colleagues we work with and the company we work for.
Recognising the significance of these first impressions and experiences it’s critical we get the new starter process right in HR.
Effective onboarding (or welcome process as I prefer to call it) plays a pivotal role in ensuring the success, performance, and retention of new employees.
The welcome experience serves as the crucial foundation upon which an employee’s entire perceptions and contribution are built. A well-structured welcome process goes beyond mere paperwork and orientations, providing new hires with the tools, knowledge, and connections they need to integrate seamlessly into their roles.
Giving new starters an early productivity boost
When new employees are given clear guidance on their responsibilities, access to necessary resources, and an understanding of the company’s goals and culture, they can start contributing more quickly and effectively. And they can do this with more motivation and energy too.
A positive welcome process can have a direct impact on employee retention too. When new hires feel welcomed, informed, and supported from the outset, they are more likely to develop a sense of belonging and loyalty.
This sense of connection reduces the chances of them seeking opportunities elsewhere due to feelings of uncertainty or dissatisfaction. An effective joining experience helps people see a long-term future within the company, leading to improved retention rates and decreased turnover costs.
3 Practical tools to help personalise the welcome experience
At Tailored Thinking we strongly advocate a personalised welcome process where new starters feel valued, respected and “seen” from the earliest stages of joining an organisation. These are three tools and approaches that can help to do this.
- A Job Canvas
The Job Canvas is an agile alternative to the traditional job description (think job description 3.0). We advocate sharing a generic job canvas for a role when colleagues start (or even better as part of the recruitment process) and then encouraging individuals to complete their own canvas within the first 6 weeks of joining.
The Job Canvas helps creates a “shared” view and vision of how people see their roles – setting them up for future success – and gives team leaders opportunities to sense-check or adjust a colleague’s approach. These conversations can also encourage discussions about how people can personalise and adapt their jobs in the future and sets up a perfect place for “job crafting.”
- An employee user manual
An employee user manual is a document which enables colleagues to capture and share their working preferences, communication styles, and personal strengths. It provides a window into their personalities, helping colleagues understand how to collaborate effectively and avoid potential conflicts.
Allowing teams to see and discuss their individual user manuals sets allows people to work according to strengths and preferences and buffers against conflict and confusion in different working styles.
- New Starter Interviews
Tools such as Mi-Say allows people to share their experiences and perspectives at the start of their employee journey.
Asking people to share their earliest impressions and insights not only gives incredibly rich information about what the joining experience really looks and feels like – and whether the organisation is walking their talk – it demonstrates from the earliest stages that as an organisation you generally value the views and opinions of others.
These tools not only accelerate the integration process but also nurture a culture of empathy, respect, and collaboration.
Making the most of first impressions
Creating a positive and personal welcome experience emphasizes that people matter in your organisation and sets colleagues up to thrive individually and collaborate harmoniously.
Personalised new joiner approaches helps to set individuals, teams and organisations up for success. They recognise and value each team member’s uniqueness, and by doing so, enhances job satisfaction and contributes to a positive work environment.
Creating a warm, positive and inclusive welcome experience will create a memory that – according to psychologists and thanks to the brain quirk of our primacy bias – we are more likely to remember and share and less likely to forget.
Rob Baker
Rob is the Founder and Chief Positive Deviant of Tailored Thinking and “friend” of Mi-Say. Rob was named #8 in HR Magazine’s 2023 Most Influential Thinker List, is a TEDX speaker and the author of Personalisation at Work
