How to Welcome New Members to the Team

First impressions are everything when it comes to welcoming new members to the team.

According to recent research, 80% of new hires who receive poor onboarding plan to quit — especially if they’re remote workers. It's shockingly common for companies to sink thousands of dollars in recruiting new talent, and yet spend very little time or money on making new employees feel genuinely welcome.

Let's dive deeper into how you can welcome new members aboard and why it's a worthwhile investment of your time and effort.

• Why it's important to welcome new members
• How to welcome new employees to the team
• Welcome aboard message for new employees

Why it's important to welcome new members

Starting a new job can be stressful and intimidating for anyone, whether it's a new graduate or a seasoned professional. There are people to meet, processes to learn, new tools to get the hang of – without help, the new employee can quickly become overwhelmed.

And yet at many companies, new employees are greeted with nothing but a short "Welcome to the team" email and a print out of the employee handbook. It's hardly surprising that:

• 88% of employees think their employer did a poor job with onboarding.

• 1 in 10 reported that their company forgot it was their first day on the job entirely.

• 20% of new hires leave a job for a new opportunity within the first 45 days.

If you’re a manager, it’s your job to make sure that doesn't happen. Making every employee feel welcome and comfortable at their new workplace is the best way to start a healthy work relationship. It's the first – and the most crucial – step of the employee onboarding process and a fundamental part of your human resource management strategy.

And data shows that it pays off:

• A strong, welcoming onboarding is shown to improve new hire retention by 82% and productivity by over 70%.

• 69% of employees are more likely to stay with a company for at least three years if they experienced great onboarding.

How to welcome new employees to the team

Don't wait till the new employee steps through your office door – welcome them to the team as soon as they accept the job offer. And it's not just about signing all the required paperwork and setting up their email address. There is a lot more to making your new colleague feel welcome – you need to make them feel confident, comfortable, and excited about this new stage of their career.

Here are some suggestions on how you can facilitate the process.

Grant them access to your team knowledge base

Your new employee will likely have a lot of questions about their new job. Most of them are trivial and repetitive, yet can still be a source of anxiety and confusion: Is there a dress code? What's the vacation policy? How will my performance be evaluated?

Giving your new colleague access to your knowledge management system, such as your internal knowledge base or intranet portal and empowering them to find answers on their own will help them feel more confident and prepared on their first day. If your company doesn't have a knowledge base yet, you can easily create one in Nuclino, a unified workspace where you can bring all your team's knowledge, docs, and projects together.

Send a welcome message

It may seem like a simple formality – but a personal, warm welcome message can go a long way to make the new team member feel welcome. It's the perfect opportunity to show the new employee that you are excited to have them join the team and to give them a glimpse of your company culture and communication style.

The message can take any form – an email, a letter, a hand-written card. You can even write it directly in Nuclino and simply share the document with your colleague. Learn more about writing a welcome message and find examples below.

Prepare their workspace

Imagine coming to the office on your first day and having to wait for the IT guy to finish installing the operating system on your laptop. Don't let your new employee feel that they've been forgotten. Instead, show them that they are your absolute top priority by making sure their workspace is ready. That includes their desk, their laptop, and the digital tools they would need.

Put together a welcome kit

Better yet, leave a little treat on their desk when they arrive – a swag bag with branded stationery, a coffee mug, or a box of chocolates. If your new colleague is working remotely, send it to them in advance. Make them feel welcome and appreciated.

Along with the essentials, consider including a list of fun team traditions – whether it’s work anniversaries, team lunches on Fridays, or special days like HR Professionals Day or Customer Service Week – to help them feel excited about being part of the team.

Here is how Crosschq welcomes its new employees on their first day:

Introduce the new member to the team

Help your new team member build a great relationship with their colleagues by making sure they greet them on their first day. Notify your team in advance and send them a reminder in the form of a Slack message or an SMS alert on the day the new hire arrives. Consider creating a dedicated Slack channel for new employee announcements and introductions.

Additionally, sharing a set of digital business cards, role directories, or a simple contact list can make it easier for the newcomer to put names to faces and know who to approach for different needs.

Put together an onboarding checklist

Don't let your new team member feel lost not knowing what to do – consolidate all of their tasks in a simple checklist. Start with smaller and simpler assignments – HR paperwork, team lunch, office tour – and let them ease into their new job.

Assign a mentor and schedule one-on-one sessions

After your new employee has settled, invite them to a 1-on-1 meeting with their supervisor or mentor so you can give them an introduction into your company culture, clarify your expectations for them, and answer any questions they may have about their new role.

Welcome aboard message for new employees

You may have already formally congratulated and welcomed your new employee when you extended them the official offer letter. However, that is not the same as a welcome message.

Back then, you were addressing a job applicant – now, you are talking to a colleague, and your tone should reflect that. Here are some pointers on how to craft a welcome message that will make your new teammate feel at home:

• Be warm, genuine, and friendly

• Use informal language (don't shun emojis 😉)

• Break the ice with fun facts about your team

• Tell them what to expect on the first day

You can write the welcome message directly in Nuclino and @-mention your new colleague, sending them a notification. Include links to helpful knowledge base entries and add a checklist with all the tasks they are expected to complete.

Fitting into a new team can be a stressful experience. Some people are naturally outgoing and won't hesitate to approach their colleagues. Others are more reserved and will wait for an introduction. Always assume your new hire belongs to the latter category when you welcome them to the team and try to help them build relationships early on.

The key to succeeding is to treat new hire orientation as a celebration, not an administrative task.

Nuclino: Your team's collective brain

Nuclino brings all your team's knowledge, docs, and projects together in one place. It's a modern, simple, and blazingly fast way to collaborate, without the chaos of files and folders, context switching, or silos.

• Create a central knowledge base and give your team a single source of truth.

• Collaborate in real time or asynchronously and spend less time in meetings.

• Manage and document your projects in one place without losing context.

• Organize, sort, and filter all kinds of data with ease.

• Integrate the tools you love, like Slack, Google Drive, Figma, Lucidchart, and more.

Try it now