20 Ideas to Help Your New Starter Settle in the First Week

A well-structured employee onboarding process is important, especially in collaborative, fast-paced tech and digital environments. In this article, we explore 20 actionable strategies to ensure new starters feel welcomed and are well-equipped to succeed in their new roles. From creating a comprehensive new starter welcome pack to establishing an onboarding mentorship, these ideas will promote a supportive environment that celebrates new talent and encourages career growth from the first day.

The importance of providing an introduction for new starters in their first week

First impressions count. A new starter’s early experiences can significantly impact job satisfaction, engagement, and long-term retention. In an era where recruitment is the biggest challenge for CEOs and the competition for skilled professionals is fierce, companies cannot afford to overlook the importance of making every new hire feel valued, supported, and part of something larger than themselves from day one.

The initial settling-in process is about more than just welcoming new employees to the office. It’s also an opportunity to integrate them into their new roles, incorporate them into the existing team dynamics and increase productivity. This is particularly relevant in the tech, digital and marketing sectors, where the ability to hit the ground running can be a significant advantage.

20 good ideas to help new joiners settle in in the first week

1. Provide a new starters’ welcome pack: Whether you choose to provide your new starter with a personalised or a generic welcome pack, a new starter pack checklist should include information on the company culture and values, a contact list with the key people they might need, some helpful information (e.g. about claiming holidays and other benefits), and, if your company is located in a large complex, an office map. You don’t want your new joiners to get lost on the way to their initial training. The welcome pack might include a mug, a notebook, a few pens… Everyone loves some company freebies, so add some company swag.

2. First-day Meet-and-Greet: Organise a casual meet-and-greet with the rest of the team, perhaps over coffee or breakfast, to facilitate informal introductions.

3. Assign an onboarding mentor: Pair the new starter with a more experienced employee who can guide them through their first few weeks, answering questions and offering support. Nothing is worse than starting a new job role and not knowing who the right person is to go to for questions.

4. Have a clear onboarding schedule: Provide a detailed onboarding schedule for the first week, outlining key meetings, training sessions, and social events. Planning the new starter’s first week in advance will reduce onboarding anxiety. It will also make it easier for the existing team to manage training and introduction meetings smoothly. This will help create a positive and welcoming experience for the new employee.

5. HR check-in: Schedule a check-in with HR to ensure all administrative tasks are completed and to discuss any concerns. HR often needs to double-check personal details and national insurance numbers, student loan reductions, and all that important information when you start to work. You don’t want candidates to wait until the end of the tax year to realise they aren’t in the correct tax code.

6. Offer a tour of the office: Don’t just assume candidates know where everything is only because you took a short tour around the office on the last stage of the interview with the candidate. The new starters probably have questions about where the restrooms are, how to book a meeting room, where to grab a cup of coffee, where are the office snacks, or where to relax during their break time.

7. Organise an introduction meeting with the line manager: Ideally, there should be a one-on-one meeting with their line manager, different from the initial first day meet and greet meeting. In this meeting, the new starter and the line manager can discuss the expectations and goals for the new hire and how they’ll work together. Talking about what is expected and what goals to achieve in the first meeting with the manager is important. This helps the new employee understand their job and duties better. It also makes it easier for them to succeed and develop in the company.

8. Offer IT setup and support: Ideally, their IT setup should be complete before they arrive. However, new employees might need assistance during their first week setting up email addresses or getting support for the software and hardware tools they’ll use daily. Also, do not forget about the needs of disabled workers. Some employees may require assistive technologies, like screen readers, speech input software, text readers, or alternative input devices. Ensure to conduct an accessibility audit based on UK laws for your website so that your new employees can interact with your content.

9. Plan training sessions ahead: Organise all the different training sessions relevant to their role in advance, including any necessary software tutorials or company process overviews. You don’t want to waste anyone’s time by improvising training sessions or discovering that the person who has to deliver the training session is otherwise engaged while your new start is available.

10. Arrange a team lunch: A fantastic way to help the new starters bond with their colleagues in a more relaxed setting is to arrange a team lunch during the first week.

11. Give access to professional development resources: Provide information on any available professional development resources or training programs. You want your new joiners to start learning and doing their job as soon as possible, so the sooner they get access to your professional development resources, the better they’ll be able to catch up with other team members and fill any gaps in their knowledge.

12. Schedule a feedback session: After the first busy week, it’s important to schedule a meeting with their line manager. This feedback meeting discusses how they’re doing and addresses any worries.

13. Include a company culture overview session to outline the company culture, history, and vision to help them feel a part of the organisation. If you don’t have much time for this session, you can include these materials in the new starter’s welcome pack.

14. A Social Media Introduction: Introduce new team members on social media to welcome them. Welcoming new starters on social media channels benefits both the company and the new hire. On the one hand, it enhances the new sense of belonging since onboarding. On the other hand, it showcases the organisation’s inclusive and community-focused culture to a wider audience.

15. Project Involvement from the first week: Get them involved in a small project or task from the start so they feel they’re contributing and they understand the work process. This is a fantastic way to get them engaged and motivated while learning on the job.

16. Provide training on internal communication tools and management systems to ensure they can navigate the company’s digital environment.

17. Health and safety briefing should be part of the first week of training, too, to ensure they understand the health and safety procedures of the company.

18. Encourage informal and regular check-ins with the line manager, the mentor and the new hire throughout the first week to address immediate questions or concerns. Consider extending these to the first month to speed up the onboarding process.

19. Introduction to key stakeholders: Arrange brief meetings or introductions with critical stakeholders they’ll work with across the company.

20. Encourage questions: Foster an environment where questions are encouraged, making it clear there are no stupid questions and that everyone is there to support them.

Make your new starts feel valued from the first week

Even if your company doesn’t adopt all these strategies, we hope our article has, at least, given you a few good ideas to create a supportive induction process for new starters. At the end of the day, it’s more than a few employee introductions. It’s about making new members of the team feel valued, prepared, and connected from day one.

→ For specific advice on remote workers, check out our article on overcoming remote employee onboarding challenges.

At Adria Solutions, we support our candidates through the candidate onboarding process to reinforce a successful integration into our client’s team. If you have any more questions we haven’t covered in the article and you need some expert advice, feel free to reach out to our experienced team of recruitment consultants.