5 Key Resources To Prepare For New Team Members
If you’ve recently hired a team member, it’s important to make them feel as comfortable, confident, and supported as possible. By creating a smooth onboarding experience, you can ensure that new hires are able to settle in and start delivering their best work right away.
Equipping new team members with the right resources is a key aspect of this process.
Resources that enable someone to get their bearings, familiarise themselves with the company, and prepare for new projects, can help them to hit the ground running.
Let’s take a look at 5 valuable resources that you can prepare to successfully integrate a new worker into the team.
1. Onboarding schedule
Preparing a clear and organised onboarding plan is a great idea for new hires.
Pull together a schedule that tells new team members what they’ll be doing, who they’ll be meeting, and when they’ll be doing it.
This can include introductions, training sessions, manager-check ins, and social events. The first day is the most important for a new hire, but if you can map out key moments for the first couple of weeks, even better.
Not only does this help new starters to organise themselves, but it can also help them feel valued from day one.
2. Organisational chart
An organisational chart is massively useful for new joiners, particularly if they’ll be dealing with multiple colleagues in various teams.
Try to keep the chart up-to-date with any major changes, and if possible, include headshots alongside names and job titles to make things easier.
While you don’t need to talk a new hire through every single individual in the company, this gives you a great opportunity to clarify the structure of your business and explain how teams collaborate.
3. Client/project overviews
If you know the clients, projects, or products a new starter will be working on, it’s a smart move to pull together some introductory documents for them.
Understanding how a client’s business is set up or how a project is being managed will help a team member to settle in faster, so try to share as much information as possible.
New team members will always learn quickly once they’re tackling an assignment or working on-site, but the more context you can provide beforehand, the better.
4. Key contact information
Make sure that you provide a new starter with contact information for key staff members, such as HR leads, managers, and IT support.
This may sound obvious, but it’s very important that your latest team member understands how they can get in touch with colleagues and team leaders.
(If your company communicates primarily through channels like Slack or Microsoft Teams, it’s also a good idea to make sure that your new hire is comfortable using them.)
5. Company documents
Finally, you should also share any important company documents with a new starter as quickly as possible. HR team members will be able to advise on the best way to prepare these resources, but they should generally include information about:
- Company policies (i.e. dress code, facilities, code of conduct)
- Workplace benefits + how to access them
- Any required legal documents (e.g. confidentiality agreements)
- Equipment manuals
There may be more specific documents to share depending on your sector (e.g. safety measures for workers on-site) so make sure that your new joiner is fully up-to-speed before they commence work.
By preparing the right resources for a new starter, you can ensure that they feel welcomed to the company, supported in their team, and ready to tackle their first project.
It’s always best to avoid the stress of last-minute onboarding prep, so make sure that you’ve got all of the necessary documents ready in advance! For more guidance on preparing resources for new team members, be sure to get in touch with our recruitment experts.
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