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The New Employee's First Day
The New Employee's First Day
The New Employee's First Day
Walking into a new role or office can be daunting. Even the most capable new employee faces the fear of the unknown, let alone feel overwhelmed by information and new faces. It is important to ensure the new employee has an idea of their first day’s agenda, and how orientation will work before they arrive on day one. Day one is all about the agenda and orientation. Focus on the welcome experience and explain the team ceremonies and rituals.
Best Practices On The New Employee's First Day
Focus on a Warm Welcome
The first day can be a lot for a new employee! Be sure to focus on creating a warm and positive experience for the new employee. Make time to meet directly with your new employeea and introduce them to colleagues. We recommend having lunch with your new employee or the team.
Share the GBC Story
Start to share what makes GBC an amazing place to work. Consider sharing our GBC values, or overview of the College. Consider offering a tour of the campus for your new employee and share your favourite spots.
Plan for Set-Up Time
Be sure to include space for your new employee to get settled in and organized. This includes finding their desk, getting their computer setup, accessing internet on campus and signing in with their credentials. Build in down time for them to get set-up and be available if there are questions.
Launch The Buddy System
Be sure to plan a meeting to connect your new employee and their buddy. Allow room for the buddy system to grow organically between your new emploee and their buddy after the first day.
Manager Checklist – New Employee's First Day
Here are the actions as a manager you need to take on your new employee’s first day. After you read through it, there will also be a downloadable toolkit with the checklist and resources you need to put these into action.
Meet and greet your new employee when they arrive.
Description | Action |
|---|---|
Be present to greet your new employee, on campus or virtually. We suggest having new employees start 15-30 minutes after the regular start time to ease the transition, find the new location or navigate on Teams. | See Sample First Day Schedule. |
Share the orientation schedule and department resource package.
Description | Action |
|---|---|
Review the orientation schedule with the new employee, so they know when and where they need to be. Share any resource sheet and orientation material for them to explore, during down time. Orient them to Microsoft Outlook to find calendar invites for their schedule. | See Sample First Day Schedule. |
Orient the new employee to their workstation.
Description | Action |
|---|---|
Give an overview and provide instructions for the workstation and computer. Go over the systems used on the job and helpful links, such as GBCommunity and Employee Self-Service. | See Sample First Day Schedule. |
Introduce the new employee to colleagues in the department.
Description | Action |
|---|---|
Set up time to introduce the new employee to their colleagues. This can be on Teams if the team is hybrid or organize a small meeting in the office. | See Sample First Day Schedule. |
Introduce the new employee to their onboarding buddy.
Description | Action |
|---|---|
Set up time to introduce the new employee to their onboarding buddy. Give them time to chat and get to know each other. | See Sample First Day Schedule. |
Conduct a “Take 5 for Safety” with the new employee.
Description | Action |
|---|---|
Ensure they know their work location including campus and room number and advise them of the emergency exits and muster points. Ask if they require additional help to evacuate in the event of an emergency and, if so, ensure they know the location of designated waiting areas. Let them know how to report hazards or incidents and how to get help in case of an injury. | See Take 5 for Safety. |
Notify your team member of any personal protective equipment required for their job.
Description | Action |
|---|---|
Let them know what personal protective equipment (PPE) they will need to perform their job safely. PPE should be based on job duties and associated hazards and be available to the employee before working in shops or labs. | Check with department. |
Conduct a department/campus tour.
Description | Action |
|---|---|
If on campus for the first day, give a tour of the department and campus. We recommend inviting your new employee to lunch to help ease the transition on the first day. | See Sample First Day Schedule. |
Discuss and provide the job description, responsibilities, and initial expectations with new employee.
Description | Action |
|---|---|
Set initial expectations with your employee, including office/business hours, break, timesheets and attendance, safety, and parking. Provide a copy of job description with employee and have a discussion on the job and responsibilities. | See Sample First Day Schedule. |
Arrange for the new employee to visit the Parking Office on campus, if required
Description | Action |
|---|---|
Set up a time for your new employee to meet with the Parking Office if needed. Parking details can be found by clicking here. | Contact Parking Services parking@georgebrown.ca |
Manager Toolkit – New Employee's First Day
That's a lot to take in! Don’t worry, we got you covered. You can download the checklist and tools mentioned above to help put this into action:
(Download here button)
