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The New Employee's First Week
The New Employee's First Week
Best Practices for The New Employee's First Week
Plan The Ramp into Meaningful Work
Define the core steps for a new employee to become a productive team member. For example, don’t overwhelm new hires with detailed product or solution workshops in the first week. Immerse the employee gradually into their role with periodic check-ins.
Balance Structure and Self-Directed Time
There can be a lot to schedule in the first week. Be sure to balance the time for meetings and self-directed learning for employees to get situated. Don't be afraid to leave empty calendar space, this gives the new employee time to get organized, read and reflect on what they are learning.
Be Available for Questions
Be sure to leave time in your calendar for questions and let your new employee know how best to reach you when they need you. Let them know the best way to reach out, whether email, Teams, or face to face.
Manager Checklist - The New Employee's First Week
Here are the actions as a manager you need to take for your new employee’s first week. After you read through it, there will also be a downloadable toolkit with the checklist and resources you need to put these into action.
Provide an overview of the department’s functions and team member responsibilities.
Description | Action |
|---|---|
Share an overview of your department. We recommend a deck or resource to help guide this conversation. | Check with your department. |
Review and navigate GBCommunity with your new employee.
Description | Action |
|---|---|
Share GBCommunity and highlight relevant sections. Highlight the Employee Self-Service page for easy access to tools. | Share and have your new employee bookmark GBCommunity. |
Review and understand how to use STU-View with your new employee.
Description | Action |
|---|---|
Provide training on how to access Stu-View Employee Self Service to update emergency contact information and relevant safety information. Review and demonstrate how to report attendance and access paystubs in Stu-View. Let your new employee know they are responsible for reviewing paystubs and vacation balances for accuracy. | Share and have your new employee bookmark Stu-view. |
Review key policies and procedures with your new employee.
Description | Action |
|---|---|
Review key policies and procedures with your new employee, including Code of Conduct, vacation and sick leave, holidays, payroll, technology and acceptable use, attendance, performance reviews, expense reports, credit cards, purchase requests, keys, etc. Ask your employee to log in to Cornerstone and complete any assigned tasks, such as signing the Code of Conduct etc. | Share and have your new employee review Forms, Policies and Reports on GBCommunity. |
Describe and share your team’s culture.
Description | Action |
|---|---|
Share information on unwritten departmental organizational practices and traditions. (i.e. Casual Fridays, summer hours, employee birthdays, etc.) | Check with your department. |
Inform new employee of ongoing meeting they need to attend.
Description | Action |
|---|---|
Advise new employee of schedule for ongoing or re-occurring meetings the new hire will be required to attend (departmental or organizational). | Add new employee to calendar invites for ongoing meetings. |
Share the College Vision, Values and Strategic Plan.
Description | Action |
|---|---|
Take time to share the vision, values, and strategic plan of the College. Ensure employee understands how his/her role relates to/supports the College's mission, vision, values, and the strategic plan. | Share and have your new employee bookmark GBC Strategy and Vision |
Review required training and support employee to access training on Cornerstone.
Description | Action |
|---|---|
Review the importance of required training, how to access it in Cornerstone, and how it has been automatically assigned to them. Schedule any Required training outside of the standard list as soon as possible. Allocate time in the schedule for required training. It’s recommended that all required training is completed within the first week of hire. | Inform your new employee that they will be assigned required in training and Cornerstone and will receive a direct email to access Cornerstone. |
Arrange for the new employee to meet with People and Culture for questions.
Description | Action |
|---|---|
Set up a time for your new employee to meet with People and Culture to ask questions regarding benefits, pension, direct deposit etc. | Email and schedule a time for your new employee with the following: Kim Tam (for employees with last names A to M): ktam@georgebrown.ca Nada Burell (for employees with last names N to Z): nburrell@georgebrown.ca
|
Check-in on the buddy system.
Description | Action |
|---|---|
Ensure new employee and buddy/onboarding partner are meeting and establishing a productive relationship (if applicable). | Check in with your new employee and buddy. |
Review the physical work environment.
Description | Action |
|---|---|
Lead (or designate an experienced and knowledgeable person to lead) a tour of the work area with your team member, identifying safety and emergency response processes, areas, and equipment. | Review the work environment on campus. |
Communicate ergonomics resources.
Description | Action |
|---|---|
Refer your team member to information that supports their safe workstation set up and ergonomics. This includes training, workstation self-assessment and the office equipment loaner program. | Explore and share the ergonomics resources. |
Manager Toolkit - New Employee's First Week
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)
