Research shows that a smooth onboarding is critical to optimising your organisations effectiveness. Employee retention, engagement, and productivity are all things that keep human resources professionals up late at night. Whilst developing and executing strategies for existing employees is important, improving your onboarding process is often the easiest way to create change that improves all areas. A few startling statistics about onboarding:
A critical part of the modern onboarding process is the new employee welcome kit. Putting together an effective welcome kit instantly improves an employees opinion of a company and has several other hugely positive impacts, including:
So if welcome kits are so important, what are some welcome kit ideas that will make your new hire feel great?
The Basic Kit provides a simple, cost-effective way to welcome a new hire to your team. The basic kit should includes items like:
To start customising The Basic Kit today, click here.
The Standard Swag balances branded company swag with personalised messaging and short-term goodies like snacks. With the Standard Swag pack employees receive:
To start customising the Standard Swag Pack today, click here.
The Premium Kit is the ultimate way to make your new hire feel welcomed on their first day. A premium welcome kit is one that is personalised to display your brand and clearly represents your company values. New York marketing firm Ogilvy provides an example of a Premium Welcome kit with their entire company welcome kit built around David Ogilvy's book 'The Eternal Pursuit of Unhappiness'.
Premium kits should include:
To start customising The Premium Kit today, click here.
Some organisations across the globe have put together amazing welcome kits. We'll go through a handful below to hopefully provide welcome kit ideas for your company.
Being an active brand is obvious with their new starter packs. Everything is about being active, happy and most of all, running! Brooks aims to make all their staff brand ambassadors, so an active swag kit is essential. This is a great example of how organisations can align their welcome kit to their brand.
The Element Three team put together a blog post on the importance of Welcome kits. They note how good the kits are at welcoming new people into the organisation and how it promotes the company culture and values from day one.
The Monzo Banking team have put together a premium welcome kit to welcome new employees. Employees also get a free breakfast on their day with Monzo - another great way to onboard new staff.
The Atlassian team has put together a pack they send to new hires before their first day ('preboarding'), ensuring they feel at home on their first day officially on the team.
These sample employee welcome kits should provide a solid starting point for ideas. To help you build the ultimate new hire welcome kit, we've put together a comprehensive list of goods you can add to your kits below:
This section provides some we ideas for welcome gifts to provide in your onboarding kits (sometimes known as induction box). The items are a wide mix of things to consider for your company, Remember that the perfect employee onboarding kit is unique and should represent your company culture.
To make this process easier, use the below list as a starting point to consider what might work for your organisation, then adapt it into something that fits your culture and goals.
A personalised welcome letter is a touching way to introduce your new hire and set the tone for their first impression of your company. Personalisation also works as a powerful recruitment tool, resulting in positive word-of-mouth exposure for the business.
The welcome note can even be a handwritten letter to provide a personal touch, this shows the new employee that the company cares about them as an individual.
An employee induction booklet is a useful reference guide for a new hires first day. This booklet would normally include your company's mission statement, organisational structure etc. This booklet provides the new employee with an introduction to their new company and should outline exactly what the company stands for and how they fit in.
This provides the new hire an opportunity to understand the company they are now representing. It also reduces turnover because employees recognise that they are working for something greater than themselves which provides increased motivation and results.
The booklet should highlight key business knowledge including and nearby areas of interest, for example:
Totes are useful because they can be used almost anywhere, but are also often forgotten when it comes to welcome kit ideas. Consider including a high-quality custom tote in your kit for new employees, especially if you want them to remember what company they work for or carry around important things like notebooks and books.
The tote bag can be useful whilst the new employee moves into their new desk, or particularly if your organisation utilises hot desks.
Reusable Coffee cups are a positive and eco-friendly way to introduce the new recruit. These are a frequent site in offices around the country and can easily be branded to help the new employee show off their new job.
A staple in welcome kits, their portable nature allows people to use them in the office in place of a coffee mug, or out and about.
Another eco-friendly option, reusable water bottles are often underutilised in welcome kits. A reusable water bottle save tons of plastic and is a relatively cheap addition to a welcome kit. Whilst many companies overlook them, they are easily branded and allow the new hire to show off their new company.
A simple notebook is an essential item to include in your onboarding kit. A new hire will always appreciate receiving a good quality, branded notebook that they can use in their new job.
Notebooks are useful for almost anyone and are a simple and inexpensive gift that don't take up too much space.
In addition to a notebook, consider providing a notepad as part of your employee welcome kit. Notepads are useful for casual note taking and are useful during onboarding for your new employees.
Insulated Bottles a great for staff when out and about. Adding these to your welcome kit ideas is great for companies with an active culture.
Great for writing down welcome kit ideas! Also useful in most offices. Pens have been a staple in the office for decades and they're not disappearing anytime soon. Add a branded pen to your employee induction box and impress new hires from day one.
A company t-shirt is a great addition to your new hire welcome kit. Branded company swag is one of the best ways to make new employees feel like they're part of the company.
There's a lot of great welcome kit ideas in this list, but most are for the long term. Why not add a short-term guilty pleasure? Chocolate almost always goes down a treat with new hires. It also gives new employees something to munch on during the long onboarding sessions to stay alert!
It's great fun to receive stickers on your first day. Die-cut stickers are a cheap way for new employees to have fun with the brand.
Adding a cap to your employee welcome kit is a great way to add company swag to your employee welcome kit. Whilst most other apparel requires sizing (which can be a bit difficult to manage!) baseball caps are one size fits all and hassle free!
Adding headphones to your new hire welcome kit is a useful way to give the new hire something they are actually likely to use. This is a great idea for open workspaces where noise-cancelling headphones improve employee satisfaction, allowing employees to focus when required.
Headphones aren't often the first idea people have for a welcome kit, but they are one that impresses new hires when added.
Employees love a backpack as it is can be used both during their commute and outside work. Backpacks are a great way for employees to transport essential items and can be branded with your logo.
One of the best welcome kit ideas for a new employee who's likely to travel often. Add a travel kit to the employee welcome kit is great for FIFO workers and frequent travellers.
Everyone enjoys a snack and having them available in your employee welcome kit and around your workplace creates a positive workplace experience for all employees. Snacks are a great addition to your welcome kit as new hires can enjoy them on their first day.
Snacks can be colour co-ordinated to match your brand, so don't remove these from your welcome kit ideas even if you're set on branding everything!
Fitness gear like fit bits, fitness bands, running shoes etc can be a great addition for the right companies. Please be careful with this one - for the right workplace (e.g. fitness/health brands) it's a great addition to your employee onboarding kit, for a more standard office, (e.g. a software company) it may be perceived as inappropriate. So as we've noted, make sure you consider your company!
Fitness clothes and fitness bands can also be branded, increasing your brand exposure and providing your staff with more company swag.
For staff with a Laptop, a laptop sleeve is a great addition to your employee welcome kit. This is one of the coolest additions to any employee welcome kit and super valuable for any employee who is likely to be on the move, or travelling a lot in their line of duty.
Your new hires will appreciate a premium branded mobile case. A branded phone case is a good employee welcome kit idea for employees who are likely to use their phone often.
Mobile Sleeves are handy silicone/leather pouches that can be branded and stuck to the back of smart phone cases. They're a great way of combining your phone and wallet into one package for the cashless minimalist and a worthy addition to your new employee welcome kit.
Adding a handmade candle to your employee welcome packages adds a personal touch to your welcome kit. A candle can be a great addition to your packs, particularly for companies looking for a more rustic, or homely feel.
Whilst not as corporate as most ideas in this list, don't discount a candle from your welcome kit ideas if it suits your organisations culture.
A colourful plant can add a nice touch to any new hire's desk and reinforce the idea that your company cares about the environment. It also serves as a great conversation starter with other employees in close proximity. This is a great gift for companies with a sustainability focus, or to align with companies with a growth strategy.
A desk plant is a great addition to your employee welcome kit.
New hires love a good hoodie. Nothing makes an employee feel like they've officially joined a company more than having the branded company swag. It's both a great way to have new members feel like they're part of the team and to have your brand seen by more potential hires and customers in public.
The hoodie is a great addition to employee onboarding kits.
Whilst some offices are moving towards a paperless environment, all offices still need office supplies. For example Sticky notes, Notepads, Paper clips, pens, batteries etc. In many paperless offices sticky notes are frequently use for planning, so be sure to pick and choose the office supplies your put in your induction box to suit your company.
When someone joins your company, you want to welcome them with a memorable package that reflects your organisation. A welcome kit is one of the most important elements of onboarding for new hires. It lets them know they are now part of the team and reinforces their feeling of belonging in the culture.
A welcome kit can include items like t-shirts, pens, notebooks and water bottles. The kit you create should convey the culture of your organisation and instil a sense of pride and loyalty among incoming employees.
New hire welcome kits do much more than just look good, they also:
If you are looking for ways to motivate your staff, build brand loyalty among employees or develop a strong employer brand, create a new employee welcome kit.
When creating a welcome kit, start with some branded items that can be shared. These include:
The best welcome pack for new employees is customised to represent the company core values, inspiring the new employee in their first week.
The cost of a welcome kit depends on how much you want to spend and what you include in the package. You can find a variety of existing kits at various price points. However as a rough guide expect to spend $30-$100 on most standard kits, and more than $100 when opting for a large or premium pack.
Yes. You can brand the welcome kit with your company name and logo.
You can source the items from multiple vendors yourself, and have delivered to your office to pack and store, however we strongly recommend getting your employee welcome packages done the Impressm way.
In this post we've discussed numerous employee welcome kit ideas for welcoming new employees to your company and ensuring they have a positive first day.
We also talked about how important the whole onboarding process is too inspiring employees to be as productive as they can be.
If your company is looking to onboard new employees, it’s important that their first day be a positive experience.
The induction process provides the best opportunity to embed key cultural values into your business and can provide an opportunity for you to supercharge your cultural momentum by providing shareable moments the new hire can post on LinkedIn or other social media channels.
Are you looking to upgrade your onboarding experience today? Start building a box now, or get in touch with the Impressm team now.
