The Surprising ROI of Axe Throwing with Your New Hires 

It might sound crazy, but have you ever thought about taking your new hires axe throwing with the team?

 Rest assured, it’s not that crazy. It’s actually a great way to help new employees squash new job jitters, assuming you go to a legitimate axe throwing venue and aren’t just randomly throwing axes around.  

One of the most important parts of onboarding new employees is introducing them to their colleagues and helping them find their social circle within the organization. Team outings are a great way for coworkers to relax and get to know each other. All you need is an engaging activity with a shared purpose and food.

 What makes a good outing?

–          An activity that requires partial attention and some degree of technical or mental skill

–          Movement  

–          Minor competition

–          A little something to eat

Which is why axe throwing is (surprisingly) ideal – it’s an easy activity that fosters a slightly competitive atmosphere and has ample opportunities for high fives and shared laughs (i.e. when the axe misses the target altogether).

If axe throwing isn’t your thing, check out these fun and engaging new hire (or anytime!)  team building ideas:

 –          Ropes course

–          Cook-off competition

–          Indoor skydiving

–          Build a car workshop

–          Escape the room

–          Paintball

–          Cornhole tournament

–          Learn to paint class

–          Ping pong tournament

–          Sailing 101 course

 Getting your employees together away from the office, especially with new hires, gives them the time and space to develop trust and camaraderie – critical components of working well together. Don’t miss this golden opportunity!

How to Engage Your New Hires Before They Start

Finding the ideal candidate is a delicate balance – from experience to skill to cultural fit. Not to mention their availability and willingness to make a change. Inc. shares that 70% of the workforce consists of passive candidates, leaving only a paltry 30% of active candidates.

Why does this matter? Because once you’ve found the ideal candidate it’s not enough to just give them an offer letter and hope they show up on the first day. You have to engage them as a valued member of your team before they ever set foot in your office.

We’re not talking about grand gestures here (think: teenagers with boom boxes outside of windows in 1980s movies) but small, significant gestures that show you care.

Three Easy Ways to Engage Your New Hires:

1. Gather a couple of fun facts during the interview

While you hire people for their skills and experience, you’re still hiring the whole person who has an entire existence outside of the office. Without prying, ask about hobbies and interests. Do they like to surf? Spend their free time quilting? Glean a couple fun facts and then follow up about them in subsequent conversations.  

Asking for fun facts about themselves humanizes the experience and makes the new hire feel like more than just a number. This valuable information also helps you more meaningfully introduce new hires to the team, plan engaging team building events, and give small gifts that resonate.

2. Find out if they prefer texts or phone calls

You don’t want your new hire to cringe when they see your name pop up on their voicemail when they prefer text. Asking about their communication preferences and styles shows you respect them and want to develop a rapport in a style that works for both of you.

3. Send a thoughtful gift

Remember how great it felt in college to receive a sweatshirt or trinket with your university’s logo on it? It felt great to receive the gift and made you feel like you belong to something bigger than yourself.

Gifts are powerful – by sending your new employees a gift before their first day you’re showing them that they’re significant and valued. The gift also acts as a thoughtful visual representation that they’re now part of your team. Company swag is always appropriate – such as a pen or t-shirt – but for a more senior hire you could consider something more substantial. The gift could also be related to one of their three fun facts – which would be a thoughtful way to demonstrate you’ve genuinely been listening to them.  

The time between the offer acceptance and first day is a golden opportunity to begin the foundation of the relationship with your new hires. Try out the tips above and develop an automated system so you have a consistent preboarding engagement process for each new hire.

Excellent Onboarding – Merger & Acquisition’s Secret Weapon

Mergers and acquisitions are tricky. Cultural differences, expectations, and lack of alignment can swiftly derail integration – like an episode of the Brady Bunch where everything goes wrong and there’s no quick fix sitcom solution before the end of the thirty minutes.

And then there’s the worst of it – the surprise of it all. Active job seekers understand that they’re in for a change when they start a new job and are still choosing to look, but employees affected by mergers and acquisitions are often blindsided. This is a high stress moment for employees and causes considerable anxiety about what to expect and if they’ll still have a role at the new organization. Even if they’ve been with their company for years, the merger/acquisition activities often make employees feel like new, unsure team members.

Fortunately, there’s a pivotal moment in mergers and acquisitions – where the acquired employees are onboarded into the new parent company. This is a golden opportunity to engage the acquired employees, make them feel like a welcome and valued part of the larger team, and introduce company values, expectations, and more.

The key is to plan ahead and develop an automated process that intuitively guides the acquired employees through a specific path – that’s curated to their role and location – and reflects the company’s values and methodologies. This ensures each acquired employee experiences a standardized, engaging onboarding program. It also eases the transition and helps acquired employees get a better understanding of the organization.

Top 5 Items to Include in M&A Onboarding to Improve Integration:

1. Company Values & Leadership

Share the company’s values and mission statement. Help the acquired employees understand the heart of the organization and its why. Introduce the new CEO and leadership team.

2. Performance Review

Provide the performance review process right from the start so the acquired employees understand how and when they will be evaluated – and what it means.

3. Career Goals

Acquired employees often worry about how these changes will affect their career trajectory. Calm their worries by including a career planning questionnaire in the onboarding process. Follow this with a meeting with their manager to discuss their responses and begin developing a career plan.

4. Mentor

Connect acquired employees with mentors in the parent organization. The mentor plays an important role in helping the acquired employee establish a network, a solid foundation, and a deepening understanding of the organization.

5. Common FAQ’s

Create a list of common FAQs and universal processes, such as how to submit an IT request. Take the guesswork out of their new day to day existence and make it easy for them to focus on their work, not running around the office trying to find answers! It’s also beneficial to share information about the change so everyone receives the same message and the stress of uncertainty is lessened.

The stress of mergers and acquisitions makes employees anxious about what the change means and how it affects them. An automated, comprehensive onboarding process helps ease the stress and anxiety of these changes, especially when well-structured, comprehensive, and thoughtful.