Advice to New Employees: 11 Useful Tips To Help Them Adjust
When new employees begin working at your company, they may ask you questions about how best to adapt to the work environment. You can help them adjust by offering fundamental information such as best practices for specific tasks. Knowing strategies for giving advice to new employees can help you support them as they learn about their new position, which can improve their productivity. In this article, we explain who typically offers advice to new employees and provide 11 helpful tips you can share with new employees to help them adapt to their new position.
Who offers advice to new employees?
Advice to new employees refers to any tips or knowledge you might share with a new hire to help them acclimate to their new working conditions. While anyone can offer a new employee advice, these professionals often provide the most guidance:
- Supervisors
- Managers
- Department heads
- Team leaders
11 tips you can give to new employees
Below are some tips you can provide new employees to help them become more comfortable in their new positions and produce their best work:
1. Learn about the work environment
Consider telling new employees to spend their first few days on the job learning about their new work environment. Important elements of the work environment may include the employee dress code, places employees often eat lunch and acceptable behaviour in the workplace. For example, a new employee may discover they’re required to wear formal clothing at work and that they may listen to music with headphones at their desk. To help new employees learn more about their environment, encourage them to ask their new team members questions. Many people are happy to offer advice to help new employees adjust. You can also share the employee handbook with new employees to help them answer their own questions
2. Spend time with other employees
You can advise new employees to get to know their co-workers in order to integrate with their new work environment. In the first few weeks, encourage your new employee to spend time with their colleagues, both during work hours and during breaks. For example, if a co-worker invites a new employee to lunch, they could accept the invitation. By forming relationships with their colleagues, your new employee may feel more comfortable in the office. Having relationships with co-workers can also ensure your new employee has a few people they can communicate with when they need assistance. To facilitate the relationship-forming process, you can recommend that your new employee learn their co-workers’ names. Your current employees may appreciate it if their new colleague makes an effort to learn their names. Knowing everyone’s name can also help your new employee communicate more effectively at work.
3. Make a strong first impression
To ensure every employee develops a reputation they’re proud of, you can encourage new employees to make a positive first impression on their co-workers. This type of first impression may motivate other employees to see them as friendly, hard-working and reliable. New employees can focus on making a good impression by being productive and performing their best work. They can also try to ensure they have a positive attitude at work each day.
4. Participate in meetings
Sometimes, new employees may remain quiet during meetings as they become accustomed to their new work environment. However, you can encourage them to contribute to discussions during meetings. This can help them make a good impression. A new employee might offer input during team meetings in the form of providing feedback or support for a co-worker’s idea. To provide an opportunity for new employees to speak, you can also ask if anyone has any questions at the end of the meeting.
5. Offer to help others
While new employees may be in the process of learning about the workplace, they can help their co-workers with basic tasks and help teach other new employees. When advising a new employee, you can suggest they assist their co-workers with a task that can demonstrate they’re a helpful person. For example, a new employee might help a project manager who needs another team member for a project. By helping someone, the employee may also learn new skills that they can apply to their daily tasks later.
6. Set boundaries
Setting boundaries is an important aspect of the adjustment process for new employees. Depending on the protocol at your workplace, you can encourage new employees to mention when something is acceptable to them and when they need to make changes. For example, if a new employee agrees to work extra hours one weekend, their manager may schedule them for more weekend hours. If this employee isn’t typically available on the weekend, they could ask their manager to adjust the schedule for optimal work-life balance.
7. Take notes
Taking notes is a good practice for new employees, as they often receive a lot of new information in their first days of work. Consider providing your new employees with a notebook and a pen that they can use to take notes. Then you can recommend they make it a habit to write things down that they need to remember, such as a deadline for a project or a new co-worker’s name. For example, if there’s a company meeting every Friday, your new employee could write a note to help them remember the time and date of the next meeting.
8. Practice good time management
New employees may need some time to learn how long it takes them to complete certain tasks. You can encourage them to practice good time management by allocating extra time for tasks. This can help them meet deadlines consistently, which can help them develop a positive reputation at work. During your employee’s first few weeks, they can make meeting every deadline a top priority.
9. Ask for help
While some new employees avoid asking for help, you can communicate that you’re available to answer questions, which may motivate them to request assistance if they need it. Consider offering new employees a way to ask questions privately, or make it clear what times you’re usually available to answer questions. You can also create straightforward training documents to help new employees learn how to complete a task or use a specific piece of company software. This can help your new employees gain confidence and manage their time more effectively.
10. Schedule time for skill development
Investing in the development of your new employees can enhance their skills and improve employee retention. Consider offering new employees resources on how to pursue professional development or additional training. For example, you might offer your new employees time to complete online training courses related to their position. Your company might also provide a training class to help employees build a specific skill. This can help boost the performance of both new and existing employees.
11. Apply feedback
Most new employees receive feedback, either from fellow employees or from their managers. You can help your employees use your feedback effectively by providing suggestions about how they might apply it. For example, if you tell a new employee to complete certain tasks sooner and suggest they adapt their daily goals, then they can focus on adjusting their schedule each day to prioritize those tasks.