First days and first impressions matter for a new employee. A new environment can be stressful for anyone and it is important to the growth of a companies culture to nurture that employees first few days of onboarding. Each company should have an organized and clear onboarding process to make the hires feel at home. But this is not always possible. Even if there isn’t enough time for proper onboarding, managers and team leaders can always organize some interesting ice-breaking activities.

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1. Two Truths and a Lie: Two truths and a lie is always a terrific way to learn fun facts about your team and can lead to some fun stories about past experiences. Arrange everyone at a table. Have every person come up with two truths and one lie about themselves. Give the group some time to think, and maybe provide a pen and paper so they can write down their ideas. The goal is for everyone else to guess what the lie was. This game can lead to fun stories about past experiences and silly situations.
2. One-Word: The one word onboarding game is a thought-provoking way for everyone to gain an understanding of their new hire group. To play, split everyone up into smaller groups. Give each group a couple of minutes to come up with one word that describes X. They can then share their word with their group and then the whole room. This is a great icebreaker for groups that have already had a couple days of onboarding. You can ask them how they would describe the company culture, office vibe, and onboarding process itself. You get feedback while everyone else gains a new perspective of how other people view the company. It’s a win-win.
3. Working remotely? Host a virtual happy hour: It’s only natural for new starters to feel nervous, especially when there’s an avalanche of information and new faces for them to learn. So, why not arrange some downtime at the end of the week to see how they’ve been getting on with everything? Hosting a virtual happy hour can be a great way of giving your team the chance to get to know their new colleague. Let the conversation flow naturally and invite each employee to bring one icebreaker question they’d like to ask, such as what inspired them to find a new career path, and what was their background before.
4. Five Things: If you’re working with a larger group, start this activity by diving up into smaller groups. The moderator can then announce a topic for the top five list. The topics can be relevant to the theme of the meeting or day’s events or can just be fun conversation starters. Each person in the breakout groups can share their top five list while the rest of the group can proactive active listening.

Top Gifts For New Hires

The first impressions made during onboarding can make all the difference as an employee begins their journey with you. The stats tell us just how important onboarding is: 70% of team members who had exceptional onboarding experiences say they have "the best possible job" ( source)

 

Being prepared for your new employee’s first day (and week) matters. It’s almost a gift in itself. Having their schedule stacked with orientation, training sessions, and fun ice breakers lets them know that their time is valued, and you want to invest in them, but also changes up the daily routines and keeps experiences light hearted and builds team chemistry.

 

For more great reading about Onboarding and New Hires visit our prior blogs:

 

 

 

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