We’ve all had the experience – the first day at a new job. It is a day of much excitement and anticipation. It can also be a bit nerve wracking. You are meeting so many new people. Trying to take in a ton of new information. A standard part of any new hire’s first day is ‘new hire orientation’. Depending on the organization, this can be fun and exciting, or death by PowerPoint.
What fun it would be if your first day on the job was spent volunteering at a local charity. Or perhaps in the new hire orientation, there was a special ‘wellbeing’ section where you toured the onsite gym and locker rooms, took a walk on the nearby walking path with other new employees, or were treated to a special lunch that featured all the healthy food options available to you in the workplace.
New Hire Orientation provides an opportunity to show your new employees the importance of their wellbeing and how the organization supports that wellbeing. It is also an opportunity to instill the ‘how we do it here’ with relation to the many aspects of wellbeing that may be present in your workplace.
A few tips for embedding wellbeing in your New Hire Orientation:
- Serve healthy food during the orientation meeting.
- Include a physical activity break.
- Provide a handout with information on all the programs and resources available to support employee wellbeing. Include information on employee benefits tied to wellness in addition to wellness policies, programs and practices.
- Provide a contact person, such as the Wellness Champion, so new employees have someone to contact with questions.
- Tell the wellness story to new hires. Help them understand the history of your wellness initiative and encourage them to take an active role in the future of wellness efforts.
- Create a map of local safe walking places near work. Take a physical activity break and show the new hires these walking paths.
- Share pictures from past wellness events.
Don’t miss the opportunity to embed wellbeing in your New Hire Orientation program. It will pay dividends and make every new hire glad they joined your organization.