What’s your most important business asset? Is it your product? Your proprietary software? Customer service? Distribution network? Trademarks? Brand? Physical locations? Intellectual property?
While all of these assets (and many more) are certainly valuable, your most valuable asset is your human capital—the men and women who make your business great.
But, if you’re reading this article, you probably know all of that. In fact, it’s probably your job to find the right people for your business, get them to sign on and make working for your company the best decision they ever made.
Hiring a new employee, though, is a big investment of time and effort, so it’s important to get things off on the right foot. When you hire someone, you want them to fall in love with your company and your company culture from day one. You want your business to feel like a place they never want to leave.
So how do you pull all of that off? Well, there’s a lot that goes into creating new employee loyalty, but one of the best ways to get things off on the right foot is with a new hire welcome box.
Why New Hire Welcome Boxes Matter
Employee welcome kits are like a housewarming gift for your new hires. The moment they open your onboarding kit, they immediately feel connected to your business and excited about what the future has to hold.
Okay, maybe they won’t feel quite that excited, but when you make a real investment into your employees from day one, it matters.
In fact, do you know the most frequent reason why people leave their jobs in the first place? Company culture. Over 30% of job changes occur because of issues with company culture. People feel unhappy or poorly aligned with their company’s values, so they look for a better fit elsewhere.
Your employees’ perception of your company culture starts on day one. If your new hires feel like your business is excited to have them there, that feeling will carry them through all of the ups and downs of the first few months on the job. Starting any new job is tricky, but it’s a lot easier when you really believe that your employer cares about you and has your back.
This is why employee welcome kits are such a helpful part of the hiring process. When you’re hiring someone new, it’s easy to get focused on what you want—the value you hope to get out of that new employee—and forget that they’re doing the exact same thing on their end.
When someone starts a new job, they’re constantly asking themselves, “Is this me? Do I fit in here? Do I feel valued, meaningful and appreciated?” One of the easiest ways to make the answer to all of those questions a resounding, “Yes!” is with a custom employee welcome box.
Custom Employee Welcome Boxes
At this point, you might be thinking, “Well, we’re already doing that. We give every new employee a T-shirt…and sometimes even a water bottle on their first day. That should do the trick, right?”
Unfortunately, no.
Remember, the whole point of employee welcome kits is to kickstart your company culture. You want your new hires to think, “Wow, if this is how they treat me on day one, they must really care about their employees!”
Most swag is for marketing, and everyone knows it. When they wear that T-shirt, they’re giving their employer free advertising, so it often feels more like they’re doing a favor than the other way around. This is why thrift stores are always full of branded clothing. The moment that people quit, they lose all interest in being a walking billboard for their former employer.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with handing out the classic water bottle and T-shirt. Just don’t assume that it will mean a whole lot to a new hire. If you want your employees to feel like you actually care, you need to take things up a notch and put stuff in their onboarding kits that they’ll get excited about.
For example, here are just a few products that have worked great for our clients:
- Headphones
- Purses
- High-quality jackets
- External batteries
- Leather messenger bags
- Backpacks
Hand someone cheap swag on their first day at work and you’re basically telling them, “Welcome aboard. You work for us.” Hand someone a custom employee welcome box that feels like Christmas Day, on the other hand, and it feels like you’re telling them, “Welcome aboard! We’re so excited to have you here and we want you to know just how important you are to our business.”
The Power of Custom Onboarding Kits
At VOX, we’ve helped hundreds of clients put together welcome boxes that their new hires love. In fact, custom welcome boxes are so compelling that many of our clients use them as an incentive during the hiring process.
And why not? A great custom employee welcome box can feel like a new hire bonus. If it would cost a new employee a hundred bucks or more to buy the stuff they get in their welcome box, that can make signing up with your business a whole lot more interesting—even if it only cost a fraction of that amount to put the box together.
In the end, the point of custom onboarding kits is to set the right tone for your new hires. Your company really cares about its employees, and with the right welcome box, you can kickstart your company culture and get things off on the right foot from day one.
Oh and by the way, if you love the idea of creating custom new hire welcome boxes and would like some help putting them together, just reach out to us here! We’ll help you create the perfect onboarding kit for new hires at a price that won’t break the bank.
