An Employee’s First Day: Delivering a Memorable Experience

Making New Employee’s Feel Welcome

An employee’s first day is a great opportunity to initiate your new member into the team so they hit the ground running full of positivity, a sense of belonging and clarity about how they can play their role from the start.

As a clinic owner, you’re probably hoping that your new team member fits in quickly, so the their first day and first impression is so important to get right.

The thing is, how do you make your employee’s first day personalised, engaging and memorable… what do you actually do?

You might be thinking, i haven’t got time to do it, or, i didn’t do it for anyone else, so why should i do it now?!

The reality is, if you don’t invest in your team’s experience it is a huge risk, regardless if it’s their first day or not.

Im going to assume that you want to grow your clinic in a way that allows you to have some freedom and control over your time.

That means you’re going to need to build a great team so that the clinic doesn’t completely rely on you!

If you want your clinic to operate like that, then you need to obsess about how you treat your team right from the start, you need to make their experience great, create a culture that keeps them engaged and allows them to flourish in their role.

I’m sure you’d agree that an engaged team member is going to be far more effective at caring for patients, more likely to collaborate with their team mates, more aligned with the direction of the practice and more fulfilled in their role.

After working with 100’s of private practice clinic owners, and as part of the Clinic Mastery Business Academy, we work exclusively with you to implement the structure and systems that you need to engaged your team members in their role so that you can ultimately Grow Your Clinic .

In this article, I’m going to share how you can create a great first day for your new team member!

5 Reasons Why An Employee’s First Day is Important

1. New member doesn’t know anyone and may feel like a stranger

2. New member doesn’t know where anything is and may feel lost

3. First Impressions will make a difference to the new member’s team fit and early productivity

4. New member maybe unsure of what they are expected to do and may feel idle or bored

5. It is a celebration of your team and clinic growing

How to approach the First Day

• Preparation will make it a smooth transition for all.  

  • Use a checklist so that it is a thorough and consistent experience for each new member. It also allows you to have something to build on for next time.

• Communication is vital.

  • Make sure you communicate frequently and openly with the team and your new team member prior and during their first days/weeks.

What you can do Prior to An Employee’s First Day

One of the best things you can do to make the first day great is start before you get there!

We have listed some of the things you can do to help create the experience for your team member.

Remember to run it through your own filter, think about what’s appropriate for your clinic, your team and your new team member.

As always, we hope that this sparks some ideas of your own!

Contact You New Member before their first day

• ‘Formal’ Email

  • Reassure them and reiterate what they need to do, where they need to be and what to bring on their first day eg parking, report time, uniform etc

  • Where possible and appropriate try to get all of the formalities and paperwork completed before they arrive for their first day, otherwise they will be spending their time doing that. This will distract from the experience of the day.

  • Deliver any pre reading on your clinic culture, vision, mission, values and goals etc So that you can discuss or answer questions on the day.

  • Ask them for a short biography so that the team can get to know them before they arrive. Include for example:

    • Hobbies/interests

    • Professional interests

    • Something quirky or funny about them like an interesting talent

    • Favourite tv show or movie

    • Best birthday gift they’ve received

    • Who they would invite to dinner, persons living or dead

• ‘Personal’ Email

  • Make this distinct from the more formal email which has a lot of important information so that it stands out.

  • Express your thoughts and feelings about them joining the team.

  • Reflect on what it means for your vision, mission, values, your community, your team etc

  • Wish the all the best and reassure them that they have joined a great team by highlighting some of the things to look forward to in the clinic.

  • Reflect and highlight why you chose them to work on your team.

  • Reiterate their strengths and how their experience or expertise will make a difference to the team, clients and clinic.

• Personal Phone call

  • Follow up your email contact to connect personally so that you can answer any further questions.

  • It’s a great opportunity for your new team member to understand your thoughts and feelings about their membership with you because email can be tricky to convey tonality e.g. new perspective on what you do, boost team, serve more people etc

  • Offer and extend your ear to them if they ever need it, especially in the first few weeks by giving them your number and encouraging them to reach out.

Prepare for the new member’s arrival

• Make them official

  • Business cards are printed and ready

  • Signage on the door or clinic room

  • Name Badge ready

  • Presence on the clinic website

  • Social media welcome (campaign leading up to and day of) +/- video with director

  • Email to your community, clients and referrers (newsletter or plain text)

  • Room is ready and clean workspace

  • Any specific equipment or resources they need are ready, so they don’t have to borrow someone else’s gear

  • Uniform and any other clinic attire, paraphernalia ready

  • Sign or poster in receptions/welcome room for clients to acknowledge

What You Can Do On You Employee’s First Day

• Be the first person to greet your new member

  • A familiar smile, a welcoming handshake and friendly reception will make a great impression. 

  • It will also settle the nerves

• Introduce your team member personally and individually to all other team members

  • Ideally one on one first and then in the group setting

  • Don’t do it passing in the halls – allow a genuine connection

• Celebrate the growth of the team and the new member

  • Balloons, streamers, party bags, cake etc think birthday (be as welcoming as you can)

  • Have the team members write a handwritten card to welcome new member

  • Give a welcome gift e.g. flowers, book, coffee voucher, something related to their bio questions and answers etc

• Share a moment with your new member

  • Ideally take them out for a quality lunch or go for coffee outside of the clinic.

  • Show them the surrounding streets, any suppliers or partners close by or where they can park, go to for lunch, amenities etc

  • Talk about some quick wins – short term goals that your new member wants to achieve and that you hope for them to achieve to make it a successful transition period, personally and professionally.

• Help them make a small impact

  • Give them small manageable tasks and assignments for them to feel like they have done some good work and contributed on their first day.

• Assign a mentor or buddy

  • If you’re not around they need to have someone who they can go to first. Connect them with another team member of leader.

• Talk them Up

  • If you cross paths with any clients, introduce your new member e.g. this is Rick, he’s our new superstar physio or this is Ellie, she’s an Amazing physio that’s just joined us…etc

• Clinic Tour

  • Help your team member settle in the environment and get comfy in their room or workspace.

  • Show them where the amenities are and where they can find what they need.

• Debrief at the end of the day

  • This is a great opportunity to answer questions, reflect of the day.

  • Review their job description, outline of duties, and go over expectations

  • Discuss the schedule and the week ahead. Confirm any required and recommended training.

Your clients will pick up on the vibe and feel like they are also welcoming your new member, so do your best to get them involved by introducing them.

There is an ‘official’ induction checklist detailing the formalities of what you need to do and provide to a new team members in accordance with their role and employment status, so make sure you cover that also (inside the Business Academy Learning Portal).

Conclusion

In this article we’ve aimed to highlight more of the ‘personal’ experiences that a new member should or could receive when joining the team on their first day.

Preparation is the key to the day being successful.

Communication is the key for the day being engaging.

Personalisation is key for the day being memorable.

If you look to implement everything in this article as part of your own checklist for every new hire, you’ll have a brilliant foundation to work from in the future.

You only get the first day once, so deliver a great experience that’s true to your caring nature and your clinic’s spirit.

As part of our Business Academy we work with clinic owners to plan, personalise and communicate with their new team members so that they deliver this experience. We also provide all of the induction systems, checklists and support resources for a successful onboarding. If you’re interested to know more, check out what we’ve got for you here.

If you have any great ideas or stories of new team members first day, leave them in the comments below!

Until Next Time;

Live with Passion and Serve with Care