Onboarding is a concept many companies and employment specialists are talking about. How your new staff member experiences their first few days will inform how they feel about their job and your firm throughout the time they work for you. So, it is important that you’re able to create a strong and positive onboarding experience for your new legal employees. What can you do to be sure this is a good experience and retain top talent in your firm? Here’s a closer look.
Focus on company culture
To be honest, for an experienced or trained legal professional, the hardest part about starting a new job is not the work itself. It will be coming into an established environment and learning how to interact with the company culture. To make onboarding more successful, take this into account. Let them see how people interact, the overall attitude of the firm, and how you do things differently from other organizations.
Make introductions
Meeting new coworkers can be daunting. So, do your best to make this a more welcoming process. The first step is to introduce them around the office. Even if their job won’t interact with someone, don’t leave that person off the list. Everyone in your company culture should have the opportunity to meet and work with everyone else, so facilitate this in the first days to make it an easier experience.
Host a welcome lunch
Another way to make a new legal employee feel welcome is to host a lunch in their honor. Depending on the size of your office, this can be everyone or just the core team or department. Go out to a restaurant or have the lunch catered in. This makes the environment more comfortable for casual mingling and meeting.
Ask for staff input
You can also talk to your current team to find out what would have made their onboarding experience better. Don’t just focus on the very beginning. Ask them what you could have done in the first three months or six months after starting. What would have made a difference in the first year? Use this feedback to help improve the process for new employees starting with your firm in the future.
Are you looking for great employees to add to your legal team? Contact NRI Staffing today to work with our great team of legal recruiters in Washington DC.