Let The (Onboarding) Games Begin!
Starting a new job is a stressful endeavor—and not just for the new hires. For companies that have invested significant amounts of resources in scouring for talent, the stakes are high and it is essential that the nerve-wracking onboarding process goes as planned. Isn't it time to take the heat off the first few days of induction? That's not to say that onboarding new employees is a one-and-done deal that holds zero weight in the long run. Onboarding is an invaluable experience that builds connections between the company and its people and dictates the outcome of this relationship. Let's make it memorable and fun. Get inspired with these 25 onboarding games and activities to welcome your fresh hires into the team.
What's Inside This Guide...
- What Are Onboarding Activities?
- Why Employee Onboarding Is So Important
- 8 Onboarding Games For New Hires
- 7 Engaging Onboarding Activities For New Hires
- 10 Simple Employee Onboarding Activities That Create An Emotional Connection
- 4 Bonus Tips To Make New Employees Feel Welcome
What Are Onboarding Activities?
Hiring new people is an anxiety-inducing process, both for the HR team and the newcomers. New employees have to sign documents and forms, meet new people, ask questions, and learn the ins and outs of the job, all in a short period. However, there are ways to destress all parties involved by adopting some fun and creative onboarding activities to welcome new hires to the team.
When we refer to onboarding activities, we mean processes and actions that organizations design and implement in order to help employees acclimate to their new work environment. These activities can happen once or be iterative, depending on what they're trying to accomplish. For example, you only need to tour new employees around the facilities once, but you need to schedule regular feedback meetings to monitor their progress. Onboarding activities span throughout the onboarding process and can include anything from filling out paperwork and going through compliance training to meeting colleagues and participating in workplace events. Designing an effective onboarding strategy and following through is essential for the successful integration of new hires into your company and their productivity and effectiveness down the road.
Why Employee Onboarding Is So Important
Low-quality onboarding experiences can be detrimental to employee productivity, engagement, and retention. Many companies fall victim to rushed, run-of-the-mill induction processes that prove inadequate to fully equip new hires with the necessary tools to excel in their role. When it comes to newcomers joining a company, onboarding should be a process of acclimating and immersing them into the company's culture, mission, and values from day one. It's this initial phase that lays the foundation for a productive relationship between the new hire, the team, and the organization. In simple words, onboarding is a vital process that dictates the degree of success and future of this fledgling relationship. An effective way to streamline and enhance this process is by leveraging technology solutions. For instance, UEM simplifies user onboarding for IT, ensuring a smooth and efficient transition for new hires.
Ensuring that it gets done correctly is an investment in the long run. A high-quality onboarding experience will spotlight you as an employer and ensure that your employees enjoy a long, fruitful tenure within your company. It illustrates your commitment to your people, empowering them to go above and beyond their job title. Hence, to set your new hires up for success, you must first show them your organization's unique identity. But what are the specific benefits that onboarding activities bring? Let's take a look at them to better understand why your company needs them.
Understanding Of The Role And Responsibilities
Starting a new job is a complicated process. New employees can't just walk in and start completing tasks, even if they fit the job description perfectly. On the contrary, they need guidance during the first weeks of their employment so that they can understand in greater detail what their position entails, as well as the responsibilities that come with it. Make sure to communicate with your new addition on their first day, and even before that, to explain to them what the performance standards of your company look like, the processes they need to follow, and perhaps how their tasks align with overall organizational goals and the work of other departments. This will clarify what they are expected to do and reduce the odds of confusion or mistakes.
Engage Employees Early On
Usually, when employees start a new job, they are excited for this next chapter in their careers. However, this enthusiasm can wear off rather quickly if their new employer doesn't ensure a fast and smooth integration. Onboarding activities will help orient new employees, helping them start off on the right foot but, most importantly, showing them that leadership is interested in their progress. As they move through the onboarding process and realize how well-thought-out it is, they will realize that their new company is genuinely interested in helping their workforce evolve and develop. This will boost employee engagement and encourage them to stick around for a long time.
Faster Path To Productivity
Recruiting new employees takes time and may affect your company's productivity, especially if an important position sits vacant. For this reason, you don't want to stretch this period of reduced productivity into the onboarding stage. If you develop and implement the right onboarding activities, it will be much easier for new hires to get the hang of their role quickly and hit the ground running. This can be achieved through training sessions, mentoring, or buddy programs that will support employees as they try to figure out the ins and outs of their new position. This way, it won't be long before they can operate at the same pace as their colleagues and produce meaningful results for your organization.
Enhanced Talent Retention
One fact in the business world is that ineffective onboarding can cause employees to leave their new jobs within the first year. On the contrary, a well-designed and executed onboarding strategy enhances engagement and job satisfaction, ensuring a much longer collaboration with employees. This is because effective onboarding makes employees feel valued, appreciated, and supported as they take the next step in their professional journey. A good first impression sets the tone for the rest of their employment and helps foster a more meaningful relationship between employee and employer. Additionally, happy employees will advocate for your company, enhancing its position as a desirable place to work. Therefore, onboarding activities don't only retain talent but also attract it.
Reduced Anxiety And Stress
New jobs can stress out individuals for a variety of reasons, such as figuring out a new commute plan, meeting new people, and proving themselves adequate for their new role. While leaders and managers can't help solve all their issues, they can certainly alleviate some of their anxieties by providing effective onboarding. When employees have a clear plan, with goals and expectations for their first few months, the transition into their new job becomes much smoother and easier. Specifically, they know what they are expected to do, who they can turn to for questions and guidance, and how to communicate with leadership regarding concerns or goals for the future.
8 Onboarding Games For New Hires
If you want to transform the onboarding journey into an unforgettable experience that your new hires will revisit throughout their tenure, think outside the box. This list is by no means exhaustive; the secret to planning a great onboarding experience is to combine your objectives with elements that make your company unique—so get creative!
1. Taboo
This first onboarding activity introduces your new hires to important work terms and jargon through the well-loved game of Taboo. As a game for all ages, playing Taboo is a fun and lively way to train new employees on job-specific terms and concepts they will encounter in their day-to-day. To play, participants have to describe a term to their team without using words from the list of forbidden terms. It's an activity that encourages your team to think on their feet and convey ideas, helping them learn work-related vocabulary in a relaxed, informal manner.
2. Icebreakers
Icebreakers have been used time and again as introductions to corporate meetings. So, why not use them for your virtual onboarding game? Icebreakers are a versatile activity and a great conversation starter to ease your new team members into their new roles and foster a friendly atmosphere. Try simple games, like a Zoom background contest, anecdotes, and "this or that" questions. Keep it short and sweet, or use them as a prelude to your next onboarding game.
3. Office Scavenger Hunt
What better way to help your new hires get familiar with the ins and outs of the office? Organize a scavenger hunt that introduces newcomers to key areas and locations around the office. This interactive tour helps your new additions get acquainted with the unknown layout, allowing them to make a mental blueprint of the location by collecting clues, solving riddles, and retrieving items. What's better is that you can encourage company-wide participation in organizing this event and make it as extravagant as possible.
4. Meet The New Hire
First-day introductions when starting a new role can be quite awkward, especially for junior hires. Give your newcomers a heads-up and let them organize a "meet the new hire" session where they will present interesting facts about themselves, such as their background, interests, and future aspirations. It's a structured yet informal way to announce your new hire to the team, helping them establish connections and allowing them to introduce themselves in a way that works for them.
5. Trivia
Trivia sessions are a versatile activity, great for engaging seasoned employees or onboarding new hires. Use this game to highlight important facts about the company, like its history, values, and achievements. Combining entertainment with education, this is a great activity to spotlight important information in a digestible manner to your new employees and instill a sense of pride in your seasoned staff.
6. Rapid Fire Questions
Players are asked a series of quick, light-hearted questions, and the goal is to answer as many as possible in a short time frame. Your new staffers will learn and share interesting facts about one another, fostering instant connections with their team members while enjoying a lively, welcoming atmosphere.
7. Name Game
To play the Name Game, gather your team and form a circle. Choose someone to start by stating their first name. The next person follows by saying their own name, as well as the first person's name. The third person says their own name, the name of the second person, and the name of the first person. And so it goes. As the circle progresses and more people try to remember every name in the right sequence, chances are that someone will stumble eventually. This onboarding game brings out a fun element of competition and helps everyone recall their coworkers' names easily going forward.
8. Company Bingo
Bingo is an engaging way to help your new hires become familiar with the organization. No more boring checklists! To create your bingo card, simply fill a piece of paper with your desired number of squares. Bingo cards typically contain 25 squares (5x5) but you can customize the number to fit with your onboarding schedule. Each square must contain a relevant statement that participants can cross off the card as they explore the office and go about their day. The first to check off all the squares shouts "Bingo!" and receives a small prize.
7 Engaging Onboarding Activities For New Hires
9. Coffee Shop Chats
Contrary to the rest of these onboarding games and activities, coffee shop chats are a low-effort, high-reward activity that's perfect for welcoming more seasoned employees. It's an activity that doesn't require much organization other than choosing the time and place. Through some good, old-fashioned communication, a coffee shop meetup is ideal for getting acquainted with the team while enjoying a beverage and taking a short break from the first-day jitters.
10. Virtual Escape Room
For remote teams, a virtual escape room can be an exciting way to bond and sharpen your communication and collaboration skills. To solve the puzzles and riddles required to escape within the set time frame, your team must actively communicate, collaborate, and brainstorm ideas and solutions. The resulting blend of individual perspectives makes the virtual escape room an ideal onboarding game for getting a sense of the prospective team dynamics. Furthermore, escape rooms can cater to a broad audience, especially those who enjoy tackling challenges and practicing creative problem solving. So, why not reap all these benefits while trying to escape from an Egyptian pyramid?
11. Topic Shuffle
This onboarding game is designed to foster a sense of camaraderie among coworkers through miscellaneous discussions. Topics can range from work-related matters to completely unrelated fun themes like, "What's the soundtrack of your life and why?" Give your participants a few minutes to answer the question, then proceed to assign them a new topic or partner. Your new hires will get to know their new team members in no time.
12. Buddy Program
Adjusting to a new environment and role can be challenging during the first few weeks. Pairing your new hire with a seasoned employee in a buddy program can help them ease into their new duties and learn the company's inner workings. Buddy programs have been used within and beyond the workplace for years—and for good reason. Through this pairing, seasoned employees can mentor and check in with their new colleagues and provide support throughout the adjustment process.
13. Baby Photo Guessing Game
This guessing game is a humorous way to bring your new and seasoned team members together. Each participant must submit a photo from their youth so that the team can attempt to match each picture to the correct person. Laughter and conversation ensue as coworkers share childhood stories and personal anecdotes. It's a great way to help new hires acclimate and begin to form bonds with their team members.
14. Role-Play Scenarios
To begin delving into the full nature of the position, try role-playing scenarios that mimic real-life, on-the-job situations. This allows your new hires to step into their coworkers' shoes and get acquainted with internal processes, customer and team interactions, as well as conflict resolution. It's a small peek into their new day-to-day within a safe, controlled environment where they can practice, pinpoint potential skills gaps, and prepare for their new responsibilities.
15. At-Home Scavenger Hunt (Zoom Edition)
For this onboarding game, come up with a list of common household items. Then, as your online gathering progresses, call each item and watch your coworkers scramble to retrieve and show said item before the timer runs out. However, a timer isn't mandatory—just make sure that you're not the last one to show the item on the screen.
10 Simple Employee Onboarding Activities That Create An Emotional Connection
Most organizations recognize the importance of employee participation in onboarding training. They understand that motivation is a key factor in the process. And that new hires are more likely to engage when resources resonate with them on a personal level. But these companies overlook one very important component: feelings. You can’t expect them to get all warm and fuzzy about compliance. However, they should be able to empathize with in-course characters and immerse themselves in scenarios. All the real-world application in the world won’t change performance behaviors unless you create an emotional connection. These 10 simple and budget-friendly employee onboarding activities can help you captivate new hires.
16. Personal Anecdotes
Personal stories let new hires know they aren’t alone. Someone else has experienced the same challenges and used their skills and knowledge to overcome them. It’s one of the most emotionally engaging employee onboarding activities because it involves real people they can empathize with. Just make sure you keep personal details to a minimum. For example, you don’t need to include a long backstory about the main character and why they chose their job position. Try to focus on a single incident or obstacle so that you can explore all the feelings, skills, and know-how that are involved.
17. Live Events With In-House Experts
Host live onboarding events with experienced employees as guest hosts. They can share their new hire struggles and offer pointers. They’ve been through it all before and know how to navigate the choppy waters of customer service/sales. Encourage in-house experts to choose a topic and develop an event outline. They can even write a script to ensure they cover all the key points. There should be some audience participation involved. For instance, the host throws in a few questions to make sure everyone’s still awake and/or test their knowledge.
18. Soft Skill Demos
Develop soft skill video demos that show new hires how to apply their talents in the real world. This is particularly helpful for soft skills training. It’s difficult to describe active listening or conflict resolution. However, they can watch the scenario play out in the video to see how it’s done. To learn the subtle nuances of effective communication and empathy. As well as spot personal areas for improvement. It’s a subtler way to help them reflect on their own performance behaviors and adjust their approach.
19. Group Discussions
Host online group discussions where new hires share experiences, stories, and tips. You can also invite more experienced staffers to offer their input. The goal is to get everyone to participate and build a better team dynamic. They get to see things from someone else’s point of view and tap into the power of in-house knowledge sharing. Set some guidelines so that everyone feels welcomed into the group and new hires aren’t’ alienated. Maybe encourage them to start with an icebreaker sub-group where they introduce themselves and get to know the team.
20. Task Tutorials With Customer Personas
Task tutorials aren’t necessarily known for their emotional connectivity. Watching someone perform a sales transaction usually doesn’t tug at their heartstrings. However, you can incorporate customer personas to improve practical application and evoke feelings. For instance, the virtual employee interacts with a customer who seems very irate and impatient. Provide a bit of background info about them and why they’re so upset. Trainees empathize with the persona and see where they’re coming from. They understand that the person is having an ‘off day.’ The tutorial includes pointers on how to diffuse the situation and actively listen to the customer's needs. Go beyond the task steps and dive into the extenuating circumstances.
21. WWYD Service Scenarios
Produce brief video scenarios that highlight a specific challenge or skill. The key is to make trainees think about the scenario. To put themselves in the character’s shoes and reflect on what they’d do differently to achieve a better outcome. For example, the employee in the video snaps back at a customer instead of trying to understand the circumstances. How would the trainee approach the situation? Which skills would they use to appease the customer and put things right? That’s when interactivity comes into play. They choose from a list of possible responses at the end of the clip, which redirects them to an alternate ending. As such, they’re able to see how their behaviors and actions lead to positive or negative consequences. You can also provide a basic text explanation if you want to take the simpler route.
22. Host An "Onboarding Graduation" Party
Congratulations, your new hire has finished their onboarding! What is the greatest way to reward them, if not with an "onboarding graduation" party? The party doesn't have to be grand, just some balloons, some treats, and a congratulatory meeting with the whole team. It's a fantastic way to make them feel appreciated and create an emotional bond between them and the team. If you're working remotely, host the event via video conferencing so that everyone can take part and give their new team member a virtual pat on the back.
23. Conduct A Memorable Company Tour
The office is a space your new employee will be spending a significant amount of time in. For this reason, you must make sure to help them feel comfortable by showing them where everything is and where every department is located. Try to make this walk-around a little more interesting and memorable by involving people and turning it into an interactive experience. Perhaps you can share a remarkable story here and there, notable achievements for different departments, or office anecdotes your new hire might find entertaining and indicative of your company culture. If you work remotely, this can work just as well with a virtual tour around the departments.
24. Send Them An Employee Welcome Kit
Many companies send their new employees a welcome kit that contains office materials with the company's logo on them, like pens, pencils, a mouse pad, etc. Kits can also contain company swag, such as T-shirts, mugs, or stickers for their new computers. It is a thoughtful way to show them they are welcome and valued, and it will make them know you care for their needs and are happy to provide them with the necessary resources to help them with their job. Don't forget to include the employee handbook so that they can start exploring company policies as soon as possible.
25. Announce New Hires On Social Media
It's important for new employees' morale that you share their addition to your organization. This will first happen on a company level, but why not share it on your official social media, too? Express your enthusiasm about this new addition to your workforce and share a few key points about them, such as their role, background, and perhaps their hobbies. This will encourage your other employees to give the new hire a warm welcome and link up so that they can communicate in the future. Additionally, the employee will be able to post this announcement to their personal page to announce to their friends and loved ones this new stage in their career.
Fostering an emotional connection with employee onboarding activities is a balancing act. You must still maintain professionalism but not to the point that content seems cold or aloof. Then again, you don’t want to make things so personal that new hires feel uncomfortable. Walking that fine line allows you to boost employee engagement and tap into their intrinsic motivation as the onboarding course resonates with them on a deeper level and fosters real-world application.
4 Bonus Tips To Make New Employees Feel Welcome
1. Help Set Clear, Achievable Goals For The New Hire
A great way to start engaging new hires as soon as their first week is to set a path for the future. This entails laying out short and long-term goals that will help them adapt to the ways of your organization and kickstart their productivity. The initial goal-setting sessions you will have will probably mostly focus on promoting short-term organizational goals and helping employees align themselves with their team. But don't forget to discuss a long-term development plan for your new employees, including SMART goals that will help them forge a path to success.
2. Make Training Meaningful And Fun
Training is the most important part of the onboarding process. It can also make the new employees anxious and create confusion if it's not done properly. The best solution to that is to create a meaningful and fun training process with activities that will spark their interests. Try creating realistic and fun scenarios or WWYD questions that will make them ponder and come up with solutions. Through this, they will feel more prepared for the job tasks and less anxious.
3. Ask What They Prefer
It's thoughtful to ask your new member what they prefer in terms of the hardware you are going to provide them. They may prefer an ergonomic office chair due to back problems or some noise-canceling headphones to help them concentrate. You don't have to get out of budget with their choices. You can go for the in-budget purchases that comply with what they will ask for. This smart move will make your new hires feel involved and appreciated. Another reason to solicit their input and feedback is to ensure that you choose the right tools and activities for their onboarding process. For instance, they might opt for more autonomous resources versus those that involve a social setting.
4. Check In With Your New Hire Often
The onboarding process can be a bit overwhelming for a new employee. Check with them throughout their onboarding days, even multiple times a day. You can ask them how they liked their training or their given tasks, or if they need any guidance. You can also check with them about their meetings with the other team members or if they like their new equipment. This will give them confidence knowing that they can reach out if they ever have a problem or question.
Conclusion
Creating amazing employee onboarding activities doesn't have to be stressful or budget-breaking. It would be great to have your team members connect with your new hire first before assigning them tasks, or having them play some games together. You can also consider sending them a welcome kit and checking in about their preferences to make them feel valued and appreciated. You can also check out this list of the top content providers for onboarding to find the perfect outsourcing partner for your new hire training program.
Onboarding games and activities are a valuable addition to the traditional induction process. If you want to facilitate a smoother transition for your new hires by providing them with essential information about their role and the company, do it in a way that will stick. And really, what better way to shrug off the first-day jitters than with a company-wide onboarding game? Let your new hires enjoy themselves and build rapport with their new colleagues in a relaxed and friendly manner. But don't miss out on all the fun; take your mind off the paperwork and enjoy the games—let your employee onboarding software do the heavy lifting.
