Very poignant subject, especially in these times where lots of staff are moving around. I especially like the point about quickly announcing the person to partners and customers to show how valuable they are to the business.

Like a growing number of small businesses, we use virtual staff in addition to local employees to run our business. Your points are still very applicable but have some different tactics to make it happen.

I talked about these and how some of these can even boost their Internet Marketing efforts on our blog.

http://www.hip3.com/2008/09/maximizing-a-new-virtual-team-member/

Thanks again for the great post!

Jon

When I started at Pearle Vision as a store manager I went through tons of training on selling and reports and understanding the P&L but everyday I’d start with the same question: when will you teach me to make glasses. Everyday my boss brushed off the questison and said “oh, you’ll pick that up.”

To me the most important thing we did was make the glasses and as each day went by, I became more and more stressed. I knew there was an expectation that I would make glasss and yet no information as to how I would learn. It created an unnecessary level of stress each day I went to work.

So I would say, set expectations.

I did eventually learn to make glasses and also learned why he brushed it off – it is like making keys – not as difficult as you might imagine. If only he’d told me that.

This post took longer to write than normal. I kept revisiting some of the great and some of the bizarre experiences I’ve experienced with new hires and their/our first day. Maybe at a conference we’ll have a talent show and we can do skits…just using real-life experiences. Some of them are too funny….now. Some remain inspiring. Both helped me articulate in this post, what to do and what not to do.

Anita, sending a welcome email the day/night before is a great idea, also.

Amanda, I think I worked there once….It sounds familiar. LOL.

Chris. You know if you’re going to “do a meal”, that plan you describe sounds the best. Both from the meal and the experience and the results.

Thanks, all.

I think it’s a really nice idea to assign one person as their “guide”. It will give them that sense of ease to know that they have a specific person they can depend on for guidance and help.