Unless any enterprising new joined newbies have already made the office rounds, you’re pretty much responsible for their workplace debuts. Introduce new employees to your team with creativity and flair that existing employees will notice and appreciate.
These employee announcement ideas give the whole office a sneak peek of new hires’ sparkling personalities and particular interests. Are you ready to jump-start the bonding process?
(PS – Many of these new employee announcement ideas came straight from real Office Managers that write into our newsletter The Assist — the #1 free weekly newsletter made for assistants by assistants.)
New Employee Announcement #1: The Multi-Channel Announcement
Different employees like to get their company news from different sources, so a multi-channel strategy ensures everybody gets all the crucial details about your latest hires.
Components:
To figure out what channels to use for your new team member announcement, simply select your company’s top 4-5 communication methods. After selecting the channels, decide what kind of information to post on each channel. For example, your new employee communication strategy could look like this:
- 📩 Company-wide email. Keep new employee introduction emails to colleagues short and sweet. List the new employees’ names, job titles, and emails. Put new hire information in a sidebar so it complements the other important things your internal communications team has to push out.
- 📋 Bulletin board. Let the established personality of your company’s bulletin board guide what you include in the employee announcement. If your company is super casual, post a humorous selfie and a fun fact about each new employee. If your company steers more traditional, stick to the usual subjects: name, job title, favorite book, etc.
- 📰 Quarterly newsletter. New employees count as news—the kind everyone wants to read about. A newsletter format provides plenty of room for adding interesting details to employee highlights. Get a nice picture of each person, and write up a short, casual bio that fits the length of your company’s typical newsletter segments. There are also a ton of cool newsletter ideas available online to profile your new employee in a way that they’ll appreciate.
- 🖥 Company Facebook group. On this casual channel, you can post pretty much anything you want! Try to collect a silly pic to post along with each employee’s favorite motivational quote.
- 📢 Social Recognition. Recognizing the achievements of your coworkers is a great way to celebrate, contribute to better office culture and connect with your employees. However, it’s also a great medium to announce a new hire to the department or company at large. Making an employee announcement helps tell your team that you want to welcome the new hire with open arms. We recommend checking out Bonusly – a leading employee recognition platform – as a great way to incorporate new employees and shout them out on their first day!
Courtesy of Bonusly
Why everyone loves it:
- New employees love it because… everyone in the company will read about them on at least one of the channels. As a result, new hires will likely get plenty of warm welcomes from people across the company and feel right at home in no time.
- Current employees love it because… they won’t accidentally miss the new hires’ information and feel out of the loop when they keep stumbling upon strange faces in the lunchroom.
New Employee Announcement #2: Make it Stick
One of the best things you can do for new employees is to announce them in a way that makes their names and faces impossible to forget. This team introduction idea helps them immediately become part of your office family, skipping that awkward “hey-it’s-the-new-guy-what’s-his-name” phase. Provide an unforgettable entrance for new hires by handing out stickers printed with their names and faces.
Components:
- New hire photo
- A design file (the photo overwritten with the new hire’s name)
- An employee welcome kit from SwagUp
Why everyone loves it:
- This quirky idea is even better than making the new hire wear a nametag during the onboarding process
- Employees get an easy and constant reminder of the newbie’s name and face
- Everyone can pop the sticker on their wall or notebook and never worry about forgetting the new hire’s name and making them feel unwelcome
Bonus: If your new employee is working remote, send them some useful company-branded swag (+healthy delicious treats) in a personalized Caroo Work From Home Kit to kick off their time at your company in style!
New Employee Announcement #3: The Slumdog Millionaire Anecdotes
This new hire announcement is a reference to the Oscar-winning movie about a contestant on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and the fascinating stories behind each trivia fact he knew.
Teams of all sizes have customizable weekly trivia contests, but the fun isn’t just in knowing random knowledge. The fun comes from the conversations that trivia sparks.
One great way to get to know new employees is to have them type out a few tweet-length anecdotes about how they knew the answer to the most recent trivia quiz.
Components:
- Set up weekly trivia contests for your team and make sure that new hires are invited in their first week on the job
- Create guidelines or a template for how and where the anecdotes are shared
Why everyone loves it:
- New employees love it because… they can share information about themselves in a written way rather than being put “on the spot” in a meeting
- Current employees love it because… they get to learn about a new coworker in the context of an office activity they already enjoy.
New Employee Announcement #4: The In-Person Intro
Make new employees feel welcomed and appreciated by planning an in-person introduction meeting. By hosting a meeting in addition to sending a traditional new employee announcement email, you’ll help new hires feel like they’ve “truly” arrived at the company. It’s the perfect kick-off for years of amazing work! A great way for introducing a new employee.
Components:
- In-person introduction meeting. Design this meeting to fit your company’s culture. You can format it any way you like, as long as everyone in attendance learns something about your fabulous new employees. For some companies, this meeting might involve new employees standing up and saying what positions they’ve accepted and where they’re coming from. For other companies, this meeting might involve a high-energy series of introductions similar to those of pep rallies and sporting events. Check out this video to see how SnackNation introduces new employees!
[youtube id=”nqJVHs04on8″ width=”600″ height=”350″ autoplay=” no” api_params=” class=”]
- Weekly company-wide email. Supplement your meeting by adding some information about new hires in your weekly company email. This will help anyone who wasn’t at the meeting learn a little bit about new hires, and it also provides existing hires with a cheat sheet they can reference any time they need to remember a new team member’s name, face, or interests.
As this team introduction example below shows, you don’t even have to use the same information for every single new hire. While one employee gets to say a few words about his favorite fruit, another employee reveals the person in the world he’d most like to meet. Mix it up and have fun so readers stay engaged. By the time readers finish the email, they’ll feel they truly know the new hires!
Why everyone loves it:
- New employees love it because… the epic introduction they receive will make them feel special and excited to start their new careers at your company.
- Current employees love it because… they learn a variety of interesting tidbits about their new team members. It could take years of co-working to suss out some of these exciting details!
New Employee Announcement #5: The Snack & Greet Announcement
Speed up the bonding process by planting healthy treats or other goodies on the new employees’ desks. Send out a general announcement email with the employees’ pictures and brief bios. Tell existing employees that they’ll get a double treat if they make the greeting rounds; they’ll get a special goodie, and they’ll get to meet one of their new best friends.
Components:
- A casual email. Include pictures, names, and office locations of the new hires. Tell existing employees if they want to learn more, they’ll have to visit the newbies.
- Healthy snacks or inexpensive goodies, like office supplies.
Why everyone loves it:
- New employees love it because… they get plenty of face-to-face interactions with their new coworkers.
- Current employees love it because… they’ll be glad the prospect of snacks lured them to their new coworkers’ desks; meeting the new hires was even better than the promised treats.
New Employee Announcement #6: The Mingling Meeting
Post new employee announcements on your main office screen or bulletin board. Let the announcement run (and sink in) for a few days, and then schedule a casual all-hands meeting where existing hires can mingle with new hires in person. You can use a platform like Pigeonhole Live to ensure the all-hands meeting runs smoothly and encourages audience participation.
Components:
- Company bulletin board or screen. Add some personality to the board or screen by having new hires answer a series of questions on an index card. (Advise them to use their best handwriting!) Then post the actual index card (or a JPEG version of it) on the board or screen. The handwriting adds a warm, authentic touch.
- Casual meeting. Just grab some healthy snacks and beverages and bring everyone into a conference room for about an hour or so. Give new employees brief introductions, plus special name tags, hats, or other accessories to indicate they’re the newbies. After that, mingling will happen naturally.
Why everyone loves it:
- New employees love it because… the casual mingling meeting will feel like any other get-together with coworkers. They won’t feel too much heat from the spotlight, but they’ll also get the perfect venue for meeting as many new coworkers as possible.
- Current employees love it because… they get to demonstrate what it’s like to be part of the team.
New Employee Announcement #7: The Rule of Three Announcements
The rule of three suggests that a three-pronged approach to any communication makes a satisfying and memorable impression on audiences. Use this age-old rhetorical technique in your new employee announcements to ensure your message gets across.
Components:
To incorporate the rule of three in your new employee announcement, simply choose three communication channels. Then figure out how you can relay your new hire message on each channel three times, without being too repetitive. Here’s an example:
- Channel: Slack
- Announcement 1: Relay new hires’ names and job titles.
- Announcement 2: Relay fun facts. Did you know new hire John W. is an accomplished glass blower?
- Announcement 3: Mention new hires in an upcoming event announcement. Don’t forget about tonight’s happy hour! New hire John W. will be there showing off Instagram pics of his glass-blowing projects.
- Channel: Bulletin board
- Post 1: Post new hires’ pictures, job titles, and office locations.
For example:
Mindy Jennings
Data Architect
Come and meet me! I’ll be sitting in the “bee hive” with the other data architects!
- Post 2: Provide a few more details on the new hires. Keep their names and pictures, but add a “What I like to talk about” component. This gives existing employees the perfect icebreaker when they meet new employees.
- Post 3: Provide a few more work-specific details. Keep their names and pictures, but add a “What I’m working on” component. Again, this gives existing employees something to ask the new hires about when they meet.
- Channel: Weekly Happy Hour
- Happy Hour 1: Give new employees a brief introduction.
- Happy Hour 2: Relay new hires’ hidden talents or most embarrassing moments.
- Happy Hour 3: Set up new hires at separate tables and announce it’s time for “New Hire Hot Seat.” Existing employees can go to the tables and ask their new coworkers questions. Set a timer for three minutes so new employees don’t get overwhelmed.
Why everyone loves it:
- New employees love it because… they get to know their new coworkers. Once all the communications die down, new employees will feel like certifiable team members.
- Current employees love it because… it’s fun! Plus, they get to learn a lot about new employees, so they know they’re forming strong relationships.
New Employee Announcement #8: The Digital-Savvy Welcome
If you come from a laid-back company and want fun ways to welcome new employees, then this no-fuss new employee welcome message is for you! Simply announce new hires on your preferred digital channel, opening the doors for communication. Digital tools make it easy for existing employees to message new hires immediately and kickstart the welcoming new employee process.
Components:
- Slack, etc. announcement. Include basic information. This new employee announcement example is designed to inspire communication between existing and new employees. The post should simply jumpstart the communication process.
Why everyone loves it:
- New employees love it because… they can meet an incredible amount of new team members incredibly fast. Plus, it helps them learn their new company’s preferred communication tool, so they’ll feel in the loop.
- Current employees love it because… it gives them a chance to welcome new team members without disrupting their potentially busy days.
New Employee Announcement #9: The Straightforward Email Announcement
If you want to keep things simple, there’s nothing like sending a straightforward email to announce new employees. To make the announcements stand out, send a dedicated email to highlight new employees instead of plopping the introductions into existing communications.
Components:
- Imitate the tone of your other company communications, and design an email that’s perfect for your company and your new hires. Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Set aside an hour to create an evergreen template. Include name, job title, and email address, and then choose about five bonus questions on personality, interests, work history, and anything else you want.
- Do a Q&A-style post.
- Write up short, narrative biographies.
- Craft a personal welcome message.
Why everyone loves it:
- New employees love it because… they get to think about how they want to introduce themselves to new coworkers.
- Current employees love it because… they get to learn a ton about new employees, all from the comfort of their desks. Plus, this strategy keeps remote teams in the loop.
Bonus: New Employee Announcement: The Boss Introduction Email
This new hire announcement puts a twist on the straightforward introduction email above. Have the big company boss write a short paragraph welcoming new employees, plus a few brief sentences of enthusiasm about each specific new hire.
Components:
- Work with the boss to write the email, especially if time is an issue. Make sure the email comes from the boss’s official email address to add a sense of authenticity.
Why everyone loves it:
- New employees love it because… they get to learn why the boss is excited to have them on board, plus an executive email adds an official sense of welcome.
- Current employees love it because… they get to read about new hires in the context of the boss’s excitement. From the email, existing employees will get a strong sense of why the new employees were hired.
