Thank you so much for joining me for the last week of the Hiring Toolkit for your business. So far this month we covered how you define the job you are hiring for, how to recruit and how to interview. This week we are looking into onboarding your new employee.
Ok, so you have found your new employee!! So exciting! And now the next steps are to offer the position, (hopefully) have the offer accepted, and welcome your new employee into your company. This week we look into how to write a job offer letter, strategies for negotiating pay, and what to do on your new employee's first day.
The Job Offer
The job offer is a written offer that includes information on the employee's job and their first day at work. By providing your future employee with the job offer, you are giving them important information such as their title, their salary, benefits, and other important details. Once the employee receives the offer they then have the opportunity to accept, make a counter offer, or decline.
For full time, salaried positions the job offer is a contract that formalizes the relationship between the employee in employer. A formal employment offer letter should include the following:
Hours of Service and Position
Compensation
Benefits including any paid time off, medical, dental, vision, 401K or profit sharing
Contingencies, such as successful completion of hiring paperwork, and following the company handbook
A definition of at-will employment
Any other agreements you want to have with the employee such as their job description, non-disclosure agreement, etc
For hourly and temporary positions the job offer is typically less formal. It can be an email that includes the following:
Job Titile
Compensation
Time to arrive for their first day of work
Supervisor to ask for
Directions for completing their hiring paperwork
Their First Day
Preparing ahead of time for an employee's first day will help that day go more smoothly for everyone involved. The employee will feel like they are set up for success, and you will be organized with all the information they need in order to get started.
Have them complete their hiring paperwork on or before their first day. This should include:
I9
W4
Job Description
Handbook receipt
Required licenses
Any other documents your company requires of new employees
Prepare ahead of time for their arrival
Give them access to systems they will need
Timeclocks
Schedules
Register
Keys
etc
Start training
Learn More
In this series we will focus on the four main pieces of the hiring process: defining the job, recruiting, interviewing and onboarding new employees. The better we are at each of these steps the less likely it is we will bring someone into our company that just isn't the right fit. As always our goal is to create systems that are fair for all built on best practices.
July 13: Define the Job
July 20: Recruiting
July 27: Interviewing
August 3: Onboarding
I welcome your comments on this work. If you would like me to clarify anything or would like to participate in a conversation about this work, please consider commenting or reaching out to me directly.