New hire introductions, how to break the ice with your new co-workers

HRNasty, it is so cool of you to bring in donuts. You’re the best!

How to introduce yourself as a new hire

As of last week, I am a new hire. In the previous few posts, I have mentioned that I recently started a new job. I have the good fortune of leading an HR department for a technology company with over 200 employees, and I am pretty excited. The team is technically strong and passionate about culture, and HR has a voice.

Like all new hires, I face the same challenges when starting a new job. To continue the theme of posting real-life job search experiences, I thought I would continue with my real-life onboarding process.

There are a few things that any new hire needs to learn during their onboarding process

• company’s leading product/service
• technologies and projects that your department is working on
• work effectively with your new team and new manager

Beyond the above, from an HR perspective, I feel I need to do a couple of additional things

• Understand and add to the culture of the company
• Learn what departments are located where in the building
• Learn employees’ names, what they do, and what interests them.
• Build connections across the enterprise

The last item for me is the toughest and the most important. I will not build any relationships if I do not know anyone in the company. If I do not know anyone in the company, no one will feel comfortable approaching me and asking for help. And let’s face it, 200 plus employees is a lot of names, seats, positions, and personal interests to remember.

Day 1 and 2

I blogged about how to be successful in your first 30 days as a new hire a few years ago and thought I would take a page out of the HRNasty book.

My first day was last Wednesday. I spent most of the time getting my shiny new laptop and various systems set up and logins organized.

Thursday night, I put together the following email in preparation for the next morning:

Subject Line: Free Top Pot Donuts in the lunchroom

My name is HRNasty, and I am the newest member of Tribe HR here at AcmePublishing. They haven’t kicked me off the island yet, and to celebrate, I brought in 5 – dozen Top Pot donuts. This translates to a dozen donuts per person on the HR team and one donut for the first 12 employees who stop by to introduce themselves. I am temporarily sitting with the typesetter on floor 10, but to make it easy for everyone, I will be working in the lunchroom on floor 11, where there are open boxes of gluten and sugar.

I know AcmePublishing has over 12 employees, but I figured I could only remember a few names a week. Next Friday, we will work on pony rides for the next 12 introductions.

In all seriousness, plenty of donuts. Don’t be bashful. I want to meet you.

HRNasty 

(I changed the names and departments to protect the innocent for this post)

My goal with the above email was threefold:

1.  Let everyone know that HR is in the house!
2.  Let everyone know I will NOT sit in my office worrying about my stapler. I am going to pound the pavement and build relationships. I held this in the lunchroom near the coffee machine. This is not HR territory; it is the neutral zone. When was the last time you said: “Hey, I am going to visit the HR guy in his office and see what’s going on?”.
3.  Use a little humor so the reader knows this isn’t your typical HR practitioner from Office Space.

This donut party was my ice-breaker. I work in tech. I was planning on making introductions at scale.

Moving forward, when I see someone in the hall, I can give them a chin nod of acknowledgment or strike up a conversation.

On Friday morning, I got up early, hit TopPot, and picked up 5 dozen donuts. For those of you not familiar, TopPot is our local “hand-forged” hipster donut chain, and I have to admit, they make a damn good apple fritter.

By 8:00 AM, my email went out to the employees at AcmePublishing. I had a cup of coffee, a laptop, and five boxes of carbs on the table in the lunchroom. I was ready to sip my morning coffee, chow on an apple fritter, and check my email. Yes, I was praying just a few faces would show up and not leave me hanging. I didn’t know what to expect or what type of reception I would receive.

I feared I would be pushing a cart around the company’s halls later that morning like an airline steward asking employees, “Apple fritter? Maple bar?”

Donut Boy

The role of Donut Boy roaming the halls was what I feared (I didn’t want to bother anyone while they were working). Well, I didn’t get to open my laptop, and I didn’t have time for a donut. It was a success. I had a constant stream of customers from 8 to 10:00 AM. Many folks only had half a donut, so I probably met close to 7 dozen employees. Most were there for the donut and the introduction, but a good number of folks just came by to introduce themselves.

It has only been a few days since the donut introductions. So far, I have been able to recognize and acknowledge employees, solidify my initial introductions with short hallway chats, and strike up conversations with a ton of co-workers. I am glad I didn’t sit in my cave Friday morning, taking inventory on staplers. Even folks who were out of town that day have come by to say hello and say they wished they were there.

This shit works!

If you are a department manager and have a new hire, bring a box of donuts to keep at their desk to facilitate introductions. If you are the new hire, edit the introduction above and bring in your box of donuts. And if you are a new HR person who needs to eventually meet everyone, be bold, forceful, proactive, and let them know that HR is in the house!

See you at the after party,
HRNasty

nasty: an unreal maneuver of incredible technique, something that is ridiculously good, tricky, and manipulative but with a result that can’t help but be admired, a phrase used to describe someone good at something. “He has a nasty forkball”.

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