Preserving Company Culture: How to Deal with New Hires

| February 4, 2016

Preserving Company Culture: How to Deal with New Hires

Not everyone can easily fit into the company’s culture. If you want a relaxed atmosphere of teamwork and camaraderie, you need to ensure that the employees you hire fit right in. You can’t really determine that by looking at the resume. You need to look into each potential employee deeply and make sure that they would contribute to your company and still mix well with your other employees. Here is what you can do during and after the recruiting process.

Conduct the Interview Carefully

When you conduct the interview, make sure that you observe the candidate carefully and note all of their characteristics. You can prepare a list of questions that would offer the best insight into the candidate. You can compile this list with the help of your team mates. It’s always a good idea to include people who would be working closely with the candidate in the recruiting process as well.

You would be able to get opinions from others about the suitability of the candidate. While you might miss something during the interview, others might not. That way your team can pick a candidate that would fit in with them easily, without causing any disruption.

Encourage Integration

Once you’ve hired the candidates, it’s time to help them blend in with the rest of your team. You can do that by organizing team events, partnering them up with different employees, and helping them adjust to the company culture. As a small business, you can’t really afford to have someone who doesn’t get along with your other employees.

It’s a good idea to encourage a positive relationship from the very beginning. This would help your new employees feel like they’re a part of your team. They would have better teamwork and would easily adapt to the new working environment with the help of their colleagues.

Positive Feedback

New employees are always somewhat nervous and insecure. They would hesitate to come forward with ideas, would be reluctant to draw attention to themselves, or step forward to take big responsibilities. It’s your responsibility to encourage them and help them move forward. Positive feedback during the first few weeks is crucial. It’s a good idea to acknowledge their early accomplishments and push them to become more comfortable.

Positive feedback makes employees more confident, but it also affects the work culture. It ensures a nurturing atmosphere that people would love to work in. They would know that their efforts are being appreciated and they’re contributing positively towards the company.

Goals and Milestones

Nothing unites a team better than success. If you have reached a big milestone, or have completed a major project, you can celebrate it with your team. That would create an atmosphere in the office that encourages growth and productivity. Only employees that are competitive but not jealous or combative will contribute to the company culture by celebrating team success instead of individual success.

If you follow this process, your new employees will blend in easily with the rest of the team and become a true part of your company.