Onboarding New Staff at Your Small Law Firm

Bringing on new staff can be difficult, especially for small law firms that don’t have an established onboarding process in place. Onboarding plans are important because they’re designed to help new employees familiarize themselves with the goals and processes of their new company so that they can quickly and efficiently become successful, productive workers.

If your small law firm doesn’t have an onboarding plan, here are three things you can do to make that process easier for new staff members:

1. Start the orientation process before their start date. Prospective employees should be able to access information about the firm’s workplace culture from your website’s Careers page. Additionally, throughout the interviewing and recruitment stages, you should discuss with potential hires what it’s like to work for your firm and how it functions. Starting this process early will help both you and prospective employees decide if you’re a good fit for each other.

2. Plan ahead. The first day at a new job often involves mountains of paperwork. Instead of sticking a new hire in a room with tax forms, get a head start on the paperwork by sending it along with their offer letter. This will eliminate an hour or so of clerical work and help your new hire focus on the important details — like getting familiar with their new job and colleagues!

3. Provide details. It’s easy to gloss over small details during the onboarding process, especially when you’re focused on the bigger picture. But for your hires to really get comfortable in their new environment as quickly as possible, it’s important that you go over the details that might cut into their productivity. Before their first day, do the following:

• Alert your office to the new hire’s start date
• If your office has a security desk, let them know who to speak with before arriving
• Set up their computer and workspace
• Have guides ready for installing and running any necessary software
• Let them know where to park, where to find the bathrooms/copiers/cafeteria

Want to learn how to make your new hire’s job even easier? Take a virtual tour to see how Smokeball can help your employees work smarter HERE!