What is an Onboarding Pack?
Onboarding refers to the process of bringing a new employee into a company. This can be scary and intimidating (for both HR teams and the new recruit!). An onboarding pack is usually given to the new employee to help ease that transition.Â
What is normally found in Onboarding Packs?
Of course this varies company to company but usually essential documents like company policies and contracts are included. A welcome letter from the CEO is always a nice touch and it’s useful to include information about other employee benefits and any training schedules. In addition to this, it’s very common for employees to be given any uniform or branded work apparel and of course, branded merchandise items.
Why is Onboarding Merchandise Important?
There’s a whole bunch of reasons why gifting new employees with company swag is a great idea! Here are our top 5 reasons why branded merchandise should be included in your onboarding pack:
1. It makes an excellent first impression!
You want employees to be happy and at ease on their first day at work and be impressed by their new employers. What better way to do that than free branded swag. It’s sure to put a smile on their face.
2. Increases brand awareness and recognition
You want employees to recognise your logo and brand colours and merchandise they engage with daily is a great way to emphasise these things. The use of the items in the office, on transport and in other areas of life also allows for increased awareness of your brand generally. Brilliant!
3. Allows you to emphasise your company values
Environmentally friendly merchandise is a great way to show your company is committed to sustainability. A branded yoga mat and a protein shaker might be a good way to show your commitment to wellness. Pride merchandise can be a great way to show an inclusive and diverse working environment.
4. Allows for brand consistency
This is particularly relevant when employees are client facing. It often looks smarter and more professional to have your employees wearing the same apparel/uniforms and using the same notebooks and pens. It also helps to reiterate your brand values, colours and logos to clients.
5. Increases employee satisfaction & engagement
Good quality merchandise that can be used again and again should allow for long term employee satisfaction and engagement, not just a positive first impression. Employee satisfaction is a huge factor in staff retention and well timed staff swag can play a large role in this.
Now most importantly…
What are the best Onboarding Merchandise items?
It makes sense to brand items that are used in the workplace, when working from home or whilst travelling to/from work. For this reason, items like: laptop bags, computer accessories, drinkware items, notebooks and pens, are popular for companies with office workers. Companies that have employees working outside or on sites might choose backpacks, umbrellas, hats, jackets or quirkier items such as measuring tapes and branded earphones. Branded apparel such as hooded jumpers are also extremely popular.
Onboarding merchandise packs are also a great opportunity to assert and emphasise your company’s values. Let your new employees know what’s important to you. Do you have a strong stance on eco-consciousness? Make sure your merchandise is made from sustainable materials and buy items that make a difference. Reusable coffee cups and water bottles are great options. They’re used everyday and will hopefully reduce the amount of single use plastic bottles and disposable coffee cups seen in the office. Other key values you may want to emphasise are employee wellness or inclusion and diversity.
It’s not a one size fits all solution when it comes to a company’s employee onboarding merchandise. It’s important to be specific to your brand, budget and industry and that’s why working with the right merchandise distributor is important.
Brandelity’s Top Tips for Onboarding Merch
Our top tips for when it comes to choosing onboarding merchandise are pick items that are useful! It sounds obvious but you want items that will better your employees workday and items they will engage with regularly. Something that sits in a drawer forever is of no benefit to your campaign for better brand awareness. If something ends up in the bin, it’s bad for the environment and is a poor investment.
Secondly, quality over quantity. Something of good quality increases your brand value and shows you to be a professional outfit. A quality item will be more appreciated by the recipient and will last longer, meaning repeated brand exposure for a prolonged period of time and that’s really the jackpot!
If you’d like help creating your own company branded merchandise for onboarding packs, just get in touch with our team on 01753 491470 or by emailing sales@brandelity.com
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