How to write a welcome email to a new employee
It’s not unusual to get a welcome email when you start a new job. What is unusual is one that really connects and makes you actually feel welcome.
Often, welcome emails are seen as transactional — a chance to tell someone where and when they’re expected to join you. Look beyond this and you’ll see a wonderful opportunity to introduce your culture and nurture better team relationships.
An amazing welcome is an essential part of any better-than-average onboarding process. Research shows that 70% of employees that had an exceptional onboarding experience say they have the “best possible job.” If you want your new hires to think you’re incredible, start with a phenomenal welcome email.
Let’s jump in and explore why welcome emails are so valuable and how to make yours stand out.
Your guide to welcome emails
Before we share our best welcome email templates, let’s first take a look at why this communication is so important and what welcome emails should look like. Here’s what you need to know to write amazing welcome messages to your new employees.
Why you should send welcome emails to new employees
A welcome email serves a few very valuable purposes in the onboarding process. First, it introduces your new employee to what’s expected of them and the logistics of their first few days. It’s also an opportunity to share more about your company culture, values, and work style. Finally, it gives you a useful way to welcome your new team member and let them know how excited you are for them to join the team.
Welcome emails have a valid practical purpose, but also an essential emotional one too. Many companies overlook the second aspect, and view welcome emails as a formality where you explain a start date, new job title, and any office “rules.”
Your welcome email also gives you the chance to set the tone for how you communicate as an organization and an individual. This is the ideal opportunity to share your approach to inclusive communication, and welcome your new team member into your culture.
The real value in welcome emails is in building connections, establishing trust, and laying the foundations for a great manager-employee relationship.
“Welcome emails are important because we are emotional beings and being appreciated and recognized is important to us. I only understood the value of a welcome email after I got a personalized welcome email that blew my mind. I felt that people needed me in the team and that I did not want to let them down. When done right it can make a difference with the people you are sending them to” — Christiaan Huynen, CEO / Founder at Designbro.com.
You want your welcome letter to make your new employee feel supported, appreciated, and comfortable. It should be not only an introduction to working with you, but a warm welcome to the team.
Who sends a welcome email
Often it’s someone in your role, on the human resources team, that initiates the new employee welcome letter or email — or at least the process that prompts it to be sent. This makes sense, as the HR team knows what they need from the new hire and vice versa.
If the welcome email doesn’t come directly from HR, it’s usually the manager that sends it. Sending the welcome email gives a manager the perfect opportunity to introduce themselves, connect with their new team member, and be a source of support before they start.
Sometimes companies also send a welcome email from the company’s CEO. If you have an inspirational leader or one that loves to get to know everyone, this can be a great way to build relationships across the organization. You can also send an email or message from a buddy too, if you run an onboarding buddy program.
When to send a welcome email
Most organizations send a welcome email a week or two before a new hire joins. This gives you plenty of time to collect useful paperwork and ID, and to resolve any problems or questions your new team member might have before they start.
Another approach is to look at your welcome email as part of a series. Create a schedule of emails and check in between the job offer acceptance and start date, instead of one single welcome email. This approach gives you more time to build a relationship, introduce your culture and new colleagues, and share what to expect. You can start the process by building excitement, then collect essential paperwork, and finally move on to introductions and preparations before their big start date.
What to include in a welcome email
Your welcome email should contain all the practical, logistical information that your new employee needs for day one.
Welcome emails typically include:
- Start date and time
- Typical working hours
- Location — either a physical office space, or where to log in to a virtual workspace
- What to bring — like ID, paperwork, notebooks
- Plan or schedule for the first day
- Contact information — email and/or phone number for their manager
If you’re meeting in person, also include details about where to park, where to check in, and where essential areas like the restrooms and break area are. For remote employees, schedule and share a link to a welcome video call.
In the past, lots of companies also shared information about dress code or attire. As more organizations move to hybrid or remote working, dress code has become less important. You don’t need to signal a formal/informal dress code in your welcome email, but you could mention it in your employee handbook for reassurance — or share some photos of your team members for a visual cue.
How to personalize your welcome emails
Welcome emails can feel bland and generic, especially if you copy and paste a template you found online. Make yours feel more genuine and useful by tweaking and personalizing them.
Your welcome emails should always be personalized with your new employee’s name and personal details, and your company name. These are the basics. Step beyond them and sprinkle in some personality to create a truly great onboarding experience.
Mention a comment or moment that you shared during the interview process, or reference their pet’s name or something special they talked about. Reference one of your company values and talk about how excited you are that they’re joining, as you know they’ll fit right in. These phrases might be small, but they make your new hire feel “seen” and establish a closeness that a generic template won’t do.
With Pyn, it’s easy to take our welcome email templates and customize them. We’ve included prompts for you to fill in with your own details, so you don’t have to figure out the best place for a personal story or where to mention your company values. Our Pyns also feature handy tips on what to include, beyond our suggested wording ideas.
How to send a welcome email to new employees
There are two main ways to send welcome emails to your new hires — manually, and with the help of automation. Let’s explore both!
Sending welcome emails manually
You can send a welcome email like you could with any other email. It’s easy to open up your email client, compose a message, and hit send.
The downsides of this? It’s easy to forget things, and consistency across managers and teams is almost impossible to achieve. Even with a template to copy and paste from, there’s no way to use smart fields to pull in data — so personalization relies on each individual to get right.
Using smart automation to send welcome emails
The downsides of manual email don’t apply when you add automation to the mix. With the help of an employee communications tool like Pyn, you can create a better, more personalized, and more consistent experience for every new hire.
Our smart fields automatically populate your emails and Slack messages with the recipient’s name and other details, so every message feels personal. Integrations with HRIS tools means that nobody gets missed, and you can roll out a consistent onboarding experience for all. Benefit from prompts that encourage managers to send or personalize messages, and automatically send messages in your new hire’s local time zone. It’s the better way to manage welcome emails and employee communications.
Whichever method you use, always make sure to double check the details you’re including. The last thing you want is for your new employee to have the wrong login details, or show up to your welcome meeting at the wrong time. Practice extra care here to make your new hire feel like part of the team.
4 Expertly designed welcome email templates to make your new employees feel appreciated
You don’t want to send a generic message to your new hire, but an effective template can give you great foundations that you can build on to create an incredible welcome email. Explore our best welcome email templates that help you extend the warmest welcome to the newest members of your team.
1. Company welcome email
Our first sample welcome email gives you an opportunity to introduce your company and why it’s amazing before your new hire starts with you. It features an introduction on what to expect, as well as a prompt on what to include — like a video about your culture, or details about upcoming events.
👉 Get the “Welcome to the company!” welcome email template
2. New employee welcome email from the CEO
Send a welcome email straight from your CEO with the help of Pyn. Use our template to tailor this introductory message and add in some personal details and company values, then share your excitement over your new team member.
👉 Get the “Welcome from the CEO” welcome email template
3. What to expect from your first day
This welcome email template feels more like a traditional welcome letter. There are prompts to cover the location, arrival time, and where to check in. There's also space to talk about welcome events, meetings with the team, and to introduce a buddy.
👉 Get the “Your 1st day is approaching fast! Here's what to expect” welcome email template
4. What to expect in your first week
Your new hire will want to know what their week looks like beyond the first day, and this template is an ideal way to share their schedule and what’s expected of them. The template has space for a schedule, as well as prompts to get IT set up, complete paperwork, and understand more about your culture.
👉 Get the “What to expect and do in your first week” welcome email template
Send phenomenal welcome emails to your new team members
Welcome emails aren’t just for sharing start times and locations — they’re an incredible opportunity to connect with your new employee. Use this moment to your advantage and welcome them into your team, company, and culture the right way.
If you’re looking for a tool to help you deliver better, more personalized experiences, try Pyn. We help you create, plan, and deliver personalized employee communications for all the moments that matter — including employee onboarding. If you’re ready to make your employee experience even better, schedule a demo with our team today.