Looking for some great intranet welcome message examples to create a great first impression of your company to new employees? We’ve got you covered.
All too often, companies neglect their intranets, yet new employees rely on them to learn about the company. But, with a little creativity and the right tools, you can create an engaging introduction to your company’s internal portal that will set an inviting tone for your employees and improve the onboarding experience.
How to write a welcome message
The most important thing is to sound genuine. Your employees are there because they want to work at your company, so don’t make them feel unwelcome or like they’re being watched. Instead, craft a message that lets them know that you value their opinions and contributions right from the get-go.
There are many ways to do this, so below we give you five intranet welcome message examples to help you get it right.
Intranet welcome message example 1: Video welcome message
Nothing quite communicates and engages as effectively as video. This type of intranet welcome message takes a bit of time to set up, but can provide one of the most personable and engaging experiences for your employees upon logging in. Depending on what you want to communicate, your video can be long or short.
A short video can quickly acquaint new employees with the company vision, mission, values and culture and let them know that they are a valued addition to the team. On the other hand, longer-form videos can contain content that explains how the intranet works and where they can find resources to help them settle down at work.
There aren’t any hard and fast rules on how to create an intranet video welcome message. It depends on what you want to communicate and the image you want to portray.
For example, Google once created a welcome message for new interns, which is now available on YouTube. The company wanted to portray itself as a fun place to learn, innovate and explore and so created a video showing previous new interns doing just that.
It’s the sort of video welcome message designed to position the company in a positive light in new employees’ eyes and may serve as an inspiration for a similar message at your company.
(Video source: youtube.com)
Intranet welcome message example 2: Message from the CEO
A message from the CEO is a great first impression during the onboarding process. It demonstrates that the CEO is invested in their employees’ success and sends a powerful message to new employees about their value.
The message can be formatted as a letter on the intranet home page, or as a recorded video message. Usually with these types of messages, the CEO highlights the benefits of working for the company, such as developing skills, working on exciting projects and learning from industry experts.
The CEO’s message may also touch upon important information about compensation or company perks such as health insurance, gym memberships, or sports club memberships.
Intranet welcome message example 3: Message from HR
The HR team plays a crucial role in the onboarding process and are usually the first department to interact with new employees.
A good welcome letter from HR would typically share information about the company history, culture, organizational structure, performance management and benefits that your company provides. This information makes the onboarding process smoother for new employees who are unsure what to expect when starting a new job.
The key here is brevity; it’s essential not to overwhelm those joining your team on day one by bombarding them with too much information all at once. Instead, your goal should be just enough information so they don’t feel overwhelmed but know exactly where to turn if they want more details later on down the road.
Intranet welcome message example 4: Staff handbook
Use a handbook in conjunction with any of the three welcome messages above or entirely on its own. You can welcome staff with a single liner such as, “Welcome to the company! We are delighted to have you on our team! Please find a copy of our staff handbook. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact your HR Business Partner.”
This directs new hires to the staff handbook to learn everything from company culture to administrative matters.
Elon Musk uses staff handbooks to welcome new hires at Tesla with great effectiveness. Tesla’s staff handbook is titled “The Anti-Handbook Handbook“. As the name suggests, it is unconventional in its approach – but provides a good example of how welcome messages set the tone for what new employees can expect.
(Image source: team-bhp.com)
Intranet welcome message example 5: Brief extracts from your most important pages
This type of welcome message is a great way to give employees a bird’s eye view of what they can expect from your intranet. For example, let them know that different sections are available for each department and provide links to their pages. This allows users to get right into their work while still showing them how accessible everything is and offering guidance along the way.
Preparing your intranet welcome message
Most intranets use a combination of these message examples for the best effect. Regardless of format and no matter whether it’s the head of HR, the CEO, or someone else who signs the message, the most important thing is creating a message that reflects your company’s ethos, style and culture.
This approach ensures you give new hires a positive and accurate first impression of your company while helping them settle down to work as fast as possible.
