
Use Your Unfair Advantage To Create an Unforgettable First Day For New Hires - oellenbogen
http://lnbogen.com/2013/04/11/how-to-use-your-unfair-advantage-to-create-an-unforgettable-first-day-for-new-hires/
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elliptic
Jesus, this sounds like my nightmare. Just lead me to my cube and let me get
to work.

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pbiggar
This isn't about embarrassing you. This is about showing that they care about
you. Clearly, in your case they would prepare something to suit you - perhaps
a gourmet basket sent to your house or similar, in a way that wouldn't
embarrass you.

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kijin
@elliptic's complaint is not about embarrassment, it's about respecting
people's conceptions of appropriateness. For example, if he likes to keep work
strictly separate from the rest of his life, having anything delivered to his
home that isn't strictly necessary would be a violation of his principles and
therefore a gesture of disrespect.

For another example, people with Asperger's can look embarrassed when you
violate their rules. But the symptoms that neurotypicals tend to interpret as
embarrassment can just as well be a sign of deep indignation.

Actually caring for a person means respecting their opinions and preferences,
up to and including a preference for an utterly unmemorable day at work, or a
preference that their boss does not exploit unfair advantages.

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pbiggar
I think we're actually agreed on the issue. In the original article, it said
they looked through someone's (obviously public or shared) facebook for
something they would like. Clearly, they would also (well, ideally) sense the
right level of respectfulness for people who value unmemorable days.

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davidroberts
I'm starting a new job in a week. Just in case they read HN, I really like
brand-new Ferraris....

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zeteo
And... the (mandatory) fun at work movement reaches a new low of creepiness.
Guys, what happened to professionalism? privacy? letting employees decide how
much (if any) of their personal life gets meshed up with work?

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joonix
What happened to ... you are being paid a lot of money to do this job,
welcome, we look forward to getting to know you, in the mean time here's your
desk.

Is our generation incapable of being productive unless we are treated and
spoiled like children?

I don't want to have NERF fights at work. I don't want to go to a party or for
drinks three times a week after work. I don't want to feel like my employer is
a fraternity. I want to get my work done and return to my life at home. I
guess this means I'd quickly get purged from this kind of company?

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ruswick
Moreover, doing this sort of thing is presumptuous and may actually work to
the detriment of the employee. What brings one pleasure at home may inhibit
productivity at work. For instance, I have a large number of art pieces,
decorative objects, lamps, etc., at home that create a certain aesthetic that
I enjoy when not working. However, I prefer to work in a relatively spartan
environment, and superfluous items or clutter just creates more mental
overhead and makes concentration harder.

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ruswick
Obviously, creating a welcoming environment for a new hire is beneficial to
all parties, but this is somewhat absurd. One's workplace and one's personal
life are and ought to be, by default, separate and disjunct. It should be the
employee exclusively who chooses whether to bring their work home or bring
their personal life into their occupational life.

There is something deeply disconcerting about having an employer go out of
their way to meld one's personal life and work life from day one.

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pasbesoin
There are [extroverts] and there are [introverts]. You can choose your own two
words for those placeholders.

As an [introvert], I would find such an approach both overwhelming and
uncomfortable.

In work socializing, as in most of the rest of life, I believe in "opt-in".
I'd rather have the choice to engage when and where I see fit.

I'll take one more pass at this: The new person is joining an established
social structure (through the convention and primary focus of getting work
done and earning a living).

From my perspective, the type of attitude described in the OP forces a lot of
social interaction, and perhaps an immediate, corresponding sense of _social
obligation / reciprocity_ upon the new person who is, grand gesture aside,
still an outsider.

I would rather get to know people and have the chance to decide who and how I
genuinely like, at my own pace.

I know how to get along professionally with most anyone. Whom I like and with
whom I want to really socialize, is _my_ decision and is a more nuanced
decision that takes some time.

And I don't do "fake". Turning the "social" to 11 on the first day, feels like
forcing me towards either awkward, if and as I'm not ready to genuinely
reciprocate at similar volume and enthusiasm, or towards fake.

Help me to focus on the work, so that I feel like I'm up to speed and
contributing. On my own, I'll feel more comfortable, socially, then. That, to
me, feels more like putting things in the right order. Be friendly, sure --
but with a bit of reserve, so that I can feel comfortable exercising the same.

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epoxyhockey
My more memorable first days of work consisted of walking into a relaxing
setting, sitting through new hire orientation where I learned everything about
the company spoken by the heads of every department, being served free food
all day and receiving a gift bag of chachkies at the end of it all. That
process always made me feel like royalty: a few days of interacting with
senior management (and other new hires) and being served free food.

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od2m
My first corporate gig-- I had a horrible first week, they dumped me in an
office, no assignment, no computer… nothing. They said another guy would be
starting in a week and we'd get started then. I just sat there for a week.

I decided when the new guy started I'd try and make his first day better than
mine-- I introduced myself and took him to lunch and ended up making a life
long friend, some years later he was a groomsman at my wedding. Making a good
friend at work has happened twice in my life, and let me tell you there's
nothing that eases the burden of labor like working with a good friend every
day.

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swanson
I think this is good concept - though I'm not sure if I would take it to the
levels that they did (the Facebook part was a bit much for me...).

Even a small thing - a personalized postcard in the mail that arrives a few
days before you start - would make me smile and feel welcomed.

There is a fine line though, and the difficulty is that the line is different
for every person. Some people would love a personalized cake celebrating their
first day, others would not.

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davidroberts
The Facebook thing struck me as kind of creepy too. I'm not sure I would feel
all warm and fuzzy knowing that my new employers had been crawling through my
Facebook pages.

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RandallBrown
Let me tell you about my worst first day.

I got to work half an hour before my manager and sat in an empty office by
myself. When the manager finally showed up, he gave me a box that had a new
computer and said "Here you go, set it up." I didn't have a keyboard, mouse,
or ethernet cable and I had to go scrounge them second hand.

I spent the next week pretty much doing nothing but reading through manuals
and talking to nobody but the cafeteria workers.

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evck
I think my most memorable first day was going around a track in a Tesla
Roadster, and a pre-production Model S. It's going to be hard to top that one.

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wink
I do agree the Facebook part was a bit much, but I find the general idea
really good.

Maybe it's me being with small companies but we have had a significant
percentage of personally referred new colleagues, so there's someone already
knowing them anyway.

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mgarfias
This article fails to show what benefits this has for either the company or
the employee. I did, however, end up slightly creeped out.

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pashabitz
This is good stuff! I am adopting it for the next hire in my company.

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JFrolich
A

