How Are New Employees Socialized?

When new employees are hired in a company or business, the first thought may be to attend to training them and teaching them the ins and outs of the jobs to be performed. Training, job description and sharing policy expectations are all important parts of welcoming a new employee on board but there are other issues to tend to in order to make a new employee feel like a full, official member of the work team. How employees are socialized into the company culture is an important piece in going from "new" to "established" as well.

Every company or business has an existing culture-a shared system of values, beliefs, ways of working, etc. When a new person is hired on, if he or she is ever to become a fully functioning member of the established work team, then he or she needs to be socialized or brought into the existing culture. This can be a simple or complex process, depending on the culture of the company, how cooperative and welcoming existing workers are and the role management might play in helping to socialize a new employee.

It is important to keep in mind that new employees do not become fully functioning members of a work team overnight. It takes time for each individual to not only learn the job and the tasks required to accomplish the job description, but to also adjust to the values and mission of the company or organization. Each employee brings with him or her a unique set of experiences and values as well and will need time and guidance in order to become acclimated to the company culture.

Socialization is not a one-time activity, but an on-going process. One could argue that the process actually begins before the new employee sets foot on the job. For this reason, paying attention to how management prepares a new hire for the job can be helpful. A realistic job description and real information about how the company culture works can give each new employee a head start. Since a new employee may be bringing information and experiences from other jobs, it is important to either let go or "unlearn" old ways of doing things in order to adjust to the way things are done within the new company. The act of socialization is actually influenced by both what the company or organization brings to the process and the willingness and ability to acclimate on the part of the new employee.