New Hire Orientation
Games - 7 Activities
to Get Started on the
Right Foot
Making Orientation Day Fun
for You and Your Employees
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Copyright © 2013 - www.mindtickle.com
MindTickle enables businesses, trainers and individuals
to transform their existing online content (PPTs, Videos,
documents) into an interactive learning experience.
MindTickle engages the learner and makes learning
efficient, effective and delightful through a unique
combination of game mechanics (points, medals, badges
and leaderboard) and social tools (profiles, comments, chat
and walls).
About
MindTickle
The platform has been globally adopted by several Fortune
500 customers, and over 26,000 users have benefited from
MindTickle products.
MindTickle has global sales presence with headquarters in
the United States, and development / operations team in
India.
Learn More!
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Copyright © 2013 - www.mindtickle.com
“Tell me and I forget.
Teach me and I remember.
Involve me and I learn.”
Benjamin Franklin
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Copyright © 2013 - www.mindtickle.com
Author
Mohit has a diverse work experience spanning across
14 years and four continents. Prior to co-founding
MindTickle, he was a Director in PwC’s management
consulting practice at New York, and has been a
senior member of product teams. He was awarded
“Entrepreneur of the Year” by Startup Leadership
Program (SLP) in 2012. Mohit holds an MBA degree from
ISB and MSEE from Stanford University.
Mohit Garg
MindTickle Founder
@mindtickle
mindtickle.com
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Copyright © 2013 - www.mindtickle.com
Table of Contents
About MindTickle
Story Match
Learning Quote
Egg Drop
About the Author
Policies And Procedures
Introduction
Game Show
Scavenger Hunt
Lunch Roulette
Photo Match
Conclusion
Signature Hunt
Free MindTickle Demo
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Copyright © 2013 - www.mindtickle.com
New Hire
Onboarding
Games
Facilitate
Team
Building
As a human resources professional, you know how important the first few
days of a new job are for new employees. They are a little anxious but
excited and will need help in understanding your business’ culture and how
they fit into this new family. The great thing is that you are in control of this
experience and you can suit the experience to your business’ needs creating a
great new hire orientation experience. It is important to remember that new
hire onboarding should make someone feel like they are becoming part of a
team or a family; it should be a fun experience!
What better way to do this than with games? No I am not talking about LIFE
or Monopoly since they are individual focused rather than team focused.
(However, those games are awesome so I wouldn’t rule them out.) We’ll focus
more on larger group games accommodating larger new hire classes. New
hire onboarding games have been seen to create a positive energy in the
workplace that facilitates team building, which improves productivity. Here
are 7 solid games, how they are played, and their importance to new hire
orientation. By following this guide you will create an interactive and exciting
work environment that will get new hires motivated from day 1.
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Copyright © 2013 - www.mindtickle.com
Who doesn’t like a good scavenger hunt? While reading about this game, keep
in mind it can be played in many ways. One way is the classic game where you
take objects, hide them, and leave clues at each location so teams can find
the objects in consecutive order. You can also do what someone has a called a
signature hunt, which will be described later. However, a third way is to make
a game out of learning the company handbook.
Here is what you will need:
• New Employees that are eager and excited to learn
• Two handbooks
• Two lists of questions regarding specific information in the handbook
How to Play:
Scavenger
Hunt
After you’ve divided the new employees into two groups (or more small
groups if you have a lot of new hires), give them each a handbook and a list
of the questions along with a writing utensil. See which team can answer the
most questions in a certain amount of time, or go question by question giving
them an allotted amount of time to find the answer. You can even give an
incentive if you like; but don’t make things too competitive. You want to keep
it light and fun for these newbies.
Why it is Helpful:
This method of a scavenger hunt is useful for teaching new employees how
to understand and utilize a large amount of information. Clearly this is not a
game that requires enough energy to work out; therefore, this is a good team
building game and a good way to synthesize a large amount of information in
a fun way.
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Do you ever meet someone new and immediately forget their name? Better
yet, have you ever met a group of 10 people, but you can only remember two
names? If that’s the case then you will understand why this game is important.
Here is what you will need:
• A picture of each employee
• A written or typed out copy of each employee's name (you can cut
this into small pieces of paper)
• Motivated new hires
Photo
Match
How to Play:
Before you begin the game, introduce the new hires to the members of their
team. This way they attempt to become familiar with everyone’s names before
they play the game. After this is done, and you have the required materials, sit
down with the group at a table.Then have them try and match the picture of
each face to the correct name.
Why it is Helpful:
This game is important because it helps to not overwhelm the new hire. They
can’t be expected to remember everything the first time, so its better to ease
them into the position. This will help them become familiar with the team and
make them feel a little closer to each team member. The idea is to build the
confidence and trust of the new hires while making them feel at home.
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The signature hunt is essentially a combination of both the scavenger hunt
and the photo match. This is a fun game that allows the new hires to interact
with current employees.
Here is What You Will Need:
• A pen and a piece of paper for each new hire
• A list of current employees
Signature
Hunt
How to Play:
There isn’t too much required for this task, but new employees can take a lot
away from it. This game is played by sending the new hires out into the office
on a mission: to get a signature from each current employee. It is also a good
idea to tell your current employees to engage with the newbies with a
2-3 minute conversation.
Why it is Helpful:
This allows your new employees to integrate themselves into the workplace.
They get a one-on-one conversation with team members while trying to
remember their name; this one-on-one time helps with team building by
allowing everyone to interact with each other.
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Instead of making everyone go around the room and say an interesting
fact about themselves, why not spice it up a little bit. This is essentially
like watching the show Baggage on the Game Show Network without the
embarrassing/odd revelations.
Here is What You Will Need:
• There are no required items for this game except living people who
can talk. :)
Story
Match
How to Play:
So how does this game work? You bring all of the new hires and current
employees into a room and have them write three facts about themselves on
a piece of paper; however, the catch is that one of the “facts” is not true. You
then put these facts/mini-stories into a hat and draw them out one by one.
The group will then vote on who they think matches the description, or in
other words who this fact belongs to. The real fun comes from guessing which
messages aren’t true.
Why it is Helpful:
The point of this exercise is to have a fun icebreaker that doesn’t follow the
typical orientation process. This game adds flare since people can write down
one funny fact that will, hopefully, take everyone by surprise. It helps with
team building by building a sense of trust in a humorous way.
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A team building exercise – Now this is an exciting game that I wish I
played in the onboarding process. This game involves bringing new and
current employees together in an environment that fosters teamwork and
brainstorming.
Each team is provided with a basket of materials:
Egg
Drop
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
cardboard
masking tape
straws
pipe cleaners
paper clips
newspaper
an egg
How to Play:
So how is the game played? Well, after giving the basket to each group, you
tell them to build something that will protect the egg when dropped from 8
feet in the air. They are given 10 minutes to build their device, and to pray that
they don’t have to clean up the floor.
Why it is Helpful:
This is an excellent game because it simulates a stressful business
environment. You are given little time to work with what you have and create
a product. Teamwork is essential or else your team will fail; plus it will be a lot
of fun to watch.
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This game is a fun and competitive way to familiarize new hires with the
policies and procedures of your business. If you’ve ever watched the Game
Show Network and seen shows like Jeopardy or Family Feud, then you will
understand where I am coming from.
Here is What You Will Need:
Policies and
Procedures
Game Show
To play this game you need to allow the new employees to prepare and look
through the company guide or policy rule book as a review before you play.
The materials of this game are really left up to you and the type of game you
design.
How to Play:
One way of doing this is to create a game similar to Jeopardy where you
create categories of questions with each question being a different amount
of money. You can also do Family Feud style for questions that involve a list of
steps or procedures (i.e. What are the five things you can do if…).
Why it is Helpful:
This game requires trust between the members of each team, as required in
business, and the knowledge that comes along with the job. It helps people
learn on the fly and creates a sense of group identity.
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Lunch
Roulette
This is not quite a game, but it is definitely a great way to learn who everyone
is. How does this work? Each lunch or coffee break, a software application
selects two groups of four people to sit together and talk. Each person in the
group is from a different department, allowing people to really expand their
social groups and understand each part of the business (and the faces behind
it).
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Key
Takeaways
for
New Hire
Orientation
Games
All of these games will make for a high impact new hire orientation
experience. New hire onboarding is the new hire’s first impression and
is so important. You want to start new employees off on the right foot
so they understand they have a place in your business. Team building
is like a form of networking for these new employees; it provides them
with co-workers who they are comfortable with asking for help or
clarifications. If people are afraid to speak up, they may end up doing
the work incorrectly; however, with a positive work environment they
will produce higher quality work.
The key to onboarding is to create a friendly environment that fosters team
building and positive energy. So have fun with the new hire onboarding
process and let your fun, but professional, self out so you can better connect
with your new hires!
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