Build a new employee onboarding group with Yammer

Create a new Yammer group

Build out a dedicated onboarding group for new employees to ramp up fast. Name it something clear and obvious like “Contoso New Employee Onboarding” or “Contoso New Employees.”

Invite new employees to the group

Build this into your day one communications for all new employees. If you need help adding new users, check out our guide for managing Yammer groups. This should be done regularly to ensure all newly hired employees get added.

Pin company documents to the group’s files tab

Include helpful resources like employee handbooks, organizational charts, policies, benefits documentation, holiday schedules, or maps and transit information. Having this information in one location makes things easy for new employees and cuts down on the email load for managers and HR.

Welcome new employees

Send a message to newly hired employees so their new coworkers can welcome them. Bring their manager and team members into the discussion using the @mention feature. Ask them to introduce themselves and have them answer a few questions about where they’re coming from, what their new role is, and a few hobbies and interests so coworkers can learn more about them.

Start the conversation

Help to spark discussions by sharing questions into the group. Here are some example topics:

• How has your onboarding experience been so far?
• What challenges have you faced?
• What learnings can you share with others?

Host a monthly Q&A

Engage with your new employees in real time by hosting a monthly Live Event, Q&A, or “YamJam” so that they can ask questions, share their experience, and connect with their colleagues and HR. Learn about managing a live event and check out our YamJam playbook to create your own engagement moments.

Spark Yammer engagement

Encourage new users to join and create groups related to their role and general interests. Yammer groups are a great way for employees to connect, discover, and learn how to find information. The more involved new employees get, the better the outcomes are.

Leverage AI and Yammer integrations

Take your onboarding group to the next level by automating answers to frequently asked questions. This Yammer feature will help reduce your department's incoming email.

Establish and nurture champions

Identify potential champions such as HR leaders, managers, or anyone that shows interest in helping new employees get up to speed. Ask these people to follow your Yammer new employee group to get notified of posts and activity. From there, champions can help new employees by making introductions, building interactions, and responding to posts.

Go further

Don’t stop just yet—a Yammer group for new employees is just the beginning. Learn how to add this group into a SharePoint site dedicated to onboarding employees, with customizable trainings, announcements, and analytics complemented by the social superpowers of Yammer.