20 Welcome Kit Ideas for New Hires (2024 List)

In the world of employee onboarding, welcome kits are criminally underrated. You must remember that even though your employees come to work to do a job, they want to feel fulfilled.

As an HR professional or a manager, it is one of your responsibilities to ensure that job satisfaction is synonymous with your organization.

Many people in your position believe that you can only begin this process when the employee has begun working and enough time has passed to achieve progressive satisfaction. 

However, what they may not know is that it's possible to get the ball rolling on the first day. You may be asking yourself, “how is this possible when someone has barely had enough time to familiarize themselves with an environment?” 

Remember that a first impression is an incredibly strong tool, and you can get off to a running start with the feeling of job enrichment by providing an employee welcome kit to each new hire.

The fact that you are here reading this means that you are already aware that an onboarding kit is a great idea. However, you may be in the market for some inspiration to help you start putting one together. 

Today is your lucky day! Below is a collection of 20 welcome package ideas that you can use to take employee happiness to the moon on the first day.

20 Welcome Kit Ideas for New Hires for Your Business

1. Informational Essentials Bundle

No matter what job it is, there is always a host of information to absorb when someone is new on the block. It's up to the onboarding process used to make this knowledge transfer as convenient and as valuable as possible. 

An informational essentials bundle is intended to bring a collection of valuable insights to a new hire in a conveniently consumable form. 

This welcome kit can include a handbook, a handout with pictures and names of relevant personnel, a map or listing of great places to get lunch, and information on any employee benefits that are accessible but would not otherwise be readily communicated.

2. Worker Starter Pack

The worker starts a pack where new hire SWAG comes into the mix. SWAG in this case is not a representation of how well someone dresses, though it can include clothing employees are given. Instead, imagine new hire SWAG as an abbreviation that means “stuff we all get.” 

Here, you can conveniently package clothing items, access cards, identification, and other things that a new hire may need to efficiently get assigned tasks completed. If the employee is entitled to a company vehicle, this would be a good time to hand over the keys and the vehicle documents. 

3. Office Accessories

This is a bit different from the electronics entry, considering not everything that falls under this category contains any computational hardware. However, there are a few smart office accessories sprinkled in. 

The idea here is to create a collection of items that improve the quality of life associated with the job. Such items include a monitor arm, desk pad, LED desk lamp, flow board, etc. Work is likely never going to feel the same again.

4. Employee Purchase Program Allowance

The final entry on the list falls under the category of things that are not necessarily physically handed over. Allowing employees agency over the workspace they have is a tremendous gift to give. Maybe one person wants to choose a special kind of standing desk while another prefers an office chair with a headrest. 

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5. Welcome Card

Sometimes less is truly more. Instead of a whole welcome kit, you could consider giving your new workers welcome cards. These can be bundled with gifts for new employees if you so desire, but you want to ensure that each card is personalized. 

A good way to collect specific information about each hire is to have questions during the interview specifically targeted at learning something valuable that can translate to the card.

6. Safety and First Aid Essentials

Depending on the company and job function, what falls under this category may vary. For some, it could be first aid essentials, such as bandages, alcohol, and the like. There is no need to provide it in large quantities, as you just want each employee to have a small amount on hand. 

In other lines of work, hard hats, rubber boots, and other personal protective equipment (PPE) can be included here. 

7. Mental Health Assembly

Sadly, it took a lot longer for the world to realize the importance of mental health than it should have. However, you should be aware and interested in this topic, considering you can see much greater employee output when all the mental stars are aligned. 

Therefore, a good idea is for your welcome kits to include an assembly of things that are dedicated to preserving and even improving mental health. For example, inspirational cards or a stress ball may be good ideas. 

You can even include something short and informative to bring awareness to the signs of deteriorating mental health. On that note, whatever medium you use should use language that normalizes seeking help when needed.

8. Edible Welcome Pack

Food is a universal language and a welcome package that includes it is likely going to be tremendously well received. While no one is telling you to purchase a burger and some fries for each new employee, consider a snack pack including items such as nuts, granola bars, chocolate, and even gum. 

9. Work from Home Starter Pack

If you truly want to attract remote work talents, then you need to ensure that your offerings are conducive to their needs and tastes. It has been proven time and time again that employees can be just as productive in a remote environment as they can be in a physical one, so that should ease some of your concerns. 

A work from home starter pack can include some stationery, blue light glasses, a dedicated internet dongle, etc.

10. Aroma Kit

You may be confused about how one could put together an aroma kit for onboarding kits. Are you expected to capture scents in a box? The welcome package idea here is to provide your new hires with items or welcome kits that can leave both them and their environments smelling incredible. 

Potential candidates under this category include essential oil diffusers, perfumes or colognes, bath bombs, etc. You tend to find that most people are very appreciative of these kinds of thoughtful things. 

11. Personal and Professional Development

You can't physically hand over personal and professional development, but there's a lot you can do to ensure both are taking place. Many employees want to know that companies are not only concerned about the figures. 

People want assurances that the places they work for are interested in their personal and professional growth. This is where you can immediately introduce counseling sessions, personal development workshops, and training platforms that the company has paid for. 

Starting on that foot, especially if there are personal development plans established and followed with each worker, is a wonderful touch.

12. Stationery Pack

This one is self-explanatory. It speaks to welcome kits that include all the stationery items that an employee would need to carry out a designated job function. For example, if you are bringing on architects, then they would need many of the items you may find in a geometry set. 

The more common case simply requires the provision of a ruler, scissors, pens, pencils, etc. Ensure your inventory manager always has these things on hand. 

13. Branded Goodies

The provision of branded items appeals more to an employee's need for belonging than it does anything else. If you have ever stopped to observe this trend, you may notice that workers love to get new clothing items and accessories that bear company branding. 

It brings a sense of identity, especially when it's the first day on the job. Welcome kits that take advantage of this may include shirts, caps, pens, cups, and just about anything that a company logo is found on.

14. Sticker Set

It may surprise you to know that a sticker as the welcome kit set can be an effective onboarding kit element, but children are not the only ones who appreciate such items. While adults are not looking to put stickers in notebooks, they do use them on walls, laptops, cars, etc. 

You may want to have someone good at art and design select the stickers that are being disseminated. Alternatively, some sticker-making companies allow you to bring in your designs, which eliminates the need to limit yourself to pre-made options. 

15. Electronics

Technology has taken the world by storm, and it's safe to say that things are never going to go back to the now-archaic days of the typewriter. You can capitalize on this since just about everyone loves to get their hands on some new electronics. 

You don't have to go over the top, especially considering much of this is being facilitated by the company's budget. Simple headphones, a small desk clock, and other useful pieces can complete this welcome package set.

16. Wellness Kit

A previous entry spoke to the importance of mental health, but this one focuses on the holistic picture of wellness. You want your employees to feel as if the company facilitates and supports initiatives that lead to better physical and mental wellbeing. 

This kit of sorts can include a gym membership, yoga mat, counseling sessions, fitness clothing, etc. Beyond giving new hires these items, your company's culture is going to need to embrace the importance and facilitating of wellness initiatives. 

17. Personalized Gift

Gifts for new employees are always a good bet, and the more they hit home, the better. People appreciate gifts 10 times more when they can feel the thought that was put into them. 

This entry is a lot like the welcome cards as the welcome kits, but the items being given can vary. For example, if you know that your new hire is a huge soccer fan, then giving the gift of a soccer ball may make that employee incredibly overjoyed.

18. Learn the Locale

This kind of employee welcome kit takes the idea of giving information about great places to have lunch and kicks it up to 11. Mini maps can form a part of this kit idea, and you can zero in on important places in the area. 

For example, instead of just indicating where good restaurants are, you can give an idea of the meals they offer and if delivery is available. Information highlighting useful landmarks such as banks, bus and train stations, etc. also go well here. 

19. Initial Objectives

Ideally, this should form a part of welcome kits, as opposed to being the whole thing. While some businesses don't have this problem, many companies onboard employees who don't have a definitive list of the things they are being appraised and evaluated on. 

This becomes an even bigger problem in organizations with a probationary system. How should an employee know what to do to retain a given position without defined targets? Again, going the route of easily consumable information is always recommended.

20. Handmade Gestures

Being able to see the amount of effort that went into a gift or welcome kit often makes it that much more special. Knowing that someone took the time to buy you something is one thing. However, finding out that someone spent time making you something creative is even more special. 

This is another area that requires someone who is incredibly artistic and creative. There is no need to limit it to handmade and handwritten cards. Maybe there could be a scarf, a pillow, or something else made by hand.  

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Final Remarks

As you can see, the possibilities for employee welcome kits are numerous. The best part is you are not limited to choosing based on what you see here. However, these should be great thought starters to help you put something valuable together for those coming into your organization.