Plant Your Values: One Budding Strategy for Aligning Onboarding Practices with Company Values

The core values and organizational culture of a company should first be communicated during the hiring process. Once hired, the focus then shifts to instilling these principles during onboarding. One of the best ways to establish clear company culture and values is to let new team members experience it through tangible, memorable and immersive experiences.

Consider your onboarding process and documents. Do they fully communicate your values? Is there an interactive element? Rather than focusing solely on processes and paperwork, look for ways to intertwine a rewarding activity that strategically fits into your company’s values.

For companies with a commitment to sustainability, internally communicating that green commitment is paramount as business sustainability requires a concentrated effort of everyone in the company. New employees need to learn the current expectations, environmental priorities, and sustainability goals. Intertwining a zero-waste activity into onboarding provides the opportunity for experiential learning.

Plant Company Values and Watch them Grow

Give each new employee a branded sheet of seed paper, a zero-waste alternative to virgin paper products, that has the company’s sustainability efforts outlined. Take some time to go over your sustainability initiatives and discuss examples of how it is exemplified each day in the office.

Next, ask each new employee to take a moment and reflect on their impact in the grand scheme of the organization’s commitment to environmental practices. How will they help support the company’s sustainability efforts? Once they have come up with a response, have them write it down on the back of their sheet of paper.

Here’s the twist.

Rather than throwing that sheet of paper away, challenge your employees to put it to good use. This unique paper is biodegradable, made from post-consumer material and has seeds embedded into the fiber. When placed under a thin layer (1/8”) of soil and given the proper sunlight and water, the paper decomposes, and the seeds will grow into wildflowers. Each planted sheet of seed paper helps grow habitats for important pollinators such as bees and butterflies.

This activity allows new employees to participate in creating positive environmental change and experience using a zero-waste product. This could be the first of many value-focused activities to help your new hires integrate into the company.

Looking for more creative and eco-friendly ideas? We’re here to help you flourish. Email projects@promoassets.com or call (859) 303-4544 to speak with a representative that can help you uncover new ways to communicate your company’s core values.

Note: All products are tested and approved by the USDA for planting in the US. Seeds are NON-GMO and tested for purity. We are committed to helping you select seed paper that is embedded with seeds indigenous to your region to encourage native plant growth.