Making a good first impression.

First impressions are the most lasting. At least that's what we've been told since the time we were children. One of the first and most lasting impressions new employees have of their employer is how they are greeted and treated on their first day of work. As employee communications professionals

Most organizations, particularly large ones, have some type of mission or quality statement that affirms, "our employees are our greatest resource." In organizations where such statements are merely lip service, the employees often liken the affirmation to the story of the farmer and his three-legged pig.

You remember that story: A visitor to the farm keeps questioning the farmer about his three-legged pig, while the farmer keeps boasting of the spectacular feats performed by the pig. When pressed as to why the sow has only three legs, the farmer finally explains, "When you have a great pig like that, you don't eat it all at once."

Part of the challenge for an organization that touts its employees as its greatest resource is walking that talk. And because many public and private enterprises in the United States were at least loosely patterned after archaic business models that emphasize employees blindly following a regimen of work, we see great conflicts between what organizations believe and how they behave.

The will to change may exist, but making the transition from the current behavior to desired behavior doesn't happen all at once. It often begins with small improvements that have lasting meaning. One such example is how Mecklenburg County government revamped its employee orientation in an attempt to live up to the credo of employees being the organization's greatest resource.

Mecklenburg County is one of 100 counties in North Carolina. It is the largest, most populous and most urban county in the state. The annual budget of federal, state, and local funds approaches a billion dollars, with more than 4,400 full-time and part-time permanent employees. Mecklenburg County hires about 650 new employees each year, to fill vacancies and, in some cases, fill newly created positions. There are five core businesses of Mecklenburg County government, comprising approximately 30 distinct departments providing services to Mecklenburg County residents. Geographic distribution of the work force is within the borders of the 540 square miles of the county, though dispersed in several buildings throughout that area. Like most governments, it's not always common for residents or new employees to be aware of all the services Mecklenburg County provides. Compounding that problem is that the city of Charlotte is the county seat, and numerous services of the city and county are consolidated, though there remains separate work forces, organizational leadership, and often corporate philosophy. Still, many new employees will be expected by customers to have a working knowledge of various county services, not necessarily only those the employee is responsible for providing. For example, a customer may contact the Tax Office to obtain information about their property value, then want to find out about obtaining a building permit. Now, the Tax Office is the appropriate place to obtain details on property values, but a different department handles building permits. If the Tax Office employee has not been provided with information on other services provided by the organization, not only will the customer's needs be unmet, but the employee has been short-changed by management; they will have been given insufficient resources (i.e., information and training) to do their job properly.