How Export Development Canada Welcomes Hybrid Hires with Employee Onboarding Kits
- Client:
- Export Development Canada
- Use case:
- Employee onboarding kits
- Services:
- Kitting and pack assembly
Export Development Canada (EDC) helps Canadian companies grow beyond their borders, and a strong company culture has always been part of how they work. When onboarding went hybrid, the moment where new hires were handed their welcome swag in person disappeared with the office. EDC worked with our team to build sustainable welcome kits, assembled here and shipped to EDC in bulk, so a kit is ready whenever a new hire starts. They've run the program that way for several years.
What challenge was EDC trying to solve?
EDC needed new hires to feel welcomed, valued, and connected from day one, and hybrid work had made that harder to deliver. Their virtual onboarding program handled the fundamentals well: facilitated sessions, self-paced learning, clear expectations. What it couldn't do was give a new hire something to hold, a physical signal that they'd joined a team that had thought about their arrival. For an organization where culture carries real weight, that gap mattered.
Why didn't the old approach work anymore?
Before the pandemic, EDC gave every new employee branded swag in person on their first day. The swag worked because the moment did: a welcome, handed over face to face. Virtual onboarding took the moment away, and mailing out the same generic merch wouldn't bring it back. The kit had to do the welcoming on its own now, and that meant it had to say something real about who EDC is.
“With virtual onboarding, a key piece that was missing was an element helping us strengthen our new employees' engagement with our vision, mission, and values.”
Treena P., Program Manager, EDC
How did the welcome kits come together?
EDC didn't pick items from a catalog; they built the kit with our team from the first conversation. Three requirements shaped every choice. The products had to be useful enough that new hires would keep them. They had to meet EDC's environmental, social, and governance commitments, which meant items mostly made from and packaged in recyclable materials, and where possible made by women, BIPOC, and refugee-owned suppliers. And the ordering had to stay simple for the people running the program. The result was a customized kit where even the products carry meaning: plant-growing merchandise that makes sustainability and growth something a new hire can put on their desk, not just read in a values statement. It's the same kitting and assembly work behind every swag pack we build.
“The ordering process was superb. A member of the Ethical Swag team collaborated with us from the beginning to help us put together a customized kit suited to our needs and audience.”
Treena P., Program Manager, EDC
What happened when the kits went out?
New hires noticed, and they said so. The reactions EDC gathered describe the kits as unexpected, personal, and unlike anything from previous jobs.
“It made me feel more connected and appreciated right from the start.”
Rajiv H., EDC
“There was clear thought put into every decision.”
Dan G., EDC
One employee called the experience “10/10 better than anywhere else.” Another described the kit as reflecting “a culture of care, sustainability, and growth,” which is precisely what EDC wanted the products to say without saying it. Recipients recognized the intention behind the choices: the sustainability wasn't decoration, it was legible in every item.
What can other teams take from this?
EDC's program holds lessons for any HR, learning, or people team building onboarding kits of their own.
- 1Step 1
Start with the story
Decide what the kit should say about your company, then choose products that say it. In EDC's kit, the plant-growing merch stood out precisely because it made growth and sustainability tangible; a generic box of logoed items says nothing at all.
- 2Step 2
Make sustainability verifiable
Recipients can tell the difference between claimed and real. Items with recyclable materials and supplier credentials behind them let new hires discover your values instead of being told them.
Questions about onboarding kits
What goes in an employee onboarding kit?
Items a new hire will actually keep: drinkware, apparel, desk goods, notebooks, and pieces chosen to say something about the company itself, like the plant-growing merchandise in EDC's kit. The test for every item is the same: useful enough to stay on the desk, and backed by materials and suppliers you'd be glad to explain. There's no fixed formula; the kit is curated to your culture and budget.
How do onboarding kits get to new hires?
Either way your program needs. We assemble every kit; from there, kits can ship to you in bulk so your team hands them out, which is how EDC runs it, or ship to each new hire directly from our warehouse. Hybrid and remote teams usually mix both.
Do onboarding kits work for remote and hybrid teams?
That's where they matter most. When there's no office moment on day one, the kit is often the first physical thing a new hire receives from you, and it does the welcoming an office used to do.