Employee Onboarding Photo Scavenger Hunt: A Welcome Kit

Short answer: Give new hires a buddy, eight useful discoveries and permission to leave the camera off. This employee onboarding photo scavenger hunt is a suggested 35 minute welcome activity, not a test: participants find where to get help, practise asking a question and leave with a next contact.

• Choose four of the eight missions below for the live session. Leave the others available for later.
• Replace every bracketed location or resource before sharing the handout.
• Accept a conversation or private checklist mark instead of any photo.
• Close with unresolved questions and a named person responsible for answering them.

Open the editable onboarding welcome kit (.txt) . Save it, edit it in a text editor or paste it into your document tool, then print the participant section. No signup is needed. It contains the host setup, invitation, eight missions and follow-up sheet.

Who this welcome activity is for

Use this with one new starter and a buddy, or a small cohort split into pairs. It suits people teams, managers and colleagues helping someone navigate an unfamiliar workplace. Run it during scheduled work time after essential access and required orientation have been arranged, rather than sending unpaid homework before day one.

The goal is not to photograph the most objects. It is to answer three questions: Where do I start? Who can help? What happens if I get stuck? A quiet conversation can meet that goal better than a gallery full of smiling faces.

For established colleagues who already know their way around, our office photo scavenger hunt offers creative team activities instead. This guide focuses on finding support and using resources, not team poses or an offsite competition.

Do not use this activity to record attendance, assess probation or prove someone has completed required safety training. Emergency procedures, equipment instruction and compliance acknowledgements belong in your organization’s formal process. In a workplace that prohibits photography, use the entire activity without cameras. Nothing here requires an upload to count.

What onboarding research changes about the game

Acas’s induction checklist separates practical access, introductions, role expectations and required training. That is a useful check against turning a welcome game into a substitute for induction. Choose a few discoveries and leave the formal checklist intact.

Microsoft Research’s remote onboarding guidance highlights difficulty asking questions, the value of current documentation and an explicit buddy role. Its evidence comes from Microsoft employees during pandemic remote work, not a trial of scavenger hunts. The useful design implication is to rehearse how to ask for help, rather than reward remembering an obscure fact.

Real programs also provide more than a tour. GitLab’s buddy responsibilities include explaining handbook navigation, connecting people with experts and arranging backup when a buddy is away. UNCW’s Virtual Campus Passport introduces employee services through destinations and resource links. Neither example establishes that photo games improve retention. They suggest a more useful finish: a resource the employee can return to and someone who will answer the next question.

The missions and schedule below are our proposed format, not a reported customer case study or a validated onboarding intervention.

Prepare a route that actually works for a new hire

Budget a separate preparation session. A link working for a manager does not mean it works for someone whose account was created this morning.

1. Choose four missions. Include one person, one resource and one everyday routine. Keep the remaining missions optional. Remove anything outside the employee’s role or access permissions.
2. Replace the blanks. Set [start point], [finish point or call], [finish time and time zone], [buddy contact], [backup contact], [resource index], [IT help route], [People team contact], [break space], [room guide] and [next check-in]. Use approved work contacts only.
3. Test the route and resources. Ask the relevant owner to verify new starter access. Do not request passwords or impersonate an employee. Have an approved description ready if access is delayed.
4. Brief the buddy and any hosts. Book introductions instead of sending people to interrupt a receptionist or find an absent manager. The buddy gives context, not hints withheld until the participant struggles.
5. Offer access choices privately. Share the task text beforehand. Check entrances, lifts, seating, route distances, noise and rest options. Name an access contact without asking people to disclose a diagnosis to the group.
6. Decide whether photos are appropriate at all. Supply plain paper and pens. Choose a clear tabletop for optional pictures, away from work materials. Provide a printed list and a written meeting link, not only a QR code.

Georgetown’s accessible events checklist recommends touring the path of travel and planning communication access. A seated version is useful, but it does not repair an inaccessible meeting room. Fix the shared starting and finishing points too.

Eight employee onboarding scavenger hunt missions

Each mission has an everyday purpose, an optional photo and an equal no-camera answer. Keep real contact details, internal links and private answers in the participant’s own notes, never in a photo submission. The photo is a playful reminder, not evidence that a process works.

1. Find the first useful answer

Open [resource index] with your buddy. Find the page that answers an ordinary question such as how to request stationery. Ask how to tell whether that page is current and where to report an outdated instruction. Save the approved link privately.

Optional photo: Draw a bookmark symbol on blank paper. Photograph only the drawing, not the page or its address.

Without a camera: Show your buddy that you can find the resource again, or explain the route aloud. If access fails, mark “needs help” rather than searching through someone else’s account.

2. Meet your question buddy

At [buddy meeting point or call], ask: “Which kinds of questions should I bring to you, and who covers when you’re away?” Agree a work channel and a next check-in. The buddy introduces themselves first, so the newcomer does not have to perform an icebreaker.

Optional photo: Arrange two pens beside a paper speech bubble. A selfie is not required.

Without a camera: Make the introduction by voice or work message and keep the agreed contact privately. A buddy being unavailable is a host scheduling problem, not an incomplete employee task.

3. Rehearse getting unstuck

Find [IT help route]. With your buddy, rehearse: “I cannot access a resource I need. Where should I ask?” Identify the approved fallback if the help portal itself is unavailable. Do not submit a dummy ticket unless the support team has explicitly arranged a test.

Optional photo: Draw a bridge between two dots. Leave system names, ticket numbers and technical details out.

Without a camera: Explain the first step and fallback to your buddy. Record an actual access problem through the proper private support channel, not the hunt gallery.

4. Find the everyday pause

Locate [break space] and ask about its ordinary use. Can you bring your lunch? Where is drinking water? For a remote role, discuss how breaks fit around the team’s working hours without asking anyone to show their home.

Optional photo: Photograph a blank paper cup supplied by the host on the approved tabletop. Do not photograph colleagues eating or using a quiet room.

Without a camera: Describe the option you would use. The host can bring the same information to the starting table or call. Nobody needs to walk a route, buy food or explain a dietary or health need.

5. Practise joining a meeting

Use [room guide or meeting instructions] to learn how to find your next meeting and what to do if you cannot enter. Ask whether remote participants use chat, captions or another agreed way to contribute. Do not book a real room or change a meeting as part of the hunt.

Optional photo: Draw a small door with a speech bubble. No room access codes, calendars or screenshots.

Without a camera: Talk through joining the next scheduled meeting, including who to contact if the invitation or location is unclear.

6. Learn one team translation

Ask your buddy for one harmless acronym or phrase people use often. Have them explain it in ordinary language and say where definitions live. If the term names an unreleased project, customer or confidential process, choose another.

Optional photo: Draw a question mark becoming a light bulb. Keep the actual term in private notes unless it is explicitly cleared for sharing.

Without a camera: Explain the meaning back in your own words. The goal is permission to ask “What does that mean?”, not a vocabulary quiz.

7. Find a private route to a person

Locate [People team contact or directory]. Ask which channel handles a private employment question and which channel handles general workplace queries. You do not need to invent or disclose a personal issue, discuss benefits choices or contact HR during the activity.

Optional photo: Fold a blank sheet into an envelope. Include no names, addresses or real correspondence.

Without a camera: Confirm privately with your buddy where you would start. Do not put the contact, a directory screenshot or an employment document in the shared collection.

8. Leave a useful question for tomorrow

Choose one thing that is still unclear. Tell your buddy privately or ask how to reach [follow-up contact]. Agree who will respond and by when. “Nothing yet, may I ask later?” is a valid answer.

Optional photo: Draw a stepping stone marked “next”. The question itself stays out of the photo.

Without a camera: Arrange [next check-in]. Do not collect a public list of what each new hire could not do. Fix the missing guidance or access behind the question.

Run the welcome session in 35 minutes

This is a planning example, not a speed target. Allow more time or fewer tasks based on the people and route. Keep a copy of the editable run sheet with the host.

• Minutes 0 to 5: Welcome everyone, describe the choices and introduce the buddy. Say who can see any photos and how to request removal.
• Minutes 5 to 8: Let each pair select four missions. A participant can choose the conversation version of every mission or decline the activity and receive the same resource guide separately.
• Minutes 8 to 23: Explore together. Use “found”, “needs help” or “skip” on the private handout. These are participant notes, not employee performance records.
• Minutes 23 to 30: Return to [finish point or call]. Discuss one useful discovery if the participant wants to share. Collect unresolved access problems privately and assign an owner.
• Minutes 30 to 35: Confirm the next check-in and explain what will happen to photos. Thank everyone equally, whether they uploaded eight images, one or none.

Read this introduction:

This is a chance to find useful things together, not a test. Pick four missions with your buddy. Talking or making a private checklist mark counts just as much as a photo. You can skip any task or choose a separate walkthrough. Please do not photograph people without asking, or include work screens, badges, documents or private information. We will finish at [time and place]. If something does not work, we will help fix it.

Do not award speed points or use a leaderboard. For onboarding, a person who finds a broken link has given the host useful information, not lost a race.

Give remote and hybrid colleagues an equal route

For a remote welcome, use the same missions with a buddy call or work messages. Replace physical destinations with approved resource links and descriptions. Keep cameras optional and never request a home tour, desk picture, family photo or view outside a window. Plain paper symbols work in any location, but nobody needs to supply photographic proof.

For hybrid groups, pair each newcomer with a buddy who can stay with them throughout the session. Do not make a remote colleague watch a moving phone camera while the office group walks. Use a common resource session from desks, then offer a separate local tour to anyone who needs one. If a task cannot offer equivalent access, remove it from the shared session.

For different time zones or shifts, offer the same 35 minutes of scheduled work time within a stated window, such as two working days. Publish the buddy’s response hours and a backup contact. Do not measure success by which time zone submits first.

If a link fails, a host is absent or the route is blocked, stop that mission. The buddy supplies an approved explanation and records the repair privately. Avoid inventing a workaround that involves borrowing credentials, entering a restricted area or exposing internal material in a photo.

Keep optional photography separate from employment records

Ask your organization’s privacy or HR lead to approve the collection purpose, audience, storage period and removal process before inviting uploads. A new hire may feel unable to refuse a manager’s request even when the invitation says “optional”. The UK ICO’s consent guidance specifically discusses employer power imbalance. It is UK guidance, not universal legal advice, and the ICO flags it as under review following legislative changes. Have your organization determine the applicable legal requirements.

Make the choice real: no upload requirement, no prize reserved for photographers, no public opt-out list and no explanation demanded. Keep any permission to reuse pictures in recruitment or social media separate from participation in this welcome activity. Agreement to upload is not blanket permission from everyone pictured.

Exclude access badges, screens, whiteboards, documents, passwords, QR credentials, customer work, employee records and private spaces. Check reflections and backgrounds too. Photographing an apparently harmless sign may still reveal a restricted location. Our paper-symbol options deliberately avoid needing workplace photography permission for the discoveries themselves.

Set [removal contact], [intended audience and purpose] and [retention decision] in the kit. Apply that decision to downloaded copies as well as the online collection. Do not promise that deleting an online image erases copies other people already saved.

How Gather Shot fits into this

Gather Shot is a photo sharing platform for events. Use its scavenger hunt feature if you want optional photo prompts and submissions together in a browser. Guests open a QR code or link without an app download or guest account. A paper handout and buddy conversations are sufficient if you do not need a photo collection.

For a collection your organization has approved:

1. Create an event and add only the selected photo prompts. Put the actual internal resource links in your approved workplace channel, not in the event prompts or images.
2. Check visibility before sharing. Public Gallery and upload auto-approval are on by default. Disable Public Gallery for this activity and enable approval before any possible shared display. Hosts and authorized event team members can still review uploads. Guests can still see their own uploads, including pending ones.
3. Test the guest link in a separate browser session. Confirm the upload window and check that the shared gallery is unavailable. Keep the link within the intended group, but do not treat possession of a link as employee authentication.
4. Keep private notes and all no-camera participation outside Gather Shot. Gather Shot’s personal completion indicator will not represent the whole welcome activity. The host handles any scoring manually, and this guide recommends none.

Do not use the photo collection as an HRIS, LMS, access audit or GPS check. Optional consent settings require email verification, so review them with your privacy lead rather than switching them on merely to collect more employee information. Uploads need internet access. Use the handout if connectivity fails instead of relying on automatic offline uploads.

Hunts are included in Pro and the trial, with an optional Basic add-on. Check current plans and limits before choosing a collection size. For broader company photography, see company event photo sharing and the corporate event photography guide .

Frequently asked questions

Can one new employee do this without a cohort?

Yes. Pair them with a willing buddy and choose four missions together. The conversation is the activity. They do not need to wait for a group start date or manufacture a team photo.

Should everyone complete all eight missions?

No. Use four during the session and keep the remainder available for later. Remove irrelevant tasks. If someone needs a longer conversation about one useful resource, that is a better use of the time than rushing to finish the list.

Can we use this in a workplace where cameras are banned?

Yes. Use every no-camera alternative and do not create a gallery. The participant keeps private notes while the buddy handles introductions and resource discovery. Never ask for an exception to a workplace photography restriction for a game.

Does photographing safety equipment prove training is complete?

No. This kit deliberately excludes safety equipment hunts and training acknowledgements. Keep required instruction, demonstrations and completion records in your organization’s approved training process.

How do we know whether the activity helped?

At the next check-in, ask privately whether the newcomer knows where to ask a question and can find one useful resource again. Track broken resources and unresolved access issues with the responsible owner, not employee photo totals. This is a practical check, not evidence of improved retention or productivity.

Start by editing the onboarding welcome kit , booking a buddy and testing the chosen resources. If optional photo collection is appropriate, review Gather Shot’s hunt setup before sending an invitation.