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Can you remember your first onboarding experience?
It was either long and laborious, or its importance was overlooked, and you were left to your own devices with no other choice but to sink or swim.
There could be far-reaching consequences for companies that fail to recognize the importance of employee onboarding surveys in this day and age.
Survey questions need to be well thought through and regularly adapted to gain valuable insights so that it’s not just seen as a tick-box exercise.
You might think that onboarding new employees' processes is top-notch, but a new hire may have a completely different experience.
As they say, you’ll never know if you don’t ask, but are you asking the right questions?
What is an employee onboarding survey?
No, it’s not just a random list of questions that the Human Resources department put together to add to their file of other arbitrary documents.
Well, we hope not!
An employee onboarding survey should serve as a tool that helps companies advance in employee retention, gauging employees' experiences to improve hiring processes.
Good employee onboarding can improve employee retention by 82% and increase employee engagement.
The onboarding process could be the deciding factor for new hires to leave or stay, so the survey proves to be a vital source of information. The survey should address the organizational culture and possible doubts and confusion about the employee’s role.
We are often confused about the essential questions to ask new hires to get to know them. But in this blog, we will take you through the 30 new hire survey questions for the onboarding process.
30 Possible employee onboarding survey questions to ask new hires
New hire onboarding surveys should not just be a once-off exercise during the first few days but a continuous process that gathers information in the critical weeks and months of the employment journey.
Let's have a look at the best onboarding survey questions for employees.
First impressions count, right?
To find out whether your company is making the right first moves incorporate these questions to ask new employees after the first week:
1. Have you been made to feel welcome?
2. What excites you about your new job?
3. Name one thing about your new job that stands out for you.
4. Is there anything that concerns you about your new role?
5. Name one thing that could’ve made your first day at work better?
6. Did the onboarding process meet your expectations?
7. Have you received the help you’ve needed?
8. Has the mentoring process been adequate?
9. Do you have advice on improving the recruitment process?
After two weeks
Once two weeks have passed, it’s time to check in again to gauge how they’ve settled in. New hires may have formed some of their own opinions by now.
This is where you’re able to gain insights on training, the job, and the challenges experienced early on.
10. Has the help you’ve been receiving been overbearing or just enough?
11. Has the training answered all your questions or concerns?
12. Have you encountered a noteworthy hurdle so far?
13. Do you feel you're well equipped to do your job?
14. Have you got a handle on your responsibilities?
15. Are there any grey areas related to work policies and role requirements?
After a month
A lot can happen in a month, and now is not the time to assume that your new hire hasn’t experienced any bumps in their recruitment journey. At this time, they’re either feeling comfortable, or you’ll be able to tell whether your onboarding initiatives are cutting it or not.
16. Is there a strong link between your job responsibilities and the training you’ve received?
17. Have you noticed any loopholes?
18. Do you have a clear understanding of what is expected of you in your role?
19. Has the onboarding time frame been adequate?
20. Are you well equipped with the knowledge to do at your job?
21. Have we missed anything, or have we covered all the necessary bases?
After three months
Three months down the line, the recruit may not be as starry-eyed anymore, and they should now be able to give you valuable feedback about their onboarding.
22. Did the onboarding leave you feeling well equipped, or were you left doubting yourself?
23. Did you experience any information gaps?
24. Would you be able to encourage a friend that’s feeling overwhelmed about starting a new job?
25. Is your current role very different from your previous job?
26. Do you think the onboarding was successful or not?
27. How else would you like to add value to the company aside from just your current responsibilities?
28. Do you see yourself spending a few more years at the company?
29. Do you feel like your role enhances the company's advancement?
30. Is there anything we as a company can do to help you improve your performance?
How do you choose the right questions for the onboarding survey?
When crafting onboarding survey questions to ask new employees, you need to be clear about your aim. Then, it would be best if you linked the questions accordingly to gain your desired outcome.
While there are many resources to guide you in formulating the correct questions, you’ll need to remember that your company is unique. So, your questions need to be directly proportionate to your company culture.
Think about what is unique in your specific hiring market and your industry, and then tailor questions that address the most important areas within the role.
Consider the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and then match how effective they target and reach the desired business goals.
It’s not only about listing the KPIs but making your new hire understand how they can fulfill the requirements to be strategic and a well-thought-through game-plan.
Reflect on the company's values and then create scenarios of the type of experience you want the new hire to have. What’s the point of having all these fantastic values if new employees don’t feel like they’re living these out daily at work?
Engage with your employees from day one
Taking for granted that you could lose new hires within the first few days without engaging them could result in a rookie error. Studies show that up to 20% of employee turnover can happen within the first 45 days of employment.
Engaging them means equipping them to realize their potential from day one and affording them the necessary tools to do what they need to do. And it doesn't stop there.
Once the onboarding process has ended, the engagement needs to continue to ensure that you haven’t lost them along the way.
Onboarding needs to be a priority
New hires will notice if onboarding is not a top priority. It’s essential to make sure they feel engaged as soon as they start work. An engagement plan that engages them before their first day at the office is better yet.
In days leading up to that, provide them with valuable information and not only the ‘boring’ stuff. Send them videos of the vibe in the building or photos of past events to make them feel a bit more comfortable about starting.
Be clear
Be crystal clear about expectations, communicating them so that new hires and managers have a clear understanding of what will enable a good working relationship.
If new hires are well informed from the beginning, they’ll know what is expected of them. This allows the relationship to be mutually beneficial as they start on a clean slate - preventing any misconceptions arising from the get-go.
Training
Training should be more than just reading through a manual in a group. Instead, it should be a thorough step-by-step dialogue walking them through the processes.
Make your new hires feel comfortable enough to ask questions, as this sets the tone for how you want them to feel in their role daily.
Engaging them in training gives them the toolbox that they’ll need to fulfill their responsibilities. Simultaneously, the company can ensure that the time and money spent on recruitment are valuable investments.
The onboarding survey
A good employee onboarding survey will allow you to gain valuable insight into how your new hires feel entering your company. This can help you identify areas that need improvement and better help your new employees feel comfortable and engaged.
This sets the right tone from the get-go, and you can use the survey as a metric to measure new employees’ levels of engagement over time.
Revolutionize your employee onboarding survey with Empuls
Surveys aren't just a tic-tac-toe form. Even proverbially, they make a crucial base for an organization's improvement plans - especially when it comes to newly onboarding employees.
They are a fresh pair of eyes who can offer the most constructive opinions for what's at stake. Hence, Empuls has a dedicated employee onboarding survey, wherein your organization's graph chart of everything right and wrong during onboarding comes out.
With this, you can bring constant and progressive changes to how your employees are treated.
Final thoughts
Onboarding surveys are not just about asking questions but asking the right questions. This is what creates successful onboarding.
The feedback received from the survey should be part of a strategic outcome - one that is revised to improve the new hire's experience.
This way, you can reduce employee turnover and boost engagement and employee satisfaction right from the start. Not only does it benefit you as an employer, but it’s also a way of measuring how successful the employee is at their job and how well they've adapted to your organization.
Empuls offers ready-to-use onboarding survey templates to take the stress out of this process. Send out the survey and start collecting data. Empuls enables you to see the survey results easily to evaluate how your new hires are feeling right from the start.
