Questions You Should Be Including In Your Onboarding Survey

Exceptional employee experience starts with great onboarding. People need to know you care about them as soon as they start. It is the first impression that can leave a lasting mark on employee experience, motivation, and retention.

When people think about employee onboarding they think about HR, employee handbooks, compliance and orientation, however, onboarding should be more of a journey than a short experience.

Why should you invest in good employee onboarding?

An effective onboarding process enables new team members to seamlessly fit into your existing team as well as improve employee engagement and retention.  

Poor onboarding can be expensive, leading to high employee turnover that can cost between 100 – 300% of the total salaries involved.

There are many ways to improve your onboarding process, but perhaps one of the most important is to ask the right questions to new and existing team members.

To ensure that important matters are not overlooked, consider questions relating to each of the following topics:

• The Recruitment Process

  Considering asking people questions about their experience even before their start date. Did they consider the recruitment process to be a positive one or could the communication be better? Could the process be more seamless and streamlined?

• Their decision to start

  Does the person have any regrets about joining the company? If so, what can be done to change their mind?

• How was the induction process?

  Does the person feel like they have all the information they need about the company and the role? Consider asking what other information they would like to know but wasn’t covered. This can help you improve your induction process for future hires.

• Engagement

  Does your new starter feel engaged with their job, colleagues, and manager? Have they had enough time to socially interact with their team and get to know them?

• Do they feel they fit?

  Ask your new team member whether they feel aligned with your organisation and team. Do they feel aligned with your business objectives? Also, include questions about their role and how it compares to what they imagined the role to be.

The issue with surveys and questionnaires is sometimes people are not completely honest. The best way to avoid this is to conduct the questionnaires anonymously where you can.

Officevibe recommends getting onboarding feedback from employees in 3 separate periods:

• At the end of their first week

• At the end of their first month

• At the end of their first quarter

After 1 week survey

At the end of a new starter's first week, they’re likely to feel a little overwhelmed with the amount of information you have given them. It is a great time to get some feedback about their feelings towards the company and the people they have had interactions with.

1. Do you feel welcome?

2. What could have made your first day better?

3. What was your first impression of the company?

4. What did you not like during your first week?

5. Was the onboarding process satisfactory?

6. How was your recruitment process?

7. How would you rate your first week out of 10?

8. If you could change one thing, what would it be?

After 1 month

After a month employees should be settling in and immersing themselves in the company and their new position. They should have a better understanding of how the business works and its culture. Try to include some of these questions in your feedback survey:

1. Do you feel comfortable that you fully understand your role?

2. Do you find your colleagues to be friendly and helpful?

3. Do you feel like you’ve been given sufficient training to do your role?

4. Do you have all the equipment you need to do your role?

5. Is there anything slowing down your processes?

6. How does your job compare with your previous position?

7. Do you feel you made the right decision to join this organisation?

8. How could your experience with the organisation be improved?

After 3 months

After three months, new employees should feel fully settled in and an integral part of the team. Now that their onboarding is close to complete, it’s time to ask more career-orientated questions and questions about how they see their future with you.

1. Do you feel confident you can do your job well?

2. Do you see yourself having a long-term future at this company?

3. Would you recommend the company to a friend?

4. How would you rate your relationship with your manager and team?

5. What do you like best about your job?

6. What do you feel the company can improve on?

7. What do you dislike about your job or the organisation?

8. How would you rate the onboarding process?

How to interpret your results

• Response rate

  The low response rate to your survey may suggest that new employees are already disengaged or that their input doesn’t count. Try communicating to people the benefits of taking part and how committed you are to continuous improvement.

• Watch for trends

  Negative patterns in your data can be a warning sign. This gives you a chance to dig deeper and identify where changes to improve can be made.

• Compare data over time

  Keeping track and recording your collected data can help you identify when things have changed. Have you changed your onboarding process, and has it had a negative effect on onboarding experiences? Comparing your data over time will allow you to identify this.

Will you be implementing a more extensive onboarding survey?