Employee onboarding survey

What is an employee onboarding survey?

Employee onboarding survey is an employee engagement tool used by organizations to gather feedback from new hires about their onboarding experience. The results from the survey are used to gauge onboarding effectiveness and identify areas for improvement.

Why are employee onboarding surveys important?

It's essential for every organization to run employee onboarding surveys for the following reasons:

They help organizations understand how new hires perceive their onboarding experience.
They highlight gaps in the onboarding process, enabling HR teams to make improvements.
They offer insights on how good their onboarding communication, resources, and training are.
They empower organizations to build a positive onboarding experience that improves employee retention.
They pave the way for onboarding programs that get new hires up to speed faster.

When is the right time to run employee onboarding surveys?

Ideally, employee onboarding surveys should be done three times in the first few months, with a two- to three-week window to gather meaningful insights. The first survey can be run at the end of the first of joining. You can use this survey to get insights about their initial impression, including their hiring and pre-onboarding experience. Include questions that help you understand if employees feel welcomed, comfortable, and have gained sufficient information about their roles and responsibilities. The next onboarding survey can be run after their first month to understand onboarding training effectiveness, role clarity, and how well employee expectations are being met. The final survey can be sent out after the end of their third month to gain valuable insights about your entire onboarding experience.

What are some examples of employee onboarding survey questions?

Here are some questions that you can consider adding your next employee onboarding survey:

How would you rate your overall hiring and pre-onboarding experience?
What is one thing we could have done differently on your first day?
Were you offered enough information about your role ?
Are the resources required to be successful in your role accessible?
How approachable is your team and your manager?
How has your onboarding training experience been so far?
Were the expectations of your role clear?
How would you rate your overall onboarding experience?
Which onboarding activity do you value the most?
What suggestions would you make for future onboarding programs?

What are some best practices for running an employee onboarding survey?

Here are some best practices to run employee onboarding surveys:

Keep your onboarding surveys short and focused to avoid survey fatigue.
Have sufficient intervals between two surveys.
Frame your questions in a way that'll help you gain valuable insights from your new hires rather than having close-ended questions.
Be sure to keep the survey anonymous so you receive honest feedback from employees.
Let employees know how their feedback has been helpful in bringing meaningful improvements.

What should organizations do with the onboarding survey?

Once you have the survey responses, analyze them carefully to identify different trends and patterns regarding role clarity, training effectiveness, team integration, company culture, and available resources. Based on these insights, take immediate steps to fix any gaps in your onboarding program. After this, communicate the changes that have been made to your employees.