Providing an outstanding experience for employees has a major impact on your organization’s success, and there’s no better time to start this positive engagement than right away! In this article, we’ll cover the value of uplifting employee experience and retention by asking employees the right questions early on in their onboarding.
Why onboarding survey questions for new hires are crucial
New hire onboarding is a vital program that has the power to breathe life into a business’s growth and profitability. NIH research cites that effective onboarding boosts revenue by 250 percent and SHRM supports this with data showing that positive onboarding experiences convinced nearly 70% of employees to pledge their employer loyalty for another three years (i.e., a retention driver).
A reputable 2022 research report highlighted that when companies request new employees to provide onboarding experience feedback, eight out of ten demonstrate a willingness to persevere with the employer (despite reservations).
However, onboarding is also a costly initiative, especially when it derails. For example:
- According to The Harvard Business Review, 20% of employees quit within 45 days of their start date.
- The cost of replacing an individual employee ranges between fifty and two hundred percent of the employee’s annual salary (Gallup.) As a result, even at the lower end, (1) above is a severe blow to any company’s overhead.
- Onboarding employees complain that six out of ten managers fail to set milestones.
- Only 12% of employees agreed they work for an employer with a good onboarding process – Gallup.
These few highlighted data points demonstrate that keeping your thumb on the onboarding pulse is crucial to an organization’s strategic success. The best way to do that is to ask onboarding new hire employees for feedback with the right questions via pinpoint, accurate surveys. So, if you want insights into what probing works and what doesn’t, read on.
Effective onboarding survey questions that make it happen
Creativity is a vital ingredient in survey structuring. Indeed, one must visualize the insights you stand to gain from a survey to give it a fighting chance of winning. Knowing your hiring process and ongoing efforts to integrate new people into the operations can be the difference between churn or retention, profit or loss, and strategic accomplishment or failure. In general, your questions should zone in on:
1. Your onboarding program’s effectiveness: Can it elevate the participants to fully-fledged team members quickly and sustainably?
2. Appraising the critical onboarding phases: A successful onboarding program for the first 30 days doesn’t mean it flows through to the 60- and 90-day milestones. Hence, it’s crucial to appreciate that:
- 30-day onboarding questions, 60-day onboarding questions, and 90-day onboarding questions each have a pivotal role.
- Categorizing this way ensures your new hire process stays on track and meets time-centric objectives.
3. Whether you and the employees are on the same page as far as:
- Expectations
- Understanding company values, missions, and cultural influences (a critical aspect of employee retention)
- Closing skill gaps and aligned training on the job
- Alternative tactics that lead to improved employee experiences
For a start, your data must stream into two pools – quantitative and qualitative – requiring your questions to align with those broad objectives. Therefore, a mix of open-ended and rating-scale questions will provide a balanced overview of employee sentiment over time and spot disruptive touchpoints in the onboarding experience that create dissatisfaction.
At first glance, it seems easy to focus on only a few questions that get to the crux of the matter and keep the employee respondents engaged. Unfortunately, lengthy surveys loaded with questions tend to distract or frustrate employees, causing them to abandon the journey midway. In short, brevity and laser-focused questions are driving forces in survey question structuring.
Closed-ended questions and examples
Closed ended-questions can help simplify things for participants and make it easier for you to analyze results. Not everything can be covered with closed-ended questions, but they’re pretty versatile and offer a lot of opportunities to streamline your survey.
Rating Scale Questions
Rating scales allow you to quantitatively assess employee feedback collected from your onboarding surveys at every phase. The most common rating scale type is establishing a numerical spectrum, traditionally from “1 to 5” or “1 to 10,” where the scale’s high point aligns with “Can’t be better” and the low end “Can’t get worse” (or similar wording).
For example, start each of the question below with “On a scale of 1-10…”
- Overall, how happy are you with the onboarding process?
- How clear were our explanations of your role requirements?
- How transparent were we in setting your role expectations?
- How well did we communicate our company’s culture, values, and goals?
- How effectively did the onboarding process help your integration as a team member?
- How supportive was our training and resource support in your onboarding?
- How closely does the job description provided match your role in reality?
- How satisfied are you with our communications during onboarding?
- How seamlessly did the technology and tools we provided support your role?
- How significantly has manager support bolstered the onboarding process?
- How substantially has peer support bolstered the onboarding process?
Likert Scale Questions
Instead of rating “1 to 10,” the Likert Scale ranges from “Strongly Agree” to “Strongly Disagree” with “Agree,” “Neutral,” and “Disagree” in between. The Likert Scale’s primary difference as a quantitative measure is that it gives an emotional feeling to the ratings that emerge.
For example, if most respondents strongly disagree that an onboarding aspect functioned well, it likely accompanies frustration, anger, and other negative emotions. Similarly, on the other end of the scale (i.e., strongly agree), it transmits feelings of happiness, belonging, and trust. Thus, they’re easier to understand and respond to than a ten or one rating.
Here are a few Likert Scale examples to consider for your next onboarding survey. (Answer each with Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neutral, Agree, Strongly Agree):
- My role was clear during the onboarding process.
- The onboarding process critically helped me in my role.
- The training and resources provided during onboarding was precisely what I needed.
- The company culture and my team dynamic fit me like a hand in a glove.
- I’m confident in the effectiveness of the onboarding process.
Open-ended questions and examples
Asking employees to explain their ratings is a logical follow-up that creates insight into the reasons behind responses to closed-ended rating questions. For example, suppose the survey puts forward the agreement Likert Scale question “The onboarding process critically helped me in my role.” An open-ended question immediately following may be, “Please provide us with the onboarding process touchpoints that most influenced you to answer the way you did in the previous question.” Alternatively, “What did you like the most about your onboarding experience? What did you like least?”
Other open-ended example questions are as follows:
- What do you recommend we do to improve the onboarding process?
- What challenged you the most during the onboarding process?
- Has the company’s culture, mission, and vision emerged as you expected? Please motivate your answer.
- How integrative was the onboarding process in bringing you closer to your accepted team member role? Explain.
- Has the onboarding process consolidated or loosened your company loyalty, and why?
- How would you improve the onboarding process?
30-day onboarding survey questions and examples
Now that we’ve covered the types of probes that should define an onboarding survey let’s dig a little deeper. It’s crucial to appreciate that surveys are time-sensitive, and onboarding tactics that work in one phase may not in the next.
You might consider the 30-day survey as providing insights into Phase One of an employee’s experience. How? It focuses on the respondents’ initial impressions, identifying if their role in the business is clear, and discovering whether training has gained traction. Here are some examples across the different survey question types reviewed above.
Rating examples (On a scale from 1 to 10 where 1 = As bad as it can get and 10 = Couldn’t be better)
- How insightful and necessary were the number of interview rounds as insightful and necessary?
- How supportive was the HR team in helping me in the first few days?
- How much effort did my manager expend integrating me into the onboarding process?
Likert examples (On a scale of Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neutral, Agree, Strongly Agree)
- I clearly understood the organization’s culture, values, and goals from the beginning.
- I’m satisfied that my first month in the onboarding process has prepared me to take on more in the next thirty days.
- I feel like this is my career path for the long term, promising me a fast inclusion in the team with bright promotional prospects.
Open-ended examples (Answer in your own words)
- In your opinion, what is the best part of the onboarding process so far?
- How would you change the interviewing process to make it more engaging?
- What tools would you introduce to make your onboarding more efficient and more comprehensive?
60-day onboarding survey questions and examples
Phase 2 can be measured by the 60-day survey where team dynamics, management support, and goal alignment take center stage. Here are some example questions to consider at this stage.
Rating examples (On a scale from 1 to 10 where 1 = As bad as it can get and 10 = Couldn’t be better)
- How relevant was the training to meet your role challenges and strengthen your skills?
- How involved is your manager in helping you stay on track with your job expectations?
- Now that you’ve had time to get into things, do your work responsibilities align with those outlined in your job description?
- How comprehensively has the company provided you with the tools and resources to fulfill your role?
Likert examples (On a scale of Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neutral, Agree, Strongly Agree)
- My team has welcomed me into the fold and supports my role from beginning to end.
- After two months on the job, I’m ready to enter the next phase with confidence.
- The company seamlessly covers all my training gaps before they become liabilities to my eventual team role.
Open-ended examples (Answer in your own words)
- In your opinion, what is the best part of the onboarding process so far?
- With 20-20 vision after 60 days, do you regret or remain happy with your decision to join the company? Please motivate your answer.
- What are the most significant changes Phase 2 of the onboarding process requires?
90-day onboarding survey questions and examples
Phase 3—the new hire survey questions after three months—emphasizes evaluating the employee’s overall satisfaction with the completed or nearly completed onboarding process, fitting in with the corporate culture and career direction.
Rating examples (On a scale from 1 to 10 where 1 = As bad as it can get and 10 = Couldn’t be better)
- How well has the training prepared you to enter the company’s mainstream operations?
- How effectively do you expect your employee/manager relationship will help you meet your career objectives?
- How sustainable is your employee journey if the goal is long-term career fulfillment?
- How comprehensively has the company provided you with the tools and resources to fulfill your role?
Likert examples (On a scale of Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neutral, Agree, Strongly Agree)
- My team sees me as a valuable addition, fulfilling my role with authority and a responsibility-filled approach.
- After three months on the job, I’ve established respect and credibility with my peers, managers, and subordinates.
- The company’s undertakings to provide the training I need to maximize my career are 100% as promised.
Open-ended examples (Answer in your own words)
- In your opinion, what is the best part of the onboarding process overall, and why?
- In your opinion, what is the worst part of the onboarding process overall, and why?
- With 20-20 vision after 90 days, do you regret or remain happy with your decision to join the company? Please motivate your answer.
- What would you recommend as the most significant changes the complete onboarding process requires?
Additional onboarding survey questions
Fun and engaging questions can help you to build rapport with new team members and lighten things up. Consider the following fun example questions.
Fun open-ended examples:
- If you could travel to three destinations, where would they be?
- What are the four top things on your bucket list?
Fun multiple choice examples:
- Which of these motivates you to achieve more? (More money / Peer recognition / Manager accolades)
- Which of the following appeals to you the most for relaxation? (Dining out / A daily retreat/ A quiet night with the family)
Example questions for remote employees:
Likert (On a scale of Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neutral, Agree, Strongly Agree):
- Remote work is precisely what I want for for a balanced lifestyle.
- Remote work is isolating and missing crucial team interaction.
- Hybrid work options are more suitable than remote work or in-office.
An open-ended question to each of the above Likert constructs:
- Please expand on why you answered the way you did to the previous question.
How to analyze and take action on onboarding survey results
While there are many ways to analyze results, it’s helpful to have a platform that does it all for you! 😉
Depending on the kinds of questions you’re asking, choose how you’d like to calculate responses. For rating questions, you might consider:
In the case of employee surveys, you may choose to use EX-specific metrics, including:
- ESAT (Employee Satisfaction Score)
- eNPS (employee Net Promoter Score)
- EES (Employee Effort Score
- Your own custom EX metrics
Once you’ve decided how you’ll measure, decide the parameters you’ll use to gauge success. You might set a target range based on past experiences or industry standards, or circle back to this step one you have a little more data.
Keep in mind: Analysis of survey results is an integrative exercise that brings together both quantitative and qualitative data for insight into trends and patterns. This data can help you to make sense of 30-day, 60-day, and 90-day surveys, discounting overlapping questions, undecideds (or neutrals), and drawing up a map of defective and constructive onboarding touchpoints.
The next step is prioritizing the areas for improvement and deciding on schedules and methods for attacking the problem areas. This generally involves a team approach, communicating the results to HR, the C-suite, and relevant managers with allocated responsibilities or requests for structuring onboarding changes.
Implementation, monitoring, and follow-up are the ultimate steps to bring the onboarding revisions home.
Remember: You don’t need a calculator or a spreadsheet to bring together useful data! Sogolytics software resources pinpoint the metrics you need, the trends and patterns, and suggested remedies (see below).
Conclusion
Building constructive onboarding surveys depends on skillfully deploying selective software for a comprehensive rating, Likert Scale appraisal, and open-ended searching questions that cover every relevant touchpoint and connect them to straightforward metrics and actionable ideas. Sogolytics is the professional resource you want in your corner to cover onboarding guidance that makes a difference. So, are you ready to transform your onboarding process? Connect with our team for a personalized demo of Sogolytics capabilities in this vital arena.
FAQs
Q: When is the best time to send onboarding surveys?
A: At the thirty-, sixty-, and ninety-day marks.
Q: How often should I survey new hires?
A: At least once monthly until the onboarding process ends.
Q: What should I do with the survey results?
A: Follow the prescribed steps from establishing the right metrics to deciding on the yardsticks, analyzing the results in light of the latter, and strategizing an approach to improve and consolidate the highlighted touchpoints.
Q: How can I ensure my survey questions are practical?
A: Monitor, follow up, and involve all relevant departments in the process.
Need help with your survey project? Connect with your account manager or book a support call today!
