45 Employee Onboarding Survey Questions To Ask Your New Hires

If you are an HR manager in charge of employee onboarding, here is a small piece of advice for you. Don't make the mistake of overlooking the importance of onboarding surveys and their consequent onboarding survey questions.

Even if HR managers do end up using onboarding surveys, the effectiveness of those surveys depends on the onboarding survey questions. A perfect set of survey questions must be:

• Impactful enough to gather the right data
• Simple enough for the surveyors to understand, and
• Specific enough to ensure that employees don't end up misunderstanding the question

That is why we decided to highlight some onboarding survey questions that will give you impactful data on how to enhance your onboarding process. But first, let's go through what this article will be about.

What Is An Employee Onboarding Survey?

Employee onboarding surveys are a type of employee survey that companies use to evaluate the employee experience of their new hires during the onboarding process. Onboarding survey findings can be invaluable in assisting companies in fine-tuning their onboarding process and making it even more efficient for future employees.

Types Of Questions In Employee Surveys

When it comes to onboarding survey questions, there are three main approaches you can take with the questions. The type of answers you get is heavily influenced by the type of questions you ask, so it's critical to understand the fundamentals of those question types.

1. Likert Scale-Based Survey Questions

Likert scale questions require participants to select an answer from a 1-5 scale. Generally, a score of 1 means "strongly disagree," and a score of 5 means "strongly agree." It could also be the other way around. It allows employees to answer questions with more than two answer options.

2. Binary Survey Questions

Participants are given two options when answering binary survey questions. The most common answers are "Yes" or "No." Because of the limited number of options, binary survey questions are also called "forced-choice questions."

3. Open-Ended Employee Survey Questions

Open-ended questions require answers that are detailed and descriptive. Survey participants will need to devote time and effort to answering these questions.

45 Employee Onboarding Survey Questions To Improve Your Onboarding Program

As the workforce evolves, so do its needs and expectations. Thus, the onboarding process that worked well for the last decade may have become obsolete by now.

But, we understand that it's hard to gauge whether your onboarding program needs a few tweaks, a major re-design, or is good to go for another few years.

That is why here is a list of employee onboarding survey questions that are perfect for assessing the state of your company's current onboarding process.

Likert Scale-Based Questions

1. On a scale of 1-5, how easy did you find the job application process to understand and complete?
2. On a scale of 1-5, how comfortable did you feel being your authentic self throughout the onboarding experience?
3. On a scale of 1-5, how actionable was the feedback you received from the interview panel?
4. On a scale of 1-5, how satisfied are you with the interviewers who conducted your HR screening process?
5. On a scale of 1-5, how satisfied are you with the interviewers who conducted your technical assessment?
6. On a scale of 1-5, how effective was the onboarding process?
7. On a scale of 1-5, how clearly do you understand your new job role and its expectations?
8. On a scale of 1-5, how integral was your assigned mentor in helping you adjust to your new role?
9. On a scale of 1-5, how accommodating were your team members during your onboarding?
10. On a scale of 1-5, how helpful was your first assignment to increase understanding of your role and its expectations?
11. On a scale from 1 to 5, how would you rate the ease of use of the tools you interact with daily?
12. How would you rate the effectiveness of the feedback you receive from your manager?
13. On a scale of 1-5, how often does your manager recognize and appreciate your work contributions?
14. On a scale of 1-5, how positive and respectful would you consider your relationships with colleagues?
15. On a scale of 1-5, how safe do you feel in your workplace, both mentally and physically?

Binary Questions

1. Did you feel that the entire recruitment process was bias-free?
2. Was the job description clear and understandable?
3. Were you treated with respect throughout the recruitment process?
4. Were your questions constructively answered?
5. Are you satisfied with the recruiter who handled your hiring process?
6. Were you assigned a peer mentor during your onboarding program?
7. Do you think assigning a peer mentor to a new hire is a good idea?
8. Were you provided soft or hard copies of the company's employee handbook?
9. Were you offered a thorough explanation of what tools you need to use to fulfill your job expectations?
10. Were your doubts and queries addressed effectively during the onboarding process?
11. Do you think the onboarding process reflects our company culture?
12. Would you prefer that a peer mentor takes over a new hire's onboarding process?
13. Have you experienced any kind of discrimination from anyone in your organization?
14. Do you believe the onboarding process helped you make an easier transition to a new job?
15. Do you feel that your new job responsibilities will help your future career path?

Recommended Resource: Want to get your onboarding process off to a great start? Check out these templates to make sure you write the perfect welcome letter to new employees in 2024.

Open-Ended Questions

1. How did you come across our job ad?
2. How long did it take for our human resources team to reply to your application?
3. Which part of the recruitment process, in your opinion, deserves special recognition for making the candidates' life easier?
4. According to you, what new improvements can we make in our hiring process?
5. How do you think we can make the job application process more inclusive for our diverse applicants?
6. How long did it take you to receive your onboarding package after receiving your job offer letter?
7. If you had to summarize your onboarding experience in 3 words, what would they be?
8. According to you, what is the ideal amount of time we should spend onboarding?
9. What new changes would you have liked to see in the employee onboarding handbook?
10. What improvements would you make in the onboarding program?
11. What's your preferred way of receiving feedback?
12. How would you describe your assigned mentor?
13. How would you prefer to be recognized for your work?
14. What can we do to help you in your learning curve?
15. How would you describe your communication style?

In Conclusion: Here's How Vantage Pulse Can Help

At Vantage Circle, we aim to offer simple yet effective solutions that will help corporates enhance their employee experience. Tracking, measuring, and highlighting the metrics that are influencing your company's engagement levels is one of the most critical issues we tackle with the help of Vantage Pulse, our employee survey tool.

Vantage Pulse is a powerful eNPS-based employee engagement survey tool that sends out timely surveys that employees can complete in 5 minutes or less. This ensures that your employees experience almost no survey fatigue and take the surveys seriously.

With Vantage Pulse, the human resources manager can examine trends, identify reasons for employee attrition, forecast behaviors, and ultimately improve employee retention. If you are interested to see how Vantage Pulse works, click here for a free demo with us.

FAQs

1. What types of questions should be asked in an onboarding survey?

Onboarding surveys should include a mix of question types like binary (Yes/No), rating scales, and open-ended. This provides quantitative data as well as deeper insights.

2. When is the ideal time to survey new hires – during or after onboarding?

Surveying at both during and after onboarding provides useful insights. During allows real-time feedback while experiences are fresh. After gives perspective on the full program.

3. How often should onboarding surveys be conducted?

Sending surveys at milestones (1 week, 30 days, 90 days) provides multiple touchpoints to gather feedback.

4. How long should an onboarding survey be?

Surveys should be brief - no more than 15 questions total. This increases response rates and reduces fatigue.

5. How can HR use onboarding feedback to improve the employee experience?

HR can continuously refine onboarding based on survey results by adjusting training, mentorship, materials, duration, activities, and touchpoints.

This article was co-authored by Nilotpal M Saharia and Barasha Medhi, who work as content marketers at Vantage Circle. For any queries reach out to editor@vantagecircle.com.