Every day, HR Managers face many challenges, especially with hiring and new employee onboarding. There’s always a shortage of talent, but finding the right candidate is getting harder. Even with a talent shortage, it’s important to pick the best person for the job. But the real challenge is after you find the right candidate.
After hours of searching, interviewing, and hiring, it’s disheartening if the new employee decides to leave for a better opportunity just before they start. What if a candidate agrees to the job but backs out at the last minute?
Can a well-structured onboarding process prevent this? Does it really increase engagement, loyalty, and retention of new hires? The onboarding phase is key to building a strong employer-employee relationship.
In this blog, we’ll look at employee onboarding in greater detail. We’ll give you everything you need to know to create a great onboarding process and set the stage for a positive long-term relationship with your new hires.
What is Employee Onboarding?
Employee onboarding is the process that helps new hires get used to their new workplace. It focuses on helping them fit in socially and understand how to perform their job effectively. This process allows new employees to quickly learn the necessary skills, attitudes, and knowledge they need to succeed in the organization.
If you’ve ever started a new job, you’ve probably gone through some form of onboarding. From the moment you arrive, you’re faced with many new faces, unfamiliar processes, confusing technology, and a lot of paperwork. This can be overwhelming, especially if it’s your first job. To make this transition smoother, the onboarding process is designed to help new employees feel more comfortable and start their roles with confidence.
Employee onboarding surveys are created to collect feedback from new hires about their experiences during this process. These surveys help organizations understand and measure job satisfaction in new recruits with their onboarding experience and gather valuable insights for improvement.
Types of Employee Onboarding
Employee onboarding can be divided into two main types:
- Formal Onboarding: This is an organized process and procedure that helps new employees get settled into their roles. It’s called a formal process because in this process new employees are separated from existing employees to go through an orientation process similar to in-classroom training.
- Informal Onboarding: This is a semi-organized activity where new employees learn from their more experienced colleagues within the organization. This involves shadowing, one-on-one coaching, similar processes, and completing all the HR processes.
It depends on the organization’s work culture and what onboarding process they want to follow: formal or informal.
According to studies, companies spend up to 30% of the salary of a new hire on onboarding. However, a process must be in place to make the new employee feel comfortable on their first day of work. If you are spending so much, let the outcome be good.
Employee Onboarding Process
Onboarding new employees can be great but also tough. A good onboarding sets new hires up for success and makes them feel like part of the team, a bad one, and they just get by.
Direct managers know this and plan ahead, figuring out the new hire’s role, responsibilities, and where they fit in the team. But onboarding isn’t just about the manager; it’s about the whole team. Team members are often the ones showing the new person how things really work day to day.
Are you setting up your team to support onboarding or leaving new hires to figure it out for themselves? Here are three simple tips to make onboarding smoother and more effective:
1. Give your team a clear schedule.
Give each team member some one-on-one time with the new hire to explain their responsibilities and projects. Don’t leave this as a vague “show them around.” Instead, create specific calendar invites with clear goals and timelines to keep everyone on track.
2. Prioritize tasks and information.
While the new hire will learn everything eventually, don’t overload them all at once. Too much information too soon can be stressful and confusing. Help your team focus on the most important tasks first and save the less important ones for later. This lets the new hire take on key responsibilities sooner and settle into their role faster.
Team members should all be involved in onboarding the new hire. A good team supports each other, so everyone should feel responsible for new hires’ success. When things go wrong (and they will), address them with the whole team. This creates a learning environment where everyone can grow together.
Why is an Employee Onboarding Survey Used?
Onboarding impacts new employees by helping them adjust to their roles and the company culture. It can improve job performance, increase job satisfaction, and enhance employee retention. An effective onboarding process can boost productivity across the whole company. It matches the new employee’s strengths to the company’s needs, a path to success.
Feedback from this process is key to improvement and fixing issues. Here are some of the top reasons why the employee onboarding survey should be done:
- What does the employee think of the onboarding process and the company?
- Does the new employee know their role well and is ready to fulfill their main responsibility?
- What are the individual’s expectations, and what are the organization’s expectations of the employee?
- Is further information or training required for the employee to perform in the role?
- Can it also be used to fix any issues the employee is facing?
The employee onboarding survey is also one of the most powerful tools to collect feedback on the onboarding process and fill in any gaps.
Top Employee Onboarding Survey Questions
In this section, ask new employees about the information shared during recruitment to understand their perception of the organization and feedback on the recruitment process.
All onboarding programs should include ongoing feedback and support for new employees. Ask these employee survey questions in week one and consider the feedback from their responses.
Employee Recruitment Questions
To get some insight into our recruitment process, ask:
Q1. During the recruitment process, I was provided with the right amount of information about the organization.
This is an important question to ask the employees to know if the recruitment process is robust. The process shouldn’t be too much for the employees. The information shared during the process should be just right, not too little, not too much. By asking this question, you will know what’s what.
Q2. What three things could we have done differently to improve the recruitment process?
This open-ended question will help you collect a good amount of feedback and information about the employee recruitment process. Remember, feedback is a cyclical process, not a linear process. So it’s good to improve and evolve constantly. Based on the feedback provided by organizations, it can evolve too.
Employee Decision-Making Questions
Here are some more questions to ask:
Q3. Please tell us the three reasons for joining our Organization.
By asking this question, you will know what are the positive traits of your organization that attract people to be part of the organization. This is an important question that should be part of your survey.
Q4. Where were you employed before joining this organization?
Knowing a new employee’s perspective on joining your organization will give you a good amount of information about your marketing initiatives, organization value, market reputation, and where you are spending your recruitment efforts.
Employee Onboarding Experience Questions (Week 1)
Q5. I feel welcome in this organization.
It’s a good start when employees’ expectations are met, or they feel welcome in the organization. Ask this question to get clarity from the employee’s perspective.
Q6. I am extremely happy to be associated with this organization.
If an employee is happy to be with the organization, then chances are the employee will be more engaged in the coming months, so ask this.
Employee Engagement Questions
After a few weeks of settling into the new role, now is a good time to send another survey to collect feedback and experience of working with the company so far. Week 5 questions should be about employee engagement, a sense of belonging to the company, etc.
Q7. On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend our organization to your family or friends?
This is the Employee Net Promoter Score Question; by asking this question, you will know how willing the employee is to refer your organization to his/her family or friends.
Q8. Since I joined this company, I rarely think about leaving for another job.
A happy employee will not be constantly looking for options to move on. If an employee is happy about joining your organization and sees a promising future for the organization, he/she wants to stay longer in the organization.
Q9. I see myself in this organization five years from now.
Money to hire. It’s not a secret that the employee hiring process is significant and requires lots of resources and time. It can be very painful if a company has to keep battling employee attrition. It’s good to know what the long-term employee plans are.
Q10. The team motivates me to go above and beyond what is expected of me to deliver.
If the team members are supportive and help a new employee understand the organizational culture and work immediately, the employee is likely to settle in quickly and perform better. This is a good question to collect information.
Q11. I regularly receive feedback from my manager on the tasks assigned to me.
Feedback is always appreciated, whether from an experienced employee or a new employee. Make sure a new employee gets feedback from his/her manager on time. This will help them to improve their skills and adapt to the new environment.
Q12. I can manage my work-life balance extremely well.
As an organization, you should ask your employees different types of questions in the survey that will help them determine if they are doing well both in the workplace and in their personal life. A new job can be overwhelming and sometimes demanding too. This question should be part of your survey to help your employees manage this balance.
Employee Induction Questions
Q13. I am confident in using the software systems required for my role.
Be honest with the new employees during onboarding. Explain their roles and responsibilities to help them understand their role and ensure they have the necessary skills for it. This is an important question and should be part of your employee onboarding survey.
Q14. I have received enough training to adapt to my job.
If it’s a new technology or software that you expect your new employee to work with, provide him/her with the necessary training to use the technology without any delay. The answer to this question will determine if your training program for new employees is working.
Q15. I received helpful information about the products, services, and history of the organization during orientation.
The purpose of induction is to share all the information with the new employee. At the orientation, make sure you give the employee all the information to help him settle in the company.
Employee Onboarding Experience Questions (Week 5)
Q16. I feel welcome and valued by the team.
For a new employee, being and feeling part of the team is key. It’s all about his/her team members and colleagues to make him/her feel comfortable in the workplace. Ask this question in your survey to know what employees are thinking while they are part of the team.
Q17. I feel productive working in this organization.
An employee who is confident and productive is good for him/her and the organization. Human resources are an asset to an organization; hardworking and well-performing employees are what an organization always wants to hire.
Q18. The job description and responsibilities explained to me were accurate.
Be honest with the new employees during onboarding. Explain clearly their roles and responsibilities so they can analyze their role and make sure they have the required skill set for it. This is an important question and should be in your employee onboarding survey.
Q19. I have been given an overview of my career path and progress in this organization.
It’s good to explain to your new employees their career path before they join the organization. This will ensure engagement, and if their career path is aligned with the organization’s goals, it will benefit both.
Q20. What is the one thing we could have done differently to improve your overall onboarding experience?
The next set of questions should be asked during week 5 and week 6. Weeks 5 and 6 should be more detailed and cover questions about engagement, role perception, and onboarding experience. By this time, the new employee should be settled and will have more feedback about their overall experience in the organization.
Best Practices for New Employee Onboarding Process
When you send an employee onboarding survey, make sure the data is actionable, employees feel comfortable giving honest and unbiased feedback, and that employee feedback is collected on time and relevant.
As you start onboarding and sending the surveys to your new employees, here are some best practices to help you get better results.
1. Survey your employees at the right time.
The right survey for the right time. The same applies to the employee onboarding survey. When should the survey be sent —after the first day, first week at work, first month, or three months after they join?
Whatever time you decide to send the survey, just make sure it’s not too late to send the onboarding survey, or else the whole purpose of sending the survey will be defeated.
Waiting too long to send a survey means losing valuable insights. Discuss and automate the process to stay in the system. Sending the survey promptly will help employees to recollect and note the feedback.
2. Keep it short and simple
These surveys should not feel like daily chores, which can be tedious. Keep these surveys short and to the point.
The surveys should have a maximum of 10 questions. Most of them should be closed-ended with relevant answer options and at most, 3 open-ended questions. Remember, it’s not a college essay they are working on.
3. Measure the experience
Don’t forget why you are asking these onboarding questions to your new employees. You need to get the new employees into the system fast and efficiently. Ultimately, your survey should be designed with the end result in mind.
4. Be direct in your approach
Ask direct questions and give employees the ability to rate their experience and shape their careers in the organization. Beating around the bush will not solve this purpose. Instead, ask questions that will help them evaluate their own performance and think ahead of themselves.
5. Ask the most relevant questions
Customizing your questions to the survey will get better responses. A generic question set can give a good starting point but jump to the point soon enough to avoid high survey drop-out. The theme and questions of the survey should be only about employee onboarding at all times.
Conclusion
Employee onboarding will go beyond compliance and cultural integration in the future of work. It’s when you build an employer-employee bond. A bad onboarding process costs big time. When creating an onboarding program, you need to consider many factors. Of course, there’s the practical side, like making sure your new hires have all the hardware and software they need on day one.
The other side of onboarding is just as important. It starts from the minute they sign, sets expectations, introduces them to your company culture and values, and helps them meet their new colleagues. If you can, automate and streamline employee onboarding. It saves time and gets your new hires off to a good start. And a happy ending.
QuestionPro Workforce has a platform for developing and managing onboarding processes. It includes customizing and automating many tasks like orientation programs, paperwork, documentation, employee training, and 360-degree leadership assessment. You can use this as an employee onboarding software. A robust data asset management approach builds trust, minimizes risk, and enables businesses to unlock the full potential of their customer data.
This can simplify and speed up the onboarding process for HR teams and ensure new hires get full and consistent training and support in their first few days.
