Employee onboarding surveys: A complete guide with survey questions

Remember walking into an arcade for the first time as a kid?

Lights flashing, machines buzzing, tokens clinking — total sensory overload. You didn’t know which game to play, how many tokens each one took, or if someone was about to challenge you to Mortal Kombat. You just hoped someone would show you where to start.

That exact feeling? It’s what onboarding can feel like for new hires.

They won’t always say it out loud, but they’re navigating new systems, culture codes, and unspoken rules — all at once. And unless you ask, you’ll never know if they’re confidently leveling up or quietly stuck at the start screen.

That’s why thoughtful employee onboarding survey questions matter. They help you spot friction early,  increase your company's employee retention, support faster alignment, and ensure no one’s left button-mashing in the dark.

Let’s build those questions — the kind that actually help.

What is onboarding?

Onboarding is the structured process of guiding a new employee into their role within the organization. It begins as early as the offer stage and often extends through the first 30, 60, and 90 days of employment. A comprehensive and effective onboarding program covers both logistical elements, such as paperwork, systems access, and compliance training, and cultural elements like team introductions, company values, and performance expectations.

The primary purpose of onboarding is to ensure new hires feel welcomed, informed, and set up for success. It also helps reduce time to productivity, improve engagement, and increase retention.

Many companies use tools like employee onboarding surveys, new hire feedback questions, new hire engagement survey and onboarding feedback surveys to assess the quality of the onboarding process. These help identify gaps in communication, training, or support early in the process.

Good, seamless onboarding is more than orientation—it’s a key driver of long-term employee success. When the orientation process is done right, it leads to stronger alignment, faster integration, and a smoother transition into the company’s culture and workflow.

Why is proper employee onboarding experience important?

The onboarding phase shapes how new employees connect with your company, understand their role, and perform in the long term. A thoughtful onboarding experience has far-reaching benefits for both employers and new hires.

• Reduce employee turnover: When onboarding feels disconnected or rushed, new hires often disengage early. A clear, consistent process supported by employee onboarding surveys can help retain talent by identifying and resolving concerns before they escalate.
• Improve new hire productivity: Structured onboarding helps employees settle into their job description faster. Using tools like 30 60 90 day employee surveys allows HR teams to track progress and offer support exactly when it's needed.
• Promote role clarity and confidence: New hire feedback questions give insight into how well responsibilities, goals, and expectations are understood, preventing confusion that could affect performance.
• Foster a strong workplace culture: Onboarding is your first opportunity to show how your company operates, communicates, and supports people. Asking onboarding feedback questions can reveal whether that culture is being absorbed effectively.
• Support compliance and consistency: A proper onboarding experience ensures every employee receives the same foundation of training, values, and guidelines. This builds trust and reduces the chance of future compliance or conduct issues.
• Encourage collaboration and connection: Onboarding isn't just about logistics. It's about integrating people into teams. When you use onboarding survey questions for managers and employees alike, you open up space for mentorship, collaboration, and long-term relationships.
• Build long-term engagement: A thoughtful new employee survey shows that their feedback matters from day one, leading to stronger engagement and a better overall experience.

What is an employee onboarding survey?

An employee onboarding survey is a structured tool used to gather feedback from new hires during their early days at your company. It helps HR teams and leaders understand how employees are adjusting, what’s working, and where gaps exist. It’s not just about measuring satisfaction—it’s about shaping a better onboarding experience from the inside out.

• Capture the real employee experience: Onboarding survey questions give new hires a voice without needing to speak up directly, helping you hear honest feedback during a sensitive transition period.
• Improve onboarding effectiveness: A well-designed employee onboarding survey reveals whether your onboarding process is actually supporting new hires the way you intended.
• Support faster role adjustment: The survey helps identify whether new employees are clear about their responsibilities, tools, and team dynamics.
• Measure cultural alignment: New employee survey questions can highlight how well your culture and values are being communicated and received.
• Spot early signs of disengagement: Regular onboarding feedback surveys make it easier to detect friction before it turns into low morale or attrition.
• Encourage continuous improvement: Collecting structured feedback from new hires helps refine your onboarding process, making it more consistent and impactful over time.
• Promote inclusive communication: When new hires are invited to share their thoughts through a CultureMonkey onboarding survey or similar tool, it reinforces a culture of listening from day one.

Why is an onboarding survey important?

An onboarding survey is more than just a form—it’s a key feedback tool that helps you shape better employee experiences from the very beginning. It brings visibility into the new hire journey, allowing HR teams and managers to support, adapt, and improve with intention.

• Identify onboarding gaps: Onboarding survey questions help uncover unclear processes, missing information, or parts of onboarding that aren’t landing as intended.
• Understand employee expectations: New hire feedback questions highlight whether the role and culture align with what was communicated during hiring.
• Encourage early feedback: Asking onboarding feedback questions sends a signal that feedback is welcome, valued, and safe to share.
• Support smoother role transitions: Onboarding surveys help employees express what they need to succeed in their early days, before assumptions set in.
• Strengthen onboarding consistency: A standardized new employee survey ensures every department delivers a more uniform, high-quality onboarding experience.
• Spot management blind spots: Onboarding survey questions for managers can reveal coaching or communication gaps that impact new hire success.
• Reduce risk of disengagement: A well-timed CultureMonkey onboarding survey can surface hidden issues before they lead to frustration or early exits.
• Build a culture of listening: Gathering feedback from day one sets the tone for continuous improvement and a people-first work environment.

Benefits of onboarding survey

An onboarding survey gives you direct, actionable insight into the new hire experience—helping you shape a smoother, more impactful introduction to your company. It reveals what’s working, what’s falling short, and what can be improved to boost engagement, retention, and productivity.

• Improve employee engagement: Onboarding survey questions help you understand how supported, connected, and confident new hires feel in their first few weeks.
• Increase retention and tenure: Employees who have a positive onboarding process are more likely to stay longer with the company, reducing early attrition.
• Accelerate ramp-up time: A strong onboarding survey questions for new hires helps identify what’s helping or slowing down a new hire’s ability to contribute effectively.
• Boost employer advocacy: When new hires feel valued and welcomed, they’re more likely to recommend your company to others and raise your eNPS score.
• Strengthen onboarding consistency: Using new employee survey questions helps ensure every department delivers a consistent and high-quality onboarding experience.
• Reveal onboarding blind spots: Surveying employees highlights areas you may overlook—like unclear expectations, tool access issues, or communication gaps.
• Enhance manager accountability: Onboarding survey questions for managers provide insight into how well team leads are setting up new hires for success.
• Promote a culture of feedback: Regular onboarding surveys signal to employees that their voice matters from day one, laying the foundation for open communication.
• Align values and expectations: Feedback from new hire onboarding survey questions helps confirm whether your company’s culture and mission are being clearly communicated and embraced.

Key features of the onboarding process survey

An effective onboarding process survey helps you gather real, structured feedback from new hires at a critical time in their journey. It captures early impressions, identifies barriers, and opens up space for improvement—so your onboarding program evolves with your employees, not against them.

• Understanding new hire sentiment: Onboarding feedback questions allow you to learn how new employees feel about their first days, the team dynamic, and the overall onboarding process.
• Assessing role clarity: The survey helps evaluate whether employees understand their job responsibilities and expectations clearly.
• Checking alignment with expectations: Onboarding survey questions reveal whether the actual experience aligns with what was promised during the hiring process.
• Identifying training needs: New hire feedback questions can indicate whether additional training or resources are needed to help new employees perform effectively.
• Surfacing early blockers: The onboarding survey offers a space for new hires to report technical, logistical, or communication issues before they escalate.
• Monitoring onboarding program quality: Regular surveys help HR teams spot patterns, compare experiences across departments, and fill gaps in the onboarding journey.
• Supporting continuous improvement: New employee survey questions ensure that onboarding isn’t static—feedback leads to better structure, resources, and personalization over time.
• Encouraging honest communication: A CultureMonkey onboarding survey or similar tool promotes a safe space for early feedback, reducing the risk of disengagement.
• Tracking onboarding consistency across managers: Onboarding survey questions for managers can highlight variations in support and onboarding execution, ensuring quality across the board and enhancing employee engagement.
• Enabling faster adaptation: When used regularly, onboarding surveys help employees adjust more quickly by flagging pain points and clearing up confusion early.

Employee onboarding survey questions

Random tools and irrelevant questions to ask new employees will lead you nowhere. So, as a decision-maker, understand how to enable the best tool in the market for your employees' effective onboarding survey.

Here is where CultureMonkey's research-oriented employee onboarding survey questions are second to none.

CultureMonkey's employee engagement platform, enables you to send relevant employee surveys and also allows you to have personalized pulse survey questions per your specific, individual requirement.

These questions are designed to track onboarding effectiveness at the 30, 60, and 90-day milestones. Each question uses a 5-point Likert scale:

Likert Scale for all questions:
1 – Strongly Disagree
2 – Disagree
3 – Neutral
4 – Agree
5 – Strongly Agree

Now, let's dig into the onboarding survey questions that you are looking for:

Sample new hire feedback questions for the first 30 days

1. I felt welcomed by my team and organization during my first week.
2. I understand what is expected of me in my role.
3. My onboarding experience so far has been well-organized.
4. I received enough information to get started on my first day.
5. The communication from HR and my manager has been clear and timely.
6. I feel comfortable asking questions when I’m unsure about something.
7. I have access to all the tools and systems I need to do my job.
8. I understand the company’s values and mission.
9. My role matches what was described during the recruitment process.
10. I am satisfied with the onboarding training I’ve received.
11. I know where to go or whom to contact when I need help.
12. The onboarding process has helped me understand the company culture.
13. I feel like part of the team.
14. I would rate my onboarding experience positively so far.
15. I am confident in my ability to contribute to the team.

Scale: 1 – Strongly Disagree | 5 – Strongly Agree

Sample new hire feedback questions for the first 60 days

1. I feel confident in completing the key responsibilities of my role.
2. My manager regularly checks in on my progress and well-being.
3. I’ve been given enough feedback to know how I’m doing.
4. I feel supported by my colleagues and manager.
5. I understand how my work contributes to the company’s goals.
6. I feel engaged in my daily work.
7. I am building strong working relationships across my team.
8. I am satisfied with the learning and development opportunities available to me.
9. The company’s culture has matched my expectations.
10. I have received consistent support throughout my onboarding journey.
11. I’m confident using internal tools and systems required for my role.
12. I feel included in meetings, discussions, and decision-making processes.
13. I understand how performance is measured in my role.
14. I am motivated to continue growing in my position.
15. My onboarding experience has set me up for long-term success.

Scale: 1 – Strongly Disagree | 5 – Strongly Agree

Sample new hire feedback questions for the first 90 days

1. I feel fully integrated into my team and department.
2. I have the knowledge and resources I need to succeed in my role.
3. My overall onboarding experience has been positive.
4. I believe I made the right decision in joining this organization.
5. I clearly understand the company’s structure and how departments collaborate.
6. I know what growth opportunities are available to me here.
7. I feel like I belong in this organization.
8. I’ve been encouraged to share my feedback and ideas.
9. My expectations for this role have been met or exceeded.
10. I see a future for myself at this company.
11. I am satisfied with the balance between work and support I’ve received.
12. My manager has helped guide my development over the past 90 days.
13. I would recommend this company to others.
14. I have clarity about how my role contributes to the company’s success.
15. I am likely to stay with this company for the foreseeable future.

Scale: 1 – Strongly Disagree | 5 – Strongly Agree

How anonymous feedback builds trust with new employees

When new hires know they can share honest feedback without fear of judgment, it creates the foundation for a transparent and supportive work environment. Anonymous feedback through onboarding surveys can make employees feel safe, valued, and more likely to engage from the very beginning.

• Encourages honesty from day one: Anonymous onboarding feedback removes fear of backlash, making it easier for new hires to speak openly about their experience.
• Uncovers issues leadership may not see: Anonymous employee onboarding survey responses can highlight hidden friction points that wouldn't surface in face-to-face conversations.
• Promotes psychological safety: When new employee survey questions are anonymous, it signals that the company prioritizes employee well-being over image.
• Improves the quality of onboarding feedback: Without the pressure to “say the right thing,” responses are more thoughtful, specific, and useful.
• Boosts participation rates: New hires are more likely to complete onboarding feedback surveys when they trust the process is confidential.
• Reinforces a culture of transparency: Consistently collecting anonymous feedback sends a clear message: honest input is welcome, and action will follow.
• Builds long-term engagement: When employees see their anonymous new hire feedback questions lead to improvements, they’re more likely to stay involved and feel a sense of ownership.

Onboarding survey best practices

To make your onboarding surveys truly impactful, it’s not just about asking questions—it’s about asking the right ones, at the right time, in the right way. The goal is to create a smooth feedback loop that feels natural to new hires and leads to meaningful improvements in your onboarding process.

• Send the onboarding survey at the right time: Timing matters. Don’t delay or miss your window. Whether you use a 7-day, 30-day, or 90-day cadence, stick to a schedule that captures fresh feedback without overwhelming the new hire.
• Keep it simple and clear: A well-designed onboarding survey should be easy to complete. Avoid overwhelming employees with long, complex forms. The more direct and concise your employee onboarding survey questions, the higher your response rate.
• Stay focused on purpose: Be intentional about what you’re trying to learn. Every question should serve a goal—whether it's role clarity, cultural fit, or onboarding experience. Avoid filler questions that don’t add value.
• Use a direct approach: Don’t beat around the bush. Ask clear onboarding feedback questions that get to the point. Use rating scales, Likert-style responses, and open-text fields to capture honest insights.
• Maintain a consistent format: If you’re running a CultureMonkey onboarding survey or similar tool, ensure the structure stays consistent over time so you can benchmark and track trends effectively.
• Respect their time: Show your new hires that you value their input by making the process quick, respectful, and easy to complete. A short, thoughtful new employee survey will always outperform a long-winded one.
• Act on the feedback: The fastest way to lose trust is to ask for input and ignore it. Use onboarding survey responses to take timely action, address concerns, and improve the experience for future hires.
• Encourage honest participation: Make it clear that the survey is confidential and designed to help, not judge. Anonymous onboarding survey feedback often reveals insights that new hires wouldn’t say out loud.

Why is it important to collect feedback from new hires early on?

Collecting feedback early in the onboarding journey allows HR teams and managers to course-correct, build trust, and create a better overall employee experience. It sets the tone for open communication and gives new hires a voice before small issues become big problems.

• Catch red flags before they escalate: Early onboarding survey questions help you identify confusion, misalignment, or gaps in support that could affect employee retention.
• Build a culture of listening: Using onboarding feedback questions encourages employees that from day one that their opinions matter, thus reinforcing psychological safety and improving employee engagement.
• Improve the onboarding experience in real time: New hire feedback questions help HR professionals take immediate action rather than waiting for post-onboarding reviews.
• Ensure clarity around the role and responsibilities: Employee onboarding surveys can reveal misunderstandings around expectations, helping managers provide the right support.
• Reinforce alignment with company culture: Asking new employee survey questions early helps assess how well the company's onboarding process, mission, values, and tone are landing.
• Support manager effectiveness: New hire onboarding questions for managers highlight where leadership communication or support may be falling short.
• Strengthen long-term engagement and retention: When employees feel heard early on, they’re more likely to stay, contribute, and speak up later in their journey, further enhancing employee satisfaction.
• Optimize your hiring and onboarding process: Sending onboarding surveys and collecting feedback in the first few weeks gather valuable insights that help improve future recruitment and new employee orientation survey experiences.
• Encourage honest input while impressions are fresh: New hires are more likely to give candid answers to onboarding experience survey questions before they feel fully absorbed into company dynamics.

How feedback in the first 90 days can boost retention and engagement?

The first 90 days are a make-or-break window in the employee lifecycle. This is when new hires decide if they feel connected, supported, and aligned—or if they start looking elsewhere. By collecting focused, valuable feedback during this time, companies can take action before issues become exit interviews.

• Capture early signals through structured surveys: A 90-day employee onboarding process survey filled with timely and relevant new hire feedback questions gives you a clear view of how well the onboarding process is working.
• Identify improvement areas with onboarding experience feedback answers: Real-time feedback helps HR teams resolve confusion, provide additional resources, or adjust expectations based on direct input from new hires.
• Reduce silent attrition with a new hire feedback survey: Employees may disengage without ever saying a word. Anonymous surveys and new hire orientation questionnaires surface what they’re really thinking.
• Strengthen the manager-employee dynamic: Onboarding survey questions for hiring managers can uncover whether leaders are supporting new employees effectively during this crucial period.
• Boost long-term engagement by acting on insights: Gathering employee onboarding feedback during the first 90 days helps you personalize support, foster connection, and show that feedback leads to change.
• Use templates or free employee onboarding surveys to scale your process: Even simple onboarding survey examples can help standardize feedback collection without needing custom setups every time.
• Build consistency with an employee onboarding questionnaire: A consistent, repeatable employee onboarding feedback survey format ensures you’re capturing comparable data across departments, teams, and new hire groups.

Ways new hire surveys improve your onboarding strategy

New hire surveys do more than gather feedback—they help you build a stronger, more adaptable onboarding strategy that evolves with every new employee. These surveys give HR teams and managers the data they need to turn guesswork into real, targeted improvements.

• Uncover blind spots in your process: Employee onboarding surveys highlight overlooked steps, miscommunications, or confusing handoffs that could affect a new hire’s success.
• Refine training programs: New employee survey questions help assess which resources are helpful and where new hires are still struggling, allowing for continuous improvement.
• Strengthen cross-team coordination: Feedback can reveal gaps in collaboration between HR, IT, and managers, making your onboarding experience smoother and more cohesive.
• Improve manager readiness: Onboarding survey questions for managers can surface inconsistencies in how leaders support new employees across teams.
• Boost onboarding experience satisfaction: When feedback is used effectively, onboarding feedback surveys lead to more engaged and confident new hires.
• Drive onboarding improvements at scale: Regular analysis of onboarding experience survey data helps you spot patterns and design better workflows across roles or departments.
• Align onboarding with employee expectations: Survey responses can show whether your process meets the evolving needs of modern employees, especially in hybrid or remote environments.
• Enhance employer branding: When new hires feel heard and supported, they’re more likely to speak positively about their experience and refer others.

What happens when you don’t collect feedback from new hires?

Skipping feedback in the early stages of onboarding isn’t just a missed opportunity—it can quietly undermine engagement, culture, and long-term retention. When new hire feedback is ignored, companies often end up reacting to problems instead of preventing them.

• You miss hidden friction points: Without employee onboarding feedback, issues like unclear expectations, poor tool access, or lack of team connection go unaddressed.
• New hires feel unheard and undervalued: A lack of new hire feedback surveys can send the message that employee sentiment and input doesn’t matter, especially during the most vulnerable part of their journey.
• Manager blind spots stay hidden: Without onboarding survey questions for hiring managers, it’s hard to know how well managers are guiding new team members.
• You lose early attrition insights: Exit interviews are too late. 30-day, 60-day, or 90-day onboarding survey questions or employee onboarding programs could’ve caught the issue when it was still fixable.
• Your onboarding strategy stagnates: Without real onboarding experience feedback answers, your team is stuck guessing what’s working and what’s not.
• You miss the chance to improve eNPS early: New hires who feel disconnected won’t promote your culture, and they won’t refer to top talent either.
• Inconsistent onboarding across teams: Without a standard employee onboarding questionnaire or framework, the experience can vary wildly by department or manager.
• Your reputation as an employer suffers: Poor onboarding spreads on social media, review sites, and by word of mouth. Collecting feedback helps you prevent that before it starts.

What should you avoid when creating new hire feedback questions?

Creating effective new hire feedback questions isn’t just about what to ask—it’s also about what not to ask. Poorly designed questions can lead to low participation, unhelpful data, or worse, disengagement right at the start of the employee lifecycle.

• Being too vague or abstract: Avoid questions that are unclear or open to interpretation. New hire onboarding survey questions should be specific and actionable.
• Asking leading questions: Questions that push employees toward a “desired” answer can make feedback feel insincere. Keep your onboarding survey neutral and open.
• Making surveys too long: Overloading the new employee orientation questionnaire can lead to fatigue and skipped responses. Focus on what truly matters in the first 30–90 days.
• Overcomplicating the language: Avoid jargon or HR-heavy terms. Onboarding feedback should be easy to understand and respond to, especially for someone still adjusting.
• Ignoring the emotional aspect: Not everything is about tasks and processes. Include onboarding experience survey questions that also touch on belonging, clarity, and comfort.
• Asking irrelevant questions: Keep the onboarding feedback survey focused on things the new hire has actually experienced. Questions about long-term goals, employee satisfaction or deep company knowledge can wait.
• Failing to act on responses: Nothing kills trust faster than asking for input and doing nothing with it. If you're not ready to act, reconsider asking the question.
• Skipping anonymity when needed: Some feedback may be sensitive. Anonymous new hire feedback questions encourage honesty, especially in the early days.

What categories should new hire feedback questions cover?

Effective new hire feedback questions should go beyond surface-level impressions. A well-rounded onboarding survey explores multiple categories that reflect both practical setup and emotional integration, giving you a full picture of how the new hire experience is unfolding.

• First impressions and welcome experience: Use employee onboarding survey questions to understand how welcomed and supported the new hire felt during their initial days.
• Role clarity and expectations: New employee orientation survey questions should evaluate whether job responsibilities and performance expectations were communicated clearly.
• Training and resources: Ask onboarding survey questions that reveal if the training, documentation, and tools provided were helpful and accessible.
• Manager and team support: Onboarding survey questions for managers help assess whether leaders and teammates are providing the right guidance and encouragement.
• Cultural alignment: Include onboarding experience survey questions that explore how well company values, mission, and work culture are resonating with the new hire.
• Workplace logistics and setup: Questions can cover access to systems, workspace readiness, and how smoothly operations ran during the first few weeks.
• Engagement and emotional connection: New hire onboarding survey questions should also gauge how connected and motivated employees feel at the end of each milestone—30, 60, or 90 days.
• Improvement suggestions: Allow space for open-ended responses so employees can share additional feedback or ideas that structured questions might miss.

How to combine feedback data with HR metrics for deeper insights

Collecting new hire feedback is just one side of the story. The real power comes when you layer that qualitative input with HR metrics like retention, performance, and time-to-productivity. When combined, these datasets reveal patterns you can’t see in isolation—and help you take smarter, more proactive action.

• Connect onboarding feedback to retention trends: Match employee onboarding survey responses with turnover data to see which early experiences lead to longer tenure.
• Link satisfaction scores to performance outcomes: Compare results from new hire onboarding survey questions with 30/60/90-day performance reviews to understand how experience shapes productivity.
• Use survey sentiment to refine training programs: Combine onboarding experience feedback answers with skill gap assessments to see where your learning tracks need improvement.
• Benchmark team-level insights: Pair employee onboarding questionnaire results with team eNPS or engagement scores to identify which departments need more onboarding support.
• Improve manager effectiveness with feedback loops: Cross-reference onboarding survey questions for hiring managers with direct report attrition or engagement scores to coach better leadership behaviors.
• Track onboarding efficiency over time: Use free employee onboarding surveys and onboarding survey examples at scale, then measure their effect on time-to-productivity and ramp-up speed.
• Monitor experience gaps across cohorts: Match new hire orientation questionnaire data with demographics, location, or role type to uncover equity and inclusion blind spots in your onboarding process.

How do employee onboarding surveys enhance new hire experience?

A well-timed employee onboarding survey does more than collect opinions—it shapes how new hires feel, adapt, and grow during their first few months. When thoughtfully executed, these surveys can turn a generic onboarding process into a tailored, engaging recruitment and onboarding experience that fosters long-term success.

• Encourages open communication: Onboarding surveys give new employees a safe, structured way to share thoughts they may hesitate to voice directly.
• Highlights support gaps early: New hire feedback questions help spot confusion, missing tools, or communication breakdowns before they impact performance or morale.
• Builds trust from day one: Showing that you value employee feedback through collecting valuable feedback questions helps new hires feel heard and respected.
• Reinforces clarity and confidence: New employee orientation satisfaction survey helps ensure that new employees understand their role, goals, and how they contribute to the bigger picture.
• Strengthens cultural connection: Onboarding surveys measures valuable insights such as how well company values and culture are landing, giving you a chance to reinforce alignment.
• Supports continuous improvement: Consistent onboarding survey responses help you refine and improve the onboarding journey for future hires.

Conclusion

Employee onboarding surveys are more than a procedural step—they’re your first real opportunity to show new hires that their voice matters. When done right, they reduce friction, build trust, and help employees feel aligned, empowered, and connected from day one.

Whether it’s capturing onboarding feedback at the 30, 60, or 90-day mark or identifying hidden challenges early, the right questions can shape a stronger employee experience and a more resilient workplace culture.

If you're looking to simplify and scale your onboarding feedback, a platform like CultureMonkey helps automate survey delivery, analyze sentiment, and surface actionable insights—so you can keep improving while staying human.

FAQs

1. Why should you ask new hires for feedback in their first few months?

Requesting feedback in the first few months helps HR teams identify gaps, improve onboarding, and make employees feel heard. Early feedback captures fresh impressions, surfaces issues before they grow, and builds a culture of trust. It also improves engagement and retention by showing new hires their experience matters, which increases the chance of long-term success in the organization.

2. What are good questions to ask a new employee after onboarding?

Ask questions that assess role clarity, training, support, and cultural fit.

Examples include: “Do you understand your key responsibilities?”, “Was onboarding helpful in preparing you?”, or “Do you feel part of the team?”

Use a mix of Likert-scale and open-ended questions to gather actionable onboarding feedback and improve future employee onboarding survey questions based on real experiences.

3. What are 30-60-90 day feedback surveys?

These milestone surveys track employee experience during onboarding. A 30-day survey focuses on orientation and setup, 60-day explores integration and team fit, while 90-day reviews overall engagement, satisfaction, and long-term expectations. These onboarding feedback surveys help HR teams refine the process, reduce early attrition, improve employee retention and ensure new hires are aligned, supported, and ready to contribute effectively.

4. How can anonymous new hire surveys help HR teams?

Anonymous onboarding surveys help HR collect honest, unfiltered feedback from new hires. They reduce fear of judgment, increase participation, and surface sensitive issues managers might miss. HR teams can then identify patterns, fix onboarding gaps, and boost early engagement. This improves employee trust, enhances the onboarding experience, and ensures new hire feedback leads to meaningful change.

5. What topics should be covered in early-stage employee feedback?

Early feedback should explore key areas like onboarding experience, training quality, manager support, culture alignment, and clarity of job expectations. You can also ask about communication, tools access, and emotional readiness. Including questions in a structured employee onboarding questionnaire ensures consistent insights that help improve onboarding feedback surveys and support new hires throughout their early months.