Onboarding Survey Questions: 45+ Questions to Measure How New Hires Settle In

An onboarding survey is a series of short surveys, usually run at week one, day 30 and day 90, that measure how new employees settle in. It covers areas such as preparation and the first day, role clarity, tools and access, manager support, team integration, training, culture, expectations versus reality and intent to stay. Its purpose is to see the new hire's experience while they are still with the organization and to prevent early departures. Below you will find 47 example questions grouped by category for each stage, a timing table and guidance on analyzing the results.

In Turkish, "oryantasyon anketi" (orientation survey) and "işe alışma anketi" (settling-in survey) are also used for the same thing. Orientation usually means the introduction program in the first days, while onboarding means the entire settling-in process over the first months; this post is about the latter.

Why Onboarding Surveys Matter

New hires form their view of the organization in the first weeks, and that view is hard to change later. Many employees who leave within the first year trace their decision back to an experience in those early months: the role not turning out as described, never having regular conversations with their manager, never really being included in the team.

An onboarding survey lets you see these problems before people leave. The annual engagement survey either misses new hires entirely or catches them too late, and the exit survey only delivers information as the employee is leaving. The onboarding survey fills the gap. For the other moments of the lifecycle, see our employee experience survey questions, and for the concept itself, what is employee experience.

When to Run an Onboarding Survey

Rather than a single onboarding survey, it is better to run several short measurements, each focusing on a different question:

For roles with a probation period or an intensive training program, the schedule can be shifted to fit that program. What matters is that each survey arrives right after the relevant stage and that no one receives two surveys within a few weeks. After day 180, new hires join the organization's regular pulse and annual survey schedule.

Which Category to Ask at Which Stage

Asking the same statement at more than one stage lets you track change. For example, if "I clearly know what is expected of me" is low at day 30 and high at day 90, the process is working; if it is low at both points, the problem is persistent.

Onboarding Survey Questions

The statements below are answered on a 5-point Likert scale from "Strongly disagree" to "Strongly agree". For details on the scale, see what is a Likert scale. The suggested stages are noted next to each category.

Pre-Boarding and First Day (Day One, Week 1)

1. From the moment I accepted the offer until my start date, I received regular information from the company.
2. On my first day, I knew where to go, what time to arrive and who to ask for.
3. The paperwork and steps I had to complete before starting were easy and clear.
4. My first day was planned; I was not left waiting without knowing what to do.
5. On my first day, someone welcomed me and showed me around.
6. At the end of my first day, I was glad I had started working here.

Role Clarity (Week 1, Day 30, Day 90)

7. I clearly know what my role and responsibilities are.
8. I know what is expected of me in my first 30/60/90 days.
9. I understand how my work contributes to my team's and the organization's goals.
10. I know the criteria my performance will be evaluated on.
11. When I get stuck on something, I know who to turn to.

Tools and Access (Day One, Week 1, Day 30)

12. When I started, my computer, phone and other equipment were ready.
13. My access to the systems and applications I need for my work was set up on time.
14. I was shown how to use the tools I work with.
15. When I had a problem with access or equipment, it was resolved quickly.

Manager Support (Week 1, Day 30, Day 90, Day 180)

16. My manager made time for a one-on-one with me in my first week.
17. My manager and I have regular one-on-one meetings.
18. My manager set clear goals for my first months.
19. I receive timely and constructive feedback on my work from my manager.
20. I feel comfortable raising my questions and concerns with my manager.

Team Integration and Buddy (Week 1, Day 30, Day 90)

21. My team welcomed me warmly.
22. My teammates are willing to help with my questions.
23. The buddy assigned to me was genuinely helpful in my first weeks.
24. I was introduced to the people in other teams I will be working with.
25. I feel like part of the team.

If your organization has no buddy program, you can ask question 23 as "In my first weeks, there was someone I could go to with any question".

Training and Development (Day 30, Day 90, Day 180)

26. The orientation program was sufficient for me to understand the organization and how it works.
27. I received the training I need to do my job on time.
28. The content of the training was directly relevant to my job.
29. I know how I can develop myself in this organization.

Culture and Values (Day 30, Day 90, Day 180)

30. I understand the organization's values and what they mean in day-to-day work.
31. I feel I can speak up with my ideas here.
32. The working culture I see here matches what was described during recruitment.
33. I believe people from different backgrounds are respected in this organization.

Expectations vs. Reality (Day 30, Day 90)

34. My job matches what was described to me during recruitment.
35. My workload is at the level I expected.
36. My working arrangement (hours, remote/office days, shifts) is as described to me.
37. The information I was given about pay and benefits was accurate.

Low scores in this category often point to a problem in the recruitment process rather than in onboarding. To measure the recruitment stage, see our post on why recruitment surveys are needed.

Intent to Stay (Week 1, Day 90, Day 180)

38. I believe I made the right decision in choosing this organization.
39. I see myself still working here a year from now.
40. I would recommend this organization to friends as a place to work.
41. In the last few weeks, I have not seriously considered another job offer.

The last statement can also be asked negatively, as in "In the last few weeks, I have looked at other job opportunities", but it then needs to be reverse-coded so that it points in the same direction as the other statements in reporting. Instead of statement 40, you can also use a 0–10 recommendation question calculated the eNPS way.

Open-Ended Questions (No More Than 2 per Stage)

42. What was the most challenging thing in your first week?
43. What helped you the most in your first days?
44. Was there anything you wanted to know before starting but could not find out?
45. In what way has your job or the organization turned out differently from what you expected?
46. If you could change one thing to improve the next new hire's experience, what would it be?
47. What do you need right now to do your job better?

Answers to open-ended questions show the reasons behind the numbers. For tips on choosing these questions and analyzing the answers, see our open-ended employee survey questions post.

A Sample Day-90 Survey

From the list above, a short day-90 survey could look like this:

• Role clarity: 7, 8, 10
• Manager support: 17, 19
• Team integration: 25
• Training: 27
• Culture: 31, 32
• Expectations vs. reality: 34, 35
• Intent to stay: 38, 39, 40
• Open-ended: 45, 46

That is 16 questions and 5–7 minutes in total. For the other stages, picking 2–3 statements from each relevant category in the table works the same way.

How to Analyze the Results

Track by Cohort

Track onboarding results by start cohort rather than by individual: for example, "employees who started in Q1 2026". Putting each cohort's week-one, day-30 and day-90 results side by side answers two questions:

• Across stages: Do role clarity or belonging increase over time within the same cohort?
• Across cohorts: Does a change to the onboarding process (for example, launching a buddy program) show up in the results of later cohorts?

In reporting, use the favorable score: the combined share of "Agree" and "Strongly agree" answers.

Combine Small Groups

In most organizations, only a few people start in any given month, and often just one or two per department. So:

• Do not report results for any group with fewer than 10 responses.
• Aggregate quarterly rather than monthly, or annually if needed.
• Show department or location breakdowns only for groups that pass this threshold; roll the rest up into the next organizational level.
• Never show a manager the answers of a single person who joined their team.

We explain the reasoning behind the threshold and how to give a confidentiality guarantee in anonymity in employee surveys.

Read Alongside Early Turnover and Exit Surveys

The real test of an onboarding survey is whether it predicts early departures. To check:

1. Calculate first-year turnover by cohort: The share of each cohort who leave voluntarily within their first 12 months.
2. Compare with day-90 results: Do cohorts or units with low intent-to-stay and expectations-vs-reality scores also have higher first-year turnover?
3. Look at the exit surveys of first-year leavers: Do their reasons for leaving match the areas that scored low in onboarding? For example, if "My job matches what was described to me" scores low in onboarding and first-year leavers pick "the content of the job" as their main reason, the root of the problem lies in the job postings and interviews of the recruitment process.

If you want to match individual responses with turnover data, the survey needs to be designed as confidential rather than anonymous (with identities visible only to HR or an independent provider), and employees need to be told this clearly. For most organizations, comparison at the cohort and unit level is both sufficient and safer.

How to Run an Onboarding Survey

• Automate it: Pull the start date from the HR system and send each survey automatically on the right day. Surveys tracked by hand slip over time.
• Keep it short: New hires will receive 3–4 surveys within a few months. The first-day survey should not exceed 5 questions, and the others 15.
• Say who will see the answers: New hires, especially during probation, hesitate to criticize their manager. State clearly that HR or an independent provider will collect the answers and that managers will only receive aggregate results.
• Make it mobile-friendly: Frontline and shift employees may not have access to corporate email in their first weeks; provide access via SMS or QR code.
• Assign owners: First-day and access results should go to HR and IT; role clarity and manager support results to managers and HR business partners.
• Close the loop: Tell new hires briefly during orientation what has changed based on earlier cohorts' feedback. It shows the survey is taken seriously.

Common Mistakes

• Relying on a single survey: A survey asked only in week one misses the most critical period, days 30 to 90.
• Making the first-day survey long: New hires already have a lot on their minds on day one; a 20-question survey becomes part of their first impression of the organization.
• Evaluating the orientation training but not the process: "How was the training?" does not measure role clarity, manager support or team integration.
• Reporting results by individual: In small groups, respondents are easy to identify, which reduces the honesty of later cohorts.
• Changing the questions for every cohort: If the statements do not stay the same, you cannot compare across stages or cohorts.
• Not linking results to early departures: Unless it is read alongside first-year turnover and exit surveys, an onboarding survey stays a mere satisfaction measure.
• Blaming onboarding for a recruitment problem: Gaps between expectations and reality often come from unrealistic information given in job postings and interviews, and the fix lies there too.

Frequently asked questions