Remote Onboarding Surveys: What to Ask to Ensure Success

A good onboarding experience is important to set early expectations and position new hires for immediate success and even long-term satisfaction and retention. 

Yet when it comes to onboarding remote or even field-based workers, many traditional HR processes – those generally designed for in-office interactions – aren’t consistent. As a result, they may present many challenges that are hard to overcome.

The issue is that many companies may inadvertently overlook remote employees once they officially join the company. In these cases, they may forget to communicate important updates, provide training or other resources, or simply may not offer similar HR experiences that in-house employees receive.

This is often true when onboarding remote employees, especially if there really wasn’t anything wrong with how the process went. “No one objected so it couldn’t have been that bad,” seems to be the thinking. This may be true, but it still doesn’t mean that the overall process couldn’t be improved.

Collecting employee feedback is an extremely effective way to understand what can be improved. Onboarding surveys, especially remote onboarding surveys, can help today’s small businesses gain the insights they need to overcome any potential blindspots and optimize important processes related to onboarding.  

A well-designed remote onboarding survey can help companies understand new employees’ experiences as well as their overall satisfaction with onboarding processes. Yet too many organizations simply don’t know how to develop the right type of survey, and as a result, miss out on a real opportunity to improve their process. 

What to Ask on a Remote Onboarding Survey

It’s understandable that many companies don’t know how to develop the best surveys, and more specifically, what types of questions to include. The following questions can be a valuable way to assess the effectiveness of any remote onboarding process, and as a result, help new hires feel more supported, engaged, and positioned for success.

1. How did you feel your onboarding process went?

2. How clear were the communications you might have received before your first day?

3. How effective was the communication between you and your manager during the onboarding process?

4. Did you get all of the information you needed (benefits, IT, company directory, org charts, job responsibilities, first 30-day action plan)?

5. How easy was it to access any information and assets you needed (company systems, documents, forms, training materials)?

6. How comfortable do you feel with your current understanding of your job responsibilities?

7. Were all the remote work tools available for you? Would you have preferred any more?

8. How effective are virtual meetings?

9. Do you have any suggestions to improve remote work arrangements?

10. What could be improved with the current remote onboarding process?

Check out our FREE Remote Onboarding Survey!

The Purpose of Remote Onboarding Surveys

It all boils down to the fact that new hires should all expect a great onboarding experience, no matter where they work. But with so many employees working remotely or in other out-of-office positions such as field technicians, home healthcare providers, customer service reps, and more, some companies don’t provide the same types of onboarding experiences that they do for on-site staff.

These types of poor remote onboarding experiences tend to leave new hires feeling isolated, unsure of their responsibilities, and unclear about how to access or use the tools and resources they need. Without clear communication or more formal training, it’s easy to see how they may feel disconnected from the company culture and team and disengaged from their work. It can even build up to high levels of frustration, confusion, and lost time to productivity.

Less-than-ideal onboarding for remote workers can affect the business, too. For example, ineffective onboarding practices contribute to decreased morale, lower productivity, and higher levels of turnover. Additionally, when remote employees aren’t properly brought into the company, they may struggle to meet expectations, which can lead to missed targets, lower customer satisfaction, and increased recruiting and hiring costs to replace workers who leave the company.  

Building a Better Remote Onboarding Experience

By carefully considering what questions to ask and then developing a well designed remote onboarding survey, many companies can successfully identify existing gaps and make valuable improvements to the process. Gathering direct feedback from new hires – right after they’ve completed the onboarding process – helps these companies create meaningful and engaging onboarding experiences.

It becomes a true win-win: Employees feel supported from day one and more engaged in their roles. They also know what they should be doing right away, which translates into higher productivity, better service, and even better results that can be measured on the top and bottom lines. The company can also enjoy higher retention rates while building a more connected, motivated workforce – no matter where employees are located. 

FAQs

1. What is a remote onboarding survey?

A remote onboarding survey is a questionnaire designed to gather important feedback about their virtual onboarding success. When done well, remote onboarding surveys help companies assess employee engagement, identify opportunities for improvement, and take steps to create better remote onboarding experiences. 

2. Why are remote onboarding surveys a good idea?

Remote onboarding surveys help companies gather valuable feedback from employees who may never visit an office. This can help new hires feel supported, engaged, and part of the team and culture, even from a distance. 

3. What challenges do companies face if they don’t conduct remote onboarding surveys?

Without remote onboarding surveys, companies miss the opportunity to gain valuable insights into the effectiveness of their overall onboarding experience, but especially for remote employees. This can lead to disengagement, turnover, higher costs, and other negative consequences. 

4. What type of information should a remote onboarding survey try to get?

These surveys should uncover any information related to how effectively remote new hires are integrated into the company, especially their experience with communication, processes, training, tools, and support. The goal is to identify any challenges or gaps in the onboarding process to ensure a smooth transition and keep remote employees as happy and productive as possible. 

5. How can remote onboarding surveys improve employee retention and deliver other benefits? 

By gathering feedback early in the onboarding process, companies can identify and address potential issues before onboarding employees in the future. This helps them foster a positive experience that can drive employee engagement and satisfaction, and increase overall retention rates. 

Author:

This article is written by a marketing team member at HR Cloud. HR Cloud is a leading provider of proven HR solutions, including recruiting, onboarding, employee communications & engagement, and rewards & recognition. Our user-friendly software increases employee productivity, delivers time and cost savings, and minimizes compliance risk.