Telling new starters you will ask them how it is going: say it on day one, not in week eight.

Organisations that ask new starters how they are getting on often do the asking well: a short questionnaire a couple of months in, covering recruitment, induction, whether the job matched what was promised and how the person is settling. What they often do badly is telling anyone it is coming. The starter gets a link from a sender they do not recognise, the manager hears about it second-hand, and a process meant to show that the organisation listens looks instead like an audit. This guide covers who to tell, when, and what to say, so that the first message about your new-hire survey arrives before the survey does.

Decide the design before you describe it

Three decisions shape every message, so make them first. What to ask new starters, and when covers the content; here is what the communication depends on.

• Named or anonymous. In an anonymous survey you see only group results. In a named one, HR can also see an individual’s answers and act on them: a conversation with someone whose first weeks have gone badly, before they become an early leaver. We recommend the named option for that reason, and in our experience it has not depressed honesty or completion, but it changes what you can promise. You cannot call a named survey anonymous; you can call it confidential and say exactly who sees what.
• When it is asked. Early enough that problems can still be fixed, late enough that the person has something to say. We ask between six weeks and six months after someone starts. Whatever you choose, tell people the timing, so that the invitation arrives when they expect it.
• Who follows up, and how. If a starter’s answers show they are at risk of leaving, who will talk to them? Our practice is that HR holds that conversation first, and the line manager is involved only if the starter agrees. Decide this now, because it is the first thing a nervous starter and a defensive manager will both ask.

Who to tell, in order

• Managers, before any starter is invited. Managers need to know the survey exists, what it asks, that they will see group themes for their area when numbers allow, and that they will not see an individual’s answers unless the starter agrees. Ask for their support in encouraging completion. Say plainly that a critical answer about induction is information, not insubordination; the survey will not work if starters believe candour will reach their manager with their name on it.
• Whoever runs induction. They will be the ones to mention it on day one and to field the first questions. Give them the wording below and the answers to the three questions starters ask: is it anonymous, who sees it, and what happens if I say something negative.
• The starters themselves, three times. Once at induction or in the welcome pack, as a sentence: in a few weeks we will ask you how it is going, and here is why. Once a few days before the invitation goes out, from someone they know, so the email from the provider is expected. And once more if they have not responded, as a reminder rather than a chase.
• Recent joiners, if you are starting with a backlog. For a first project we suggest inviting everyone who has joined in the last twelve months, so that you have enough responses to see patterns by team and by length of service. People who joined ten months ago will not have been told at induction, so they need the fuller message: what this is, why it is starting now, and that it is about the organisation’s process, not about them.

What to say

• What it is. A short online questionnaire, about ten minutes, asking about how you were recruited, how you were inducted, whether the job matches what you were told, how you are getting on and what you are thinking about your future here. Say who sends it and when it will arrive.
• Why we are asking. Because we want to know whether we are setting new people up to succeed, and to fix what we are not. Be honest that the organisation is the subject. Starters tend to relax when they understand the survey is a test of the induction, not a test of them.
• What happens to the answers. This is the message to get exactly right. Say who sees individual answers (in our process, only HR, with the provider managing the data), what managers see (group themes, not individuals), and what happens if the answers suggest someone is struggling: a conversation with HR, with the manager involved only if the starter wants that. If the survey is anonymous, say so and say that nobody will follow up individually, and then do not. Anonymity and confidentiality in employee surveys covers the promises in detail.
• What will change. Say when and how group themes go to management, and commit to telling starters what the organisation changed because of what they said. New starters are a rolling population; the ones you survey this year benefit the next cohort more than themselves, and they are more willing to help if you say so.

Illustrative wording

• At induction. “About two months from now you will get an email from [provider], who run our new-starter survey. It takes about ten minutes and asks how recruitment and induction went and how you are settling in. Your answers go to HR, not to your manager, and if anything in them suggests we have let you down, someone from HR will offer to talk it through. We use what new starters tell us to fix our induction, so please be straight with us.”
• A few days before the invitation. “You may remember from your induction that we ask everyone how their first weeks have gone. Your invitation from [provider] will arrive on [day]. It is confidential to HR, takes about ten minutes, and it is how we find out what to fix.”
• Surveying starters without telling managers. The manager finds out from the starter, feels inspected, and the survey acquires a reputation it never recovers from.
• Promising anonymity and then following up. If you intend to talk to individuals, say so from the start. A starter who was told “anonymous” and then gets a call has learned not to believe the next message.
• Asking too early or too late. At two weeks few have an opinion; at nine months the early leavers have already left. Pick a point in the window and tell people what it is.
• Reporting a team’s result as a verdict on its manager. Themes are about the process. The moment they are used to rank managers, managers start coaching starters on what to say.
• Never closing the loop. Say what starters told you and what changed, to starters and to managers. It is the message that makes the next cohort answer.

What new starters say when they are asked is in The first months: what new starters tell us. If you want the asking done independently, OnBoarder is ours, and the messages above are the ones we help clients send.