Employee survey questions examples and best questions for new hire survey: how to capture feedback that drives improvement

Finding the right employee survey questions examples is crucial when designing best questions for new hire survey programs that actually capture meaningful feedback.

New employees offer a fresh perspective during their first 90 days, but unlocking those insights depends on asking the right questions at the right checkpoints.

This article breaks down high-impact questions for 30, 60, and 90-day touchpoints, and shows you how to dig even deeper with AI-driven follow-ups—so you capture feedback that drives real improvement.

Essential questions for your 30-day new hire survey

The first month is all about first impressions and the effectiveness of your onboarding process. At 30 days, employees are still wearing "fresh eyes"—they see things that more tenured team members take for granted, but they’re not yet fully entrenched. Getting input at this stage is like a health check on your onboarding design and communication.

• How clear was your understanding of your role and responsibilities after onboarding?
  Gives you a read on whether expectations were set correctly and where there might be blind spots or confusion.
  

  What part of your role feels most unclear at this point?

• Did you receive the support and resources you needed to get started?
  This highlights any immediate gaps in training, equipment, or onboarding documentation. You want to know—did we set them up for success?
  

  Can you name a resource you wish you’d had but didn’t?

• How would you rate your initial experience with your team or manager?
  Surface potential onboarding issues or misalignment that could become bigger problems if left unchecked.

• Were your onboarding sessions organized and relevant to your role?
  This helps identify if your onboarding is generic or tailored—and if people’s time is being used well versus wasted.

• What surprised you most about working here?
  This open-ended question brings out the “unknown unknowns”—things leadership might never think to look for.

Getting granular here helps you catch onboarding gaps before they drag on. These early surveys are proven to boost engagement rates by 14% for organizations that use them regularly. [1]

Key questions for 60-day employee feedback

The 60-day checkpoint is when most new hires have gotten their hands dirty and started making meaningful contributions—or hit some unexpected roadblocks. At this stage, the focus is on role clarity, team integration, and surfacing problems that might slow someone down.

• Do you fully understand what’s expected of you in your role?
  Cuts straight to clarity—are your job responsibilities clear, or are there unspoken expectations tripping people up?

• How confident do you feel performing your daily tasks?
  This reveals skill and knowledge gaps that may have emerged as employees move from observing to doing.

• How well do you feel integrated into your team?
  Measures social and professional belonging, so you can spot possible isolation or friction early on.

  What could your team or manager do to help you feel more included?

• Have you encountered any obstacles that slowed down your progress?
  Uncovers hidden roadblocks that are easily fixed—but only if you know they exist.

  Describe a recent challenge you faced and how you addressed it.

• Is there anything that would make your work more efficient or enjoyable?
  Proactively asks for quick wins or overlooked improvements that matter to new hires.

Adding conversational AI follow-ups (see how automatic follow-up questions work) means your questions aren’t dead ends—they’re gateways to real understanding. For every new hire who raises a vague issue, AI can ask for more detail, context, or concrete examples—without more manual effort from your team. [2]

90-day survey questions that predict retention

The 90-day survey is a strong predictor of whether someone will stay or leave in their first year. Retention hinges on whether people feel aligned with the company, see a future for themselves, and feel like their contributions matter. Now you’re looking for early warning signs and moments where career growth can stall—or be accelerated.

• Do you see yourself growing your career here?
  Directly connects onboarding to long-term motivation and growth.

  How can we help align your professional development goals with your current role?

• Are you satisfied with the feedback you’ve received so far?
  Uncovers if feedback loops are working, or if new hires are drifting without enough support.

  What would make feedback more valuable for you?

• What would make you more likely to recommend this company to others?
  Surfaces the biggest wins or pain points impacting advocacy and employer brand.

• Do you feel a sense of belonging or connection to your colleagues?
  This question helps flag potential retention risks tied to culture fit or isolation.

• Is there one change that would improve your experience as a new employee?
  Gives leadership a shortlist of tactical improvements, directly from fresh eyes.

• Do you feel your role has evolved in line with your expectations?
  This is especially relevant for startups or high-growth environments where job duties might shift rapidly.

When analyzing 90-day survey responses, AI can spotlight actionable insights about risk factors and growth opportunities. Try using prompts like:

Analyze 90-day new hire survey responses for trends linked to early departure or engagement drops. What are the biggest drivers?

Highlight patterns where new hires mentioned lack of feedback or resources as an issue in their first three months.

Summarize common requests about professional development or skill-building among 90-day respondents.

Explore more AI survey response analysis options to turn these raw insights into action plans. [3]

With AI-powered follow-ups, your survey becomes a conversation—not a one-way form. This makes it truly conversational, surfacing deeper signals about satisfaction and intent to stay.

How to schedule recurring new hire surveys automatically

Chasing every new hire with the right survey at the right time is a painful manual task. That’s where frequency controls and recurring pulses come in. Setting up 30/60/90-day automated surveys ensures feedback lands at exactly the right moment, every time.

With Specific’s in-product conversational surveys, you can automate your pulse frequency and avoid manual tracking headaches. Just set the schedule, and feedback collection runs itself—delivering a best-in-class, engaging experience for employees and admins alike.

• Define recontact periods so employees aren’t surveyed too often—preventing fatigue

• Mix in concise, conversational formats (see conversational survey landing pages)

• Adjust pulse timing in response to hiring spikes or seasonality

Smart automation lets you focus on acting on insights—not chasing reminders or tracking spreadsheets.

Turn new hire feedback into actionable HR insights

Collecting feedback is only half the equation—the real value comes from analyzing responses and exporting those insights to your HR tools. Enter AI-powered analysis, which turns a stack of messy qualitative answers into clear, actionable summaries you can use to drive decisions.

Identify patterns across cohorts and see which onboarding steps or managers need improvement at a glance. Sample prompts to run your analysis:

Find common themes in new hire feedback regarding onboarding resources or training quality.

Spot mentions of career growth to identify top retention levers among recent hires.

Summarize areas of friction that slowed new employees down in their first 90 days.

Export top insights or individual summaries straight to your HR dashboards, closing the loop on measurement and action. If you want to continually refine your surveys—without rebuilding from scratch—the AI survey editor lets you adjust, tweak, and test questions on the fly, just by chatting.

If you're not running 30/60/90-day conversational surveys, you're missing out on fast, scalable ways to reduce churn, improve onboarding, and deliver a better employee experience—guaranteed to deliver more value than intuition alone.

Build your new hire survey program today

Now’s the time to move beyond rigid forms and unlock the power of conversational feedback. With real AI-driven follow-ups and automation, your surveys feel like a conversation—not a chore.

Get started instantly using expert-made templates or build your own with the AI survey generator.

Turn every new hire into a source of clarity, innovation, and improvement—just by asking the right questions, in the right way.

Create your own survey to fuel a thriving, engaged team from day one.