Yes you can (and should) calculate quality of hire using surveys, but before we look at quality of hire survey questions, it’s important to know who to survey and when. There are two main constituents for quality for hire surveys, new hires and managers. Each provides a piece of the overall quality of hire puzzle. Typically organizations gather information from the new hire and their manager throughout the first year of employment.
From the new hire, you want to understand questions of “fit” and “support.” Fit is a highly subjective criteria, but is an important factor in determining quality of hire. Fit is also undoubtedly a two way measurement. It’s a safe bet that if both manager and employee have differing opinions on fit, then there is a high likelihood that the quality of any given hire will be lower.
On the other hand, there are measures of support. Is the employee getting the materials, the knowledge and the access they need to be successful? The answers to these support questions not only affect the overall quality of hire metric, but can point the way to mitigating potential problems that can suppress quality of hire scores.
From the manager, in addition to fit, you want to measure performance, impact and longevity. From a manager’s perspective, fit will revolve around collaboration and team contribution. Performance will be measured as progress toward particular milestones and demonstration of particular skills and competencies. Perhaps the most important aspect of quality of hire is finding out whether the new hire is still employed. Whether they quit or were let go, a hire that does not last was not a quality hire by any definition of the term.
When to Send Quality of Hire Survey Questions
While it is a good practice to engage new hires with a basic survey during the first week of employment to set the stage for future feedback gathering, there isn’t a lot of valuable data to collect before 30 days of employment. It is recommended that organizations gather feedback in the first 30-60 days, followed by feedback at the end of six months and finally at the one year anniversary. However, based on response rates and any potential retention issues within an organization, these intervals can and should be adjusted.
Early feedback can be used for preliminary quality of hire metrics, but is most valuable for spotting trends and gaining actionable insights to optimize onboarding, fit and orientation issues. A full third of employees quit within the first 30 days and by 45 days, over half who will quit have done so. The feedback you gather early on is crucial for reducing this costly attrition.
The meat of your overall metric comes at the six month and one year marks. This is when the employee has developed an initial body of work and enough time for the manager to observe whether or not milestones have been achieved.
So what quality of hire survey questions are essential? The following represent the full spectrum of questions that we recommend to our clients who incorporate Survale’s automated quality of hire module into their hiring and onboarding process. Of course, this is a jumping off point and it is recommended these questions be tailored to the organization, the department and even to the role or job family to some extent. The labels assigned to the numerical scales can be tweaked and, of course, surveys can be pared down for brevity.
New Hire Quality of Hire Survey Questions
| Interval | Question | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Day One (Optional) | Did you feel appropriately welcomed and appreciated? | 1-5 scale (1 Not at all, 3 Somewhat, 5 Absolutely) |
| How would you rate your first day at (company)? | 1-5 scale (1 Poor, 3 OK, 5 Great) | |
| After your first day, how likely are you to recommend (company) to friends and family? | NPS scale | |
| What did we do well? How can we improve? | Open ended response | |
| 30 - 60 Days | Given the opportunity, I would re-apply for this role | Yes No Maybe scale |
| I clearly understand the company policies and process and do my best to adhere | 1-10 scale (1 Not at all, 5 Somewhat, 10 Completely) | |
| I enjoy the team and culture | 1-10 scale (1 Not at all, 5 Somewhat, 10 Completely) | |
| My skills are a match for this position | 1-10 scale (1 Not at all, 3 Somewhat, 10 Completely) | |
| How effective was your manager at delivering your orientation and enabling your assimilation? | 1-10 scale (1 Not at all, 3 Somewhat, 10 Completely) | |
| How would you rate the overall on-boarding process? | 1-5 scale (1 Poor, 3 OK, 5 Great) | |
| How would you rate the training you have received? | 1-5 scale (1 Poor, 3 OK, 5 Great) | |
| What level of productivity do you think you have achieved at this point? | 0-25%, 26-50%, 51-75%, 76-100% | |
| Please identify any recommendations you have that would improve the first (X) days on the job. | Open ended response | |
| How likely are you to recommend us to your friends and family? | NPS scale | |
| 180 Days and 1 Year | Given the opportunity, I would re-apply for this role | Yes No Maybe scale |
| I enjoy the team and culture | 1-10 scale (1 Not at all, 5 Somewhat, 10 Completely) | |
| My skills are a match for this expertise | 1-10 scale (1 Not at all, 3 Somewhat, 10 Completely) | |
| How effective has your manager been at helping you be successful in your role? | 1-10 scale (1 Not at all, 3 Somewhat, 10 Completely) | |
| How would you rate the training you have received? | 1-5 scale (1 Poor, 3 OK, 5 Great) | |
| What level of productivity do you think you have achieved at this point? | 0-25%, 26-50%, 51-75%, 76-100% | |
| Please identify any recommendations you have that would improve the first 180 days on the job. | Open ended response | |
| How likely are you to recommend us to your friends and family? | NPS scale |
Manager Quality of Hire Survey Questions
| Interval | Question | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| 30-60 Days | Is the employee still employed with (company)? | Yes No |
| The employee exhibits the skills needed to perform the job they were hired for. | 10 point scale (1 Strongly disagree, 5 Neither agree nor disagree, 10 Strongly agree) | |
| This employee exhibits the skills and behaviors needed to work well with those that they interact with daily. | 10 point scale (1 Strongly disagree, 5 Neither agree nor disagree, 10 Strongly agree) | |
| The employee adheres to the policies and process of our company. | 10 point scale (1 Strongly disagree, 5 Neither agree nor disagree, 10 Strongly agree) | |
| The employee’s productivity levels meet your expectations at this point. | 10 point scale (1 Strongly disagree, 5 Neither agree nor disagree, 10 Strongly agree) | |
| Given the opportunity, I would rehire this person for this role. | 10 point scale (1 Strongly disagree, 5 Neither agree nor disagree, 10 Strongly agree) | |
| Any additional comments on the quality of this hire? | Open ended response | |
| 180 Days and One Year | Is the employee still employed with (company)? | Yes No |
| The employee continues to exhibit the skills needed to perform the job they were hired for. | 10 point scale (1 Strongly disagree, 5 Neither agree nor disagree, 10 Strongly agree) | |
| The employee continues to exhibit the skills and behaviors needed to work well with those that they interact with frequently. | 10 point scale (1 Strongly disagree, 5 Neither agree nor disagree, 10 Strongly agree) | |
| The employee’s productivity levels meet your expectations at this point. | 10 point scale (1 Strongly disagree, 5 Neither agree nor disagree, 10 Strongly agree) | |
| Given the opportunity, I would rehire this person for this role. | 10 point scale (1 Strongly disagree, 5 Neither agree nor disagree, 10 Strongly agree) | |
| Any additional comments on the quality of this hire? | Open ended response |
A tool like Survale can integrate with an organization’s ATS and/or HRMS to automatically gather this feedback in the background and surface actionable insights for optimizing people, processes and technologies. Survale can also tie quality of hire metrics to other talent facing feedback, job families, recruiters, hiring managers and more, unleashing even deeper insights into minimizing attrition, optimizing the selection and hiring processes and evaluating virtually all talent facing programs based on their effect on the performance of employees.
