Do you know what your new staff know?
Well you’ve done the interviews, selected the new recruits and they’ve been through the induction, now they are off and working hard……Right? Are you sure about how much they know? What did they learn? Are they feeling confident in their new role? Where do they go to ask questions? Are you asking too many questions?
Everyone makes mistakes even as a company, one way to stop them happening is to learn from them. Using a ‘Staff Induction Feedback Questionnaire’ (SIFQ) is a good way to start. This will not only help stop mistakes from being repeated it can alleviate your fears and increase employee satisfaction, retention and improve the workplace in general.
What benefits are there to a Staff Feedback Questionnaire?
Perhaps the most obvious benefit is the idea of being able to improve upon your induction. Did they find enough information on everything that they needed or wanted to know? Was it interesting? Was there too much information on the history of the company or the different types of tea that the company’s previous CEO’s have enjoyed? Yes, more questions, however these are ones your new employees will be able to answer for you.
An SIFQ can cover a number of areas from how the person found out about the position through to how they felt about the information they received from the induction. it allows you to identify which media sources are working for your company and which you can safely drop. Questions from the interview process (did they feel like they had a good idea of what you expected of them? Did they feel it was friendly and open or did they feel trapped?) Through to their first post interview contact with the company and beyond. Knowing this info can free up time and resources allowing you to invest in more profitable areas.
It allows the staff to tell you how they feel in a constructive way. If an employee thinks that they will be heard they are much more likely to speak up and assist with changes that need to be made. Rather than bottle their thoughts and emotions up which may cause them to become resentful and therefore leave the company.
Should I just survey new employees?
The survey doesn’t have to be just for the new employees they can be targeted at managers/supervisors as well to give feedback about the progress of the new employees. By including external viewpoints, the effectiveness of the information, you gather increase greatly.
A SIFQ is a useful tool to have, to ensure you get the most of your employees. If used in isolation however it is not going to be as effective, it needs to be used in conjunction with effective mentoring and providing adequate support. It allows you to simultaneously create contact between you and the employee, making sure they feel they have a say in things and allowing you to improve on your existing presentation, so future employees have a more enjoyable and productive working experience
