Induction feedback form for the first fortnight
A short questionnaire for somebody who has just been through your induction, while they can still remember what was missing. Eleven questions, about three minutes, and one score you can compare intake to intake. Answer it below, or open it in the editor and put your own session names in.
- 11questions
- about 3 minto answer
- 5-point agreeplus one open answer
- 1 inductionper response
What an induction feedback form measures
One induction, judged by the person who has just been through it.
Four things, kept apart. Whether the first day was organised, whether the content was the right content, whether they can now find things out alone, and whether they have met anybody. A single "how was your induction" question collapses all four into politeness.
Ready and welcome are not the same. A new starter can be handed a working laptop, a pass and a full schedule and still not know what their job is for. Questions 2 to 4 cover the logistics; questions 5 to 7 cover whether anything was actually explained.
What it is not. Not the first year, which the onboarding survey questions measure in waves, and not the hiring process that came before it. Every question here is already loaded in the free survey maker.
The 11 induction feedback questions
Every question, the scale it takes, and what a low score points at. Copy one block or the whole set.
Your induction
One field first. An answer from somebody three months in is a memory; an answer from week one is an observation.
- When did you start?How long ago, so late responses can be read separately rather than thrown away.
Before and on day one
The three things that decide whether a first day feels organised. They fail separately and different people own them.
- I knew what was happening on my first day before I arrived.What was sent before arrival. Disagreement here is a joining-instructions problem, not an induction one.
- Everything I needed to do my job was ready when I got there.Laptop, login, pass, desk. The most common single cause of a bad first day, and the easiest to fix once somebody counts it.
- Someone was clearly responsible for me during my first week.One named person, clearly responsible. "Everybody was friendly" and "somebody was responsible for me" are different answers.
Did it tell you the right things
Content, split into what the job is for, what the law requires, and whether they can now find things without asking.
- The induction told me what my role is actually for, not only how the company is structured.The item most inductions fail. An org chart and a history of the company are not a description of what the role is for.
- I was shown the health, safety and policy points I have to know.The compulsory block. Employers have a legal duty to cover health and safety with new starters, so this one is not optional to measure.[1]
- I know where to find things out for myself now.Self-sufficiency, which is what an induction is actually for. Somebody who can find the answer does not need the induction to have contained it.
Settling in
Two items on the social half, which is the part a checklist-driven induction leaves out entirely.
- I have met the people I need to work with.Met, not introduced to. A name in a slide deck is not a working relationship.
- I felt comfortable asking questions during my induction.The tell for whether the induction was a broadcast or a conversation. Low scores here usually pair with a high score on question 5.
What was missing, then the verdict
One open answer before the rating, so a new starter has named the gap before being asked to grade the week.
- What was missing from your induction, or what would you add?Missing, not wrong. New starters will not criticise a colleague in week one, but they will tell you what was absent.
- Overall, how well did your induction prepare you to start?The one number this survey produces, asked about preparedness rather than enjoyment.
Nine of the eleven take the same agree scale: Strongly agree, Agree, Neither agree nor disagree, Disagree, Strongly disagree. Printed in full, because a new starter handed a five-point scale with unlabelled middle points is answering a slightly different question from the one you asked.
One swap-in. Inducting into several sites or shifts, add a single choice after question 1 and cut the results by it.
Scoring an induction you can only run once
One headline from question 11, three block averages under it, and a small intake to read them against.
The headline. Take the share of answers to question 11 that said very well or well. Compared intake to intake against the same induction, that number tells you whether a change worked.
The three block averages. Score the agree items 5 down to 1 and average: questions 2 to 4 for the first day, 5 to 7 for content, and 8 to 9 for settling in. Three numbers under one headline is the whole scorecard.
Expect the first-day block to be the lowest, and fix it first. It is also the cheapest: equipment and access are a checklist, not a culture change. A low content block takes a redesign, and a low settling-in block takes somebody's time.
| If this is the low block | What it points at | Who can change it |
|---|---|---|
| First day (Q2 to Q4) | Joining instructions that never went out, or IT and access requested too late | Whoever raises the starter ticket, and when |
| Content (Q5 to Q7) | A session about the company rather than about the job, or policies read out rather than located | Whoever writes the induction agenda |
| Settling in (Q8 to Q9) | A schedule with no unstructured time, or a buddy assigned on paper only | The line manager, in the first fortnight |
| Q6 low on its own | Health and safety content skipped or rushed, which is a legal duty rather than a preference | Whoever is accountable for safety induction |
Sending the induction questionnaire
Three decisions before it goes out.
Send it two weeks after the start date. Long enough for the gaps to show, short enough that the detail survives. Question 1 records how long ago they started so late replies can still be read.
Say plainly that it does not touch probation. This is the single change that most improves the answers. Somebody five weeks from a probation review will not tell you their induction was poor unless you have said, in writing, that the survey is about the induction.
Confidential, not anonymous, and say which. Intakes are small enough that anonymity is usually a promise you cannot keep. Item wording and the order it runs in follow published survey practice on clarity and bias.[2]
Then pick the adjacent check. If the answers are about the recruitment process rather than the induction, that is the candidate experience survey. If the gap is a skill rather than a missing introduction, use the training needs assessment.
Later in the same year. An induction is a session with an agenda that either happened or did not, and it stops being the right question after a fortnight. When somebody leaves inside the first year, the exit interview questions are where the induction gets its real verdict. A single half-day session with no employment attached to it, run for a room of people who already work here, is a workshop feedback form rather than an induction.
Induction feedback FAQ
What is an induction feedback form?
A short questionnaire given to a new starter after their induction, asking whether they arrived knowing what to expect, whether their equipment and access were ready, whether the session told them what the job is actually for, whether the compulsory health and safety content was covered, and whether they can now find things out without asking. It is about the induction, not about the person.
When should you send it?
Two weeks after the start date. Sent on day one it collects nerves; sent at three months it collects a hazy memory blended with everything since. A fortnight is long enough for the gaps to have shown up and short enough that the detail is still there.
What should an induction feedback form include?
Preparation before arrival, equipment and access on day one, a named person responsible, what the role is for, the legally required health and safety content, whether they can now self-serve, whether they have met the people they need, and whether they felt able to ask questions. Then one open answer and one overall rating.
Should it be anonymous?
Confidential rather than anonymous, and say which. Intakes are small, so full anonymity is usually a promise you cannot keep. What matters more is the assurance the answers do not touch probation, which is the reason new starters soften their feedback in the first place.
How is this different from an onboarding survey?
Scope. An induction is a session or a first week with an agenda that either happened or did not, so it can be judged straight away. Onboarding covers the whole first year in repeated waves and asks whether the person is landing rather than whether the session was any good. Run this one first, and the wider one after.
Methods and sources
What this template is based on
Eleven questions written for this page and ordered as an induction is experienced: before arrival, the first day, what was covered, whether you can now manage alone, who you have met, then the rating. Nine share one worded five-point agree scale so the blocks average cleanly.[2]
Question licensing
No item here comes from a licensed or proprietary instrument. Regulator guidance on induction training is cited as the reason one item exists, and none of its wording is reproduced.[1]
Limits and disclosure
This is one new starter's account of one induction, and intakes are usually small, so a single cohort is a handful of responses rather than a sample. Read the open answers before any average. The health and safety item records whether somebody remembers being shown the content; it is not evidence of compliance, which needs its own record.
SuperSurvey builds the editor this template opens in. Nothing on this page depends on using it.
References
- Health and Safety Executive. Decide what training and information you need: new recruits are named first among workers with particular training needs. hse.gov.uk
- American Association for Public Opinion Research. "Best Practices for Survey Research." aapor.org
Ask while they still remember what was missing
Eleven questions, about three minutes, and one score you can compare intake to intake. Put your own session names in and send it.
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