New hires tend to hope that when they walk through the door (physical or virtual), the welcome mat will be laid out and the path forward will be clear.

Haven’t we all had such expectations, over and over again, only to wake up to face the harsh reality: nothing works as we were hoping!

What typically happens is that the newcomer gets ambushed by the first-day jitters, the flood of new information, and the mental scramble to remember names and passwords.

Once upon a time, new hires used to keep silent and do their best to keep up. Nowadays, however, they’re not buying it.

Rethinking Onboarding

What businesses are beginning to realize — some faster, some slower — is that a great onboarding experience turns a nervous stranger into a confident team member. With flexible working models making competition ever fiercer, this is an imperative to be mastered ASAP.

Still, knowing is just one half of the riddle. The question is, how do businesses know whether their onboarding experience is actually landing?

Needless to say, having a solid program in place — perhaps a checklist of tasks and a series of presentations — is just the planning phase. Knowing that it is genuinely effective is another matter entirely.

To begin with, onboarding procedures that assume that checking boxes will do the trick are certain to fail. Businesses simply need to curate a deeper understanding of whether new hires are absorbing what they are trying to convey. Are they feeling connected? Do they understand their role, their team, and the company’s vision? Are they navigating the murky waters of company culture and benefits with clarity, or are they still feeling lost?

No business will ever find the answers to these questions in a simple completion rate. They’re to be discovered in the quiet (okay, perhaps not always so quiet!) signals that show whether the investment in a new hire’s first months is paying off.

Active Listening Starts With Surveys

One of the most direct ways to do this is by listening, but not just any listening. Active listening is the way forward!

Also, businesses need to have a structured approach to listening, which begins with thoughtful surveys. Sending a survey is easy, right?

Wrong!

Crafting a survey that provides meaningful insight is a skill that requires an experienced approach. The most effective surveys move beyond “Did you complete XYZ?” and instead ask about the experience itself. A question like “Did you attend the benefits session?” only shows whether the new hire was present, not if the information was useful or understood.

Instead, businesses need questions that probe feelings and understanding. E.g., instead of a simple “yes/no” or “completed/not completed,” a survey could ask, “On a scale of 1 to 5, how confident are you that you understand your health insurance options?”

This is a major example of how to use rating scale surveys to get more than just a data point. They provide a measure of a person’s perceived competence and security. A low score on a question like this isn’t a failure on the employee’s part, but a clear signal that the method for communicating about employee benefits might need refining.

Also, these surveys should touch on job expectations. A question like, “How clearly do you understand the key performance indicators for your role?” is far more efficient than asking if they received a job description.

The Right Timing

If a significant number of new hires are reporting low clarity, it suggests that the conversations and materials around role responsibilities aren’t hitting the mark. Such hurdles are best caught before they turn into performance problems or frustration.

Further out, for surveys to be efficient, businesses should mind the timing. E.g., one survey might pop up after a week (to check on initial logistics and feelings), another at one month (to gauge understanding of the role and team), and a third at three months (to assess a deeper sense of belonging and integration).

Direct Conversations

Once the manager knows new hires’ sentiment, it’s time to move to direct conversations. Namely, it is critical to schedule structured one-on-one check-ins with new hires at regular intervals. These should be intentional conversations designed to uncover what’s working and what isn’t. The interviewer should be skilled at asking open-ended questions that invite detailed responses to create a safe space where the new hire feels comfortable being candid.

E.g., instead of a closed question like, “Are you finding everything you need?” (which usually gets a polite “yes”), something like, “Can you tell me about a time in the last week where you felt stuck or unsure of who to ask for help?” or “What’s one thing about your first few weeks here that was different from what you expected?” might do the trick.

This approach yields examples of interview feedback that can be game-changing. Managers might easily discover that new hires are consistently confused about the expense reporting process, or that they feel a lack of connection with their team because of a specific remote work policy.

These conversations often reveal small, yet significant, friction points that a survey could never capture. It’s also an opportunity to hear directly about successes and moments of clarity, which can inform further refinements of the onboarding process.

The Manager’s Role in Onboarding

Finally, we come to the trickiest part: the role of the manager. Namely, while HR can design a world-class onboarding program, its day-to-day success rests solely on the new hire’s direct manager.

In a sense, managers translate company processes into a personal and practical experience. If a manager is disengaged or unprepared, even the most meticulously planned program will fail to deliver.

Efficient managers don’t just introduce the new hire to the team. Instead, they provide context, purpose, and a clear vision for individual contributions. To begin with, they need to set realistic and clear expectations.

On the first day, a manager should be ready to talk about the immediate priorities for the first week, not just the long-term goals for the quarter. They should explain the team’s communication norms, meeting etiquette, and unwritten rules.

After the first week, regular, informal check-ins should take place. These can be as simple as a ten-minute conversation at the start of the day or a brief check-in at the end of a project. These small interactions build trust and provide a safe environment for the new hire to ask questions and seek clarification.

Recognizing the Red Flags

While surveys and interviews provide a direct line of sight into the new hire experience, some of the most compelling evidence of onboarding effectiveness is found in the patterns that emerge over time. Red flags are often subtle at first but become undeniable when viewed as a whole.

One of the most picturesque indicators of a failed onboarding process is high first-year turnover. To be sure, people leave jobs for a multitude of reasons, but if there is a consistent pattern of employees departing within their first twelve months — especially in particular departments or roles — it’s a strong indicator that something is fundamentally wrong.

Another red flag is recurring confusion about benefits or company policies, especially as new employees transition past their initial few months. If the HR department is constantly answering the same questions from six-month-old employees about how to access their 401(k) or what the policy is for a specific type of leave, it indicates that the information was either not presented clearly, was presented at the wrong time, or wasn’t reinforced.

Effective onboarding should communicate clearly critical information, but it should also provide accessible resources for later use. Persistent confusion suggests that the initial messaging didn’t stick, and the support materials are inadequate.

Finally, there are signs of poor cultural integration. This can be harder to spot, but it often manifests as a lack of engagement in team meetings, a reluctance to speak up, or a general sense of being left out. If new hires are consistently struggling to find their place, to connect with colleagues, or to understand the unwritten rules of how things get done, the onboarding program isn’t doing its job.

Bottom line, knowing if the onboarding experience actually lands requires a commitment to looking beyond the surface. It means moving past the metrics and diving into the real human experience of starting a new job.