A get-to-know-you survey is one of the fastest ways to help a new hire feel like part of the team. Send it to everyone, not just the new person, then share the results so people can spot the overlaps.
Who else is a night owl, who shares a hometown, who's obsessed with the same snack. It does more for cohesion than any forced icebreaker.
It works especially well when you're welcoming a remote or offshore teammate who doesn't get the natural hallway moments.
This is the exact survey we recommend in our playbook for managing an offshore marketing team and in our guide to onboarding remote and offshore employees. Copy the questions, drop them in an email or a form, and go.
The Questions
- When is your birthday?
- When is your work anniversary, and what milestone will you celebrate this year?
- Who's in your household? (Partner, kids, pets, plants, whoever counts.)
- Are you a morning person or a night owl?
- What's your Enneagram, if you know it? And/or Myers-Briggs?
- What's something that energizes you at work?
- What's something that drains you at work?
- What's your preferred communication style? (Bullet points, async updates, quick calls, voice notes, and so on.)
- What's your favorite morning beverage?
- What's your favorite sweet or salty treat?
- How do you like to spend your weekends or free time?
- What's your favorite thing about working here?
- How do you like to receive praise for your work? (A thoughtful note, a group shoutout, a bonus, acts of service, and so on.)
- Anything else you'd like to share with the team?
How to Use It
Keep it light and optional. A few tips that make it land:
- Send it to the whole team, not just the new hire, so nobody feels singled out
- Fill it out yourself first and share your answers, it sets the tone
- Once responses are in, share a summary and call out the things people have in common
- Revisit it when someone new joins, so the welcome ritual stays consistent
The communication-style and praise questions are quietly the most useful. They tell you, on day one, how each person wants to work and be recognized, which saves a lot of guesswork later.
When You Add a New Hire Later
Once you've sent this around once, you don't need to start over every time someone joins. The easiest move is to reply-all to the original email thread, add the new hire, and ask them to fill it out.
It takes ten seconds, and it does something the questions alone can't: the new person lands in a thread full of everyone else's answers.
They get an instant, low-pressure read on who's who, and they can see the overlaps for themselves before they've even sent a message. It turns a solo form into a warm welcome.
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