The best way to distribute an onboarding survey depends on the company. If preferred, you can do it in person. However, sending a survey over email and allowing employees to fill it out on their own time is convenient, lessens the pressure on employees, and results in more honest results. Inform them ahead of time that they will be receiving a survey and why it's important. Encourage honest answers, and give a timeframe of when it needs to be completed. If you approach the timeframe and don’t have completed surveys, offer gentle reminders. It does you no good to spend time and effort on creating an effective onboarding survey if employees don't complete it.