Employee Engagement Survey: Questions, Templates & Best Practice

Introduction

Employees play a vital role within a businesses success. Getting to know how motivated and satisfied your employees are can help boost productivity, teamwork, customer experiences and retention. However, sometimes it can be tricky to understand how your employees really feel.

Although as a manager you may notice that your employees aren’t performing or communicating as well, it can be difficult to know why. There may be some underlying issues they have with their workload, management, recognition, personal development and company culture.

By running an employee engagement survey, you can gain insight into how employees feel. This can help you identify what is working well and what needs improvement within your organisation.

In this guide we’ll take you through what an employee engagement survey is, why they’re so important, what questions to ask, how often to run them, and how to use the feedback to improve your workplace.

What Is An Employee Engagement Survey?

What Is An Employee Engagement Survey is a questionnaire used to understand how engaged, motivated and committed your staff feel.

It will gather feedback on:

• Job satisfaction

• Relationships with management

• Communication

• Recognition

• Opportunities to learn and develop

• Workload

• Company culture

Within an employee engagement questionnaire you may find a mix of scale questions, multiple choice questions and open questions, to get measurable data from your staff.

The aim of an employee engagement survey is to understand what factors are motivating your employees.

Why Are Employee Engagement Surveys Important?

Getting feedback from an employee engagement survey can give you insight into how your staff are feeling at work. By getting honest feedback, you identify any issues early.

1. Understand How Satisfied Your Staff Are

This will help you understand if your employees are satisfied with their roles, the environment they work in, pay and overall experience. You can also see any issues causing them to be frustrated.

2. Improve Communication

Employees may be reluctant to raise their concerns in meetings or 1-1s. By providing them with a structured employee feedback survey, they can communicate.

3. Identify Issues

Employees can give feedback on issues they have with unclear expectations, too much workload, lack of resources, poor communication or lack of recognition. Knowing these can help managers address these issues.

4. Improve Retention

Employees who feel they’re being listened to may feel more connected with your organisation. By using an employee engagement survey you can discover any concerns they may have which could affect their decision to stay.

5. Enable Better Management Decisions

Rather than guessing, you can use the survey results to identify trends and improvements to make. This enables you to make more informed decisions.

What Should Your Employee Engagement Survey Cover?

A good employee engagement survey should cover a range of topics. These will depend on your organisation, objectives and employees.

Job Satisfaction

Understand if your employees feel their roles are meaningful.

Management

Understand how your employees feel about how well they’re managed.

Company Culture

Understand if your employees feel respected, included and connected to your company values.

Recognition

Understand if employees feel they’re recognised for their contributions.

Development

Understand if employees have opportunities to learn, develop and grow in their career.

Workload

Understand if employees can manage their workload without feeling pressured.

Teamwork

Understand if employees can communicate and share information well.

25 Employee Engagement Survey Questions To Ask

When creating your employee engagement survey questions, you should ensure they’re clear, unbiased and relevant.

Many can be asked using a 5 point scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree.

Job Satisfaction

1. I feel my work is meaningful.

2. I understand what is expected of me.

3. I have the necessary resources to do my job well.

4. I am motivated to do my best.

5. My role matches my skills and experience.

Management

1. My manager communicates well.

2. I receive helpful feedback from my manager.

3. My manager listens to my concerns and ideas.

4. Our leadership communicates well.

5. I trust decisions made by our leadership.

Company Culture

1. I feel respected by my colleagues.

2. I feel comfortable to give my opinion.

3. We treat each other fairly.

4. I feel like I’m included and valued.

5. We practice our company values.

Recognition & Development

1. I feel recognised for my contributions.

2. I have opportunities to learn new skills.

3. I understand the opportunities available for career growth.

4. I have the support to achieve my professional goals.

5. I feel my work makes a positive contribution.

Work-Life Balance & Engagement

1. I can maintain a good work/life balance.

2. I have a manageable workload.

3. I would recommend this as a good place to work.

4. What could we do to improve your experience?

5. What could we do to make you feel more motivated?

These questions can be adapted to your organisation, department and role. You don’t need to ask all questions, keeping it short and concise can make it easier for your employees.

Examples Of Employee Engagement Surveys

Depending on your organisation you may wish to create different types of surveys. Here are some examples of employee engagement surveys.

General Engagement Survey

Objective: Get an overall picture of how motivated your employees are.

Questions:

• How satisfied are you with your role?

• Do you feel valued?

• Are you comfortable giving feedback to your manager?

• Do you feel connected to our goals?

Pulse Survey

Objective: Get regular feedback.

Questions:

• How has your workload been this week?

• Do you have the right support to complete your tasks?

• Have you had enough communication from your manager?

• What could we do to improve your week?

Management Feedback Survey

Objective: Understand how your employees feel about management.

Questions:

• Does your manager communicate well?

• Do you receive helpful feedback?

• Does our leadership listen to employee ideas?

• What could managers do to better support employees?

Culture Survey

Objective: Measure how included, communicative, respectful and aligned your employees feel.

Questions:

• Do you feel respected by your colleagues?

• Do we encourage different opinions?

• Do we support each other?

• What could we do to improve our culture?

Retention Survey

Objective: Understand what factors are impacting employees’ decision to stay.

Questions:

• What do you enjoy the most about working here?

• Do you see opportunities for long term career growth?

• Do you feel recognised for your contributions?

• What changes could we make to make you more likely to stay?

How Often Should You Run An Employee Engagement Survey?

This will depend on how big your organisation is, how much your workplace has changed and what type of feedback you’re looking for. If you’re not running them often enough you may struggle to see new issues. However, if you’re running them too often your employees may feel fatigued.

Often organisations will run an annual and shorter pulse survey.

Annual Engagement Survey

An annual employee engagement survey will give you a wider insight into how your employees feel. This can include how they feel about management, company culture, job satisfaction, development and overall engagement.

It can help identify trends and help set priorities.

Quarterly Engagement Survey

A quarterly employee engagement survey will help you check how you’re doing. This can help you understand if improvements have made a difference.

This can be a few key questions.

Monthly/Weekly Pulse Survey

An employee pulse survey is a shorter questionnaire. This can help managers understand how employees feel about their workload, communication, motivation and any immediate issues.

A pulse survey should be kept short. You should ask a few relevant questions.

Pulse Survey Vs Annual Engagement Survey

Both can help you measure employee engagement, however they have different purposes.

By using both methods you can gain a greater understanding of how your employees are feeling.

How To Create An Effective Engagement Survey

To create an effective employee engagement survey, you should firstly have clear goals. Ensure your questions will give you honest feedback.

1. Know Your Goals

Firstly you need to decide what you want to understand. Are you looking to measure overall engagement, management, company culture or retention issues?

Having clear goals will help you ensure your questions are relevant.

2. Pick Relevant Questions

Ensure you’re asking the right questions to help you achieve your goals. Keep your questions simple and don’t try to ask about multiple topics in one question.

Instead of asking "Are you satisfied with your manager's communication and support?" split this up into two questions.

3. Use The Right Question Types

Use a variety of question types to get different feedback.

• Scale questions – To measure agreement, satisfaction and frequency.

• Multiple choice – Structured feedback.

• Yes/No – Straightforward answers.

• Open ended – Let employees explain their experiences and how they could improve.

Using a mixture of these will give you measurable results and detailed feedback.

4. Decide If You Want Anonymous Answers

Employees may be more likely to give honest feedback if they don’t have to give their identity. An anonymous employee engagement survey can be particularly useful when asking about management, company culture and any sensitive issues.

Be clear on how you’ll be gathering responses, who will see them and how you’ll be using them. Don’t guarantee complete anonymity unless you truly can.

5. Keep It Short And Simple

Long questionnaires can put people off completing them. Only ask questions that will help you achieve your goals.

Structure your questions in a logical way and don’t ask the same questions twice. Test your questionnaire with a small group of people to ensure there isn’t any confusing wording or technical issues.

6. Share With Your Employees

Employees should understand why you’re asking them to complete the survey.

Give them an idea of how long it’ll take to complete, when it needs to be completed by, if it’ll be confidential and how their feedback will impact the workplace.

7. Analyse The Responses

Once you have your responses, analyse them. Look for any common themes and differences. This can help managers understand what areas need attention.

Share the key findings with your employees and explain what improvements you’ll be making.

How To Analyse Your Results

Once you’ve gathered your responses you can begin to understand your feedback.

Look For Patterns

Look through your responses to see what areas your employees are consistently happy or unhappy with. For example, they may be happy with their teams but unsure about their development opportunities.

This can help managers identify what areas need attention.

Compare Results

If you’re running regular surveys, compare the results. This can help you understand if engagement is improving, decreasing or staying the same.

Ensure your questions and scales are consistent enough.

Look At Open Ended Responses

Often written responses will give you an idea of why they’ve chosen the score they have. Group any similar comments together. For example, look at workload, communication, recognition, management and development.

Don’t focus too much on individual comments. Look for any common issues.

Create Improvement Plans

Use your results to create an improvement plan. Each action should have an owner, realistic timeframe and a way to measure progress.

For example, if employees mention they don’t have many development opportunities, you could introduce regular development conversations or training.

How To Get Honest Feedback From Employees

Employees are more likely to give you useful feedback if they trust the process.

Be clear on why you’re asking them to complete the survey. Be transparent on how you’ll be using their responses. Allow anonymous responses where appropriate. Avoid leading questions. Give them enough time to complete the questionnaire. Share the findings and try to follow through with any improvements.

The most important thing to do is show employees their feedback is being acted upon. If you continually ask for their opinions without acting on them they may be less likely to complete surveys.

Common Mistakes To Avoid

Even if you’ve created a good questionnaire, you may not get much out of it.

Too Many Questions

A long questionnaire can put people off completing it. Keep your questions to those that will help you achieve your goals.

Vague Or Leading Questions

Ensure your questions are neutral and specific. Don’t include leading questions or ask about multiple topics.

Not Considering Privacy

Employees should know how their information will be used. Be clear on how confidential it will be and limit who sees sensitive responses.

Not Acting On Feedback

Don’t make it a regular task. Share your findings.

Not Comparing Results

There may be many reasons why there are differences between departments or survey times. Consider the size of the team, changes within the organisation etc.

Too Many Surveys

If you’re asking too many surveys without any real follow through, your employees may become fatigued. Choose how often to run them so you have enough time to review and make improvements.

Tools To Help You Create Your Survey

Using the right tool can help make creating your questionnaire easier. Look for a tool that has;

• Customisable question types and scales

• Anonymous responses

• Conditional logic

• Mobile friendly

• Easy to manage responses

• Integrations

If you want to get started quickly use an employee engagement survey template. This has pre-written questions which can be customised.

You can also look at feedback and survey templates.

A survey tool such as Ovoform can help your teams create and customise forms, gather responses and analyse feedback. You can also look at the integrations available.

Form analytics can help teams understand patterns in responses.

Final Thoughts

An employee engagement survey is a great way to understand how your employees feel at work. It can help you understand what is motivating your teams, any issues within your workplace and what improvements need to be made.

The most important thing to remember is to ask the right questions. Encourage honest feedback, carefully analyse your results and make meaningful actions. Start with clear goals, keep your questionnaire concise and be transparent with your results. Most importantly ensure your employees can see their opinions are being considered. If you’re making visible improvements based on their feedback then employee surveys can be a useful tool to help create a more supportive and engaging workplace.