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What better way to find out than conducting an employee engagement survey?
Engagement surveys help you get a clear idea of how things are at the employee's end and lets you know of any blockers to productivity. An employee engagement survey also helps you pinpoint reasons for dissatisfaction or low employee morale.
In this article, we'll cover:
An employee engagement survey is a powerful tool used by organizations to understand the level of engagement and satisfaction among their employees.
It consists of a series of questions designed to gauge how invested employees are in their work and the company, their feelings towards the workplace culture, their relationship with management, and their overall job satisfaction.
This feedback is invaluable for leadership and HR teams, providing them with the data needed to make informed decisions that can lead to enhanced employee morale, increased productivity, and, ultimately, better organizational performance.
When conducting an employee engagement survey, you want more than just a few numbers on a report; you're seeking genuine insights into how your team feels about their work, the culture, and the company as a whole.
These surveys provide a chance to hear directly from your employees and pinpoint areas for improvement.
Here’s are 6 objectives of employee engagement surveys.
1. Gauge Employee Satisfaction
Engagement surveys allow you to understand how employees feel about their roles, leadership, and environment. A happy employee is a productive one, but dissatisfaction can impact performance and retention.
2. Uncover Engagement Drivers
What motivates your employees? Engagement drivers—like growth opportunities or recognition—will help you understand what keeps them engaged and what might need attention.
3. Prevent Turnover
Surveys help spot issues that could be leading to high turnover. By addressing those concerns, you can improve employee retention and reduce the costs associated with hiring and training new staff.
4. Boost Productivity
Engaged employees are more likely to put in extra effort and work efficiently. Uncovering productivity barriers through these surveys will help you refine processes and increase overall performance.
5. Strengthen Company Culture
A positive work environment is critical. The feedback from engagement surveys lets you identify gaps in your culture and promote values that foster teamwork and inclusivity.
6. Align with Organizational Goals
Engagement doesn’t happen in isolation. These surveys help ensure your employees’ motivations align with the broader goals of your business, fostering long-term growth and success.
Each of these objectives helps create a more engaged, motivated, and productive workforce, which ultimately benefits both employees and the organization.
Questions about daily sentiment are the foundations of any employee engagement survey that works. These questions capture employees' feelings about their work live and give an explanation of workplace morale and motivation.
1. How do you feel about work today?
This direct question checks the pulse of overall employee sentiment. A simple scale from "very unhappy" to "very happy" lets employees respond quickly while providing practical data. This question helps identify whether employees enjoy their work environment and daily responsibilities.
The question's strength comes from its simplicity. Tracking responses over time helps spot patterns and fix problems before they grow larger. You could see higher engagement rates if you implement changes based on responses to this question.
2. How energized do you feel when starting your workday?
Energy assessments help HR professionals understand vital dimensions of employee performance. This question assesses physical, emotional, and cognitive aspects of workplace energy.
According to Gartner, energized employees are those who are engagement. And this energy likely translates into better retention and productivity.
Employees who are energized and excited about their work are 31% more likely to stay at their organization, 31% more likely to portray discretionary effort, and contribute 15% more towards their work.
The responses from this question could reveal signs of potential burnout, work-life balance problems, or disengagement.
Information from this question often associates with productivity metrics, which makes it valuable especially when you have leadership teams.
3. Do you feel your work is meaningful?
Meaningfulness matters more to employees than any other job aspect—including pay, promotions, and working conditions. This basic question links directly to employee retention and satisfaction.
Employees who find their work meaningful become more engaged, committed, and satisfied. Those who don't find meaning show more willingness to quit, particularly younger workers.
One study found that "meaningfulness was outlined in Kahn's employee engagement theory as the feeling that one's work is worthwhile, useful, and valuable."
Additional questions might explore whether employees see their work's contribution to positive outcomes for customers or other stakeholders.
Questions about advocacy and loyalty tell you more about how committed your employees are than other survey metrics. These indicators help you see if your team members truly believe in your organization or just work for the paycheck.
4. Would you recommend us as an employer? (or) Would you recommend our company as a good place to work?
This question is the foundation of the Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS), a key metric that shows employee loyalty. Responses use a 0-10 scale, and employees fall into these groups:
- Promoters (9-10): Highly involved employees who line up with your mission
- Passives (7-8): Content employees who aren't passionate supporters
- Detractors (0-6): Disconnected employees with negative views
Your eNPS comes from subtracting the percentage of detractors from promoters. The scores range from -100 to +100. Scores above 30 are good, and above 50 are excellent. This one question gives amazing insights into how employees feel overall. People who want to recommend your company usually stay longer and show more engagement.
5. Do you feel proud to work here?
Pride stands out as the biggest factor that shapes company culture and employee performance long-term. This emotional bond drives engagement better than almost anything else.
The numbers tell the story clearly. Proud employees are 10X more likely to love their jobs and 24X more likely to stay with their company. Pride comes from many places - your company's story, product quality, workplace culture, community work, or market position.
This question reveals whether employees feel emotionally invested in your organization's success, which directly shapes their motivation and commitment.
6. If offered a similar role elsewhere, would you stay?
This straightforward question helps spot employees who might leave. It pushes people to think about their actual loyalty in a real-world situation, unlike theoretical questions.
The answers give great insights about who might stay or go. You can spot patterns across teams or departments to find areas where employees think about leaving.
Regular tracking of this question shows loyalty trends. Falling scores might point to problems with leadership, pay, or culture changes that need quick attention.
Recognition is the life-blood of employee engagement. Research shows that 74% of employees who receive regular recognition strongly agree their work is valuable and useful. Your employee engagement survey must include questions that measure your team's feeling of appreciation.
7. Do you feel recognized for your work?
This basic question measures whether employees believe others value their contributions.
The question also identifies whether your recognition program works or if you need more frequent acknowledgment practices. Results improve when recognition happens weekly instead of monthly.
8. At the time you do great work, how often is it acknowledged?
Recognition timing and frequency affect employee motivation. Gallup's Q12 survey question—"In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work"—consistently predicts business outcomes.
Research shows that employees develop a co-owner mindset when they know others will recognize their great work. [Kerry Siggins]
They stop seeing their job as something to clock in and out of. This question determines if your recognition timing reinforces positive behaviors.
9. Do you believe recognition here is fair and unbiased?
The perception of fairness shapes how employees experience recognition. Employees who strongly agree they receive fair recognition are:
- Six times more likely to feel their employer is committed to building everyone's strengths
- Nearly eight times more likely to believe they have a clear development plan
- Four times more likely to participate at work
Sources: Quantum Workplace, Nectar HR
Notwithstanding that, racial gaps exist—White employees (34%) are more likely to strongly agree they receive fair recognition than Black (30%) or Hispanic (27%) employees. This question identifies potential favoritism or bias in recognition practices to create fair approaches.
Recognition questions in your employee engagement survey reveal whether your appreciation efforts appeal to staff and affect retention and performance.
Career goals substantially affect employment decisions. Professional growth opportunities rank at the top of employee priorities. Your organization's employee engagement surveys should include questions to assess how well you support career development.
10. Do you see a future for yourself here?
This question helps assess retention risk and shows how employees view their long-term prospects with your organization. Glassdoor reports that employees who stay in one job without a clear career path are more likely to leave. Learning whether team members can picture their future with you gives valuable insights into potential turnover.
The responses help identify if you've created clear career paths or if your employees feel stuck. Lower scores often point to the need for clearer advancement opportunities and better career mapping exercises.
11. Are you supported in your career goals?
This vital question helps assess whether employees have the resources they need to achieve their professional ambitions. A career development survey can further show if employees are getting the support and resources to achieve their career goals, and are confident giving this feedback.
The numbers tell an important story - Gallup found only 30% of employees believe someone at work encourages their development. Doubling that number to 60% can lead to higher profits, improved productivity, and better engagement.
12. Are there enough opportunities for professional growth?
McKinsey's research shows that job growth matters more than pay to frontline workers. This question helps determine if your organization offers enough development paths that match employee ambitions.
Low scores often reveal a gap between employee desires and available opportunities. To name just one example, while many employees link professional success to promotions, some prefer lateral moves to expand their skills. Survey results can guide the creation of flexible growth opportunities that match different career aspirations. This approach can turn disengaged workers into motivated team members.
Clear communication between leaders and employees builds trust and encourages participation at work. Employee engagement surveys with communication-focused questions help spot gaps in how information moves through your organization.
13. Do you feel heard by your manager?
This key question measures psychological safety between managers and employees. 74% of professionals report being more effective at work when they feel heard. Many managers think they listen well. However, only one in four employees strongly agree their opinions matter at work globally.
The question shows if managers create an environment where team members can voice concerns freely. Teams that listen to employees see more breakthroughs and solve problems faster because issues come up before they become crises.
14. Is leadership transparent in its communication?
Leadership transparency affects employee trust and retention directly. Research shows 63% of employees in transparent organizations strongly recommend their workplace. This number drops to just 6% in organizations with closed communication channels.
Employees need to understand both what decisions are made and why. A leadership expert puts it well: "employees today want to know why they are being asked to do something rather than just being told what to do". Survey answers help identify if your leadership team explains their decisions clearly, which creates trust and encourages participation.
15. Are you clear about how your work contributes to company goals?
Understanding job expectations and company vision drives engagement. Employees feel disconnected when they don't see how their work fits larger objectives. This question reveals if your organization successfully shows the link between individual work and company success.
Making clear connections between daily tasks and organizational goals creates ownership and accountability. The question helps identify teams where leaders may struggle to show how individual efforts support collective success - a key factor in keeping employees engaged.
Your company's culture shapes how employees experience their work environment. This directly affects their engagement and likelihood to stay. The workplace culture determines if people feel they truly belong or just occupy space in your organization.
16. Do you feel a sense of belonging at work?
This question gets to the heart of whether employees see themselves as valued team members. Research shows that employees who feel they belong are 3 times more likely to look forward to coming to work and 5 times more likely to stay with their company long-term. Harvard Business Review found that a strong sense of belonging links to a 56% increase in job performance, 50% drop in turnover risk, and 75% reduction in sick days.
The question about belonging shows if your inclusion efforts make a real difference to employees. Studies show that 88% of US workers believe belonging helps them be more productive.
17. Do you feel safe being yourself at this company?
Psychological safety is the life-blood of an engaged workforce. Your employee engagement survey results will show less innovation and teamwork without it. Team members often hold back valuable viewpoints when they fear judgment or negative reactions.
A 2019 Gallup poll showed that only 3 out of 10 employees strongly believed their opinions matter at work. On top of that, 61% of employees feel pressured to "cover" parts of their identity at work. This includes heterosexual white men (45%) who hide things like age, disabilities, or mental health.
18. Does our workplace culture reflect our stated values?
This question reveals any disconnect between your stated values and everyday practices. Employee responses show whether your organization lives its values or just displays them on walls.
Research proves that employees who connect with their company's culture are more engaged, productive, and likely to stay. But when stated values don't match cultural behaviors, employees become cynical and disconnected.
A workplace with aligned values and culture lets employees thrive instead of just survive. These culture and wellbeing questions in your employee engagement survey template show if you've created a place where people can be their authentic selves every day.
Work-life balance remains a significant aspect of workplace satisfaction. Poor balance leads to burnout and reduced productivity. Your organization's employee engagement surveys should include questions to review how well you support overall wellness.
19. How satisfied are you with your work-life balance?
This basic question shows whether employees can manage their work duties without sacrificing personal time. Organizations offering quality work-life balance see higher engagement and lower turnover rates.
A simple 1-10 scale followed by "What would make it a perfect 10?" works best. This method gives measurable data and valuable insights to take action. Employee responses highlight operational issues leadership might miss, such as late-night work demands or rigid schedules.
20. Does the company support your physical and mental well-being?
Mental health has gained importance, as 87% of employees want their employer's support for mental health. This question helps review whether your wellness programs strike a chord with staff.
You might add sub-questions about specific resources: "Are you aware of any wellness resources provided by the company?". Most responses point to communication gaps about existing benefits rather than missing resources.
Creating an effective employee engagement survey involves several steps, each crucial to ensuring that the survey provides valuable insights into your team's morale and engagement. Here’s a step-by-step process on that.
1. Define Your Objectives
Begin with a clear vision of what you hope to accomplish through the survey.
Whether it’s enhancing job satisfaction, evaluating the impact of recent organizational changes, or gaining a deeper understanding of employee morale, setting specific objectives will steer the development of your survey in the right direction.
2. Choose the Right Questions
The questions should be directly tied to your objectives, encompassing a variety of formats like rating scales, multiple choice, and open-ended questions to gather a broad spectrum of insights.
Aim for clarity and neutrality in your questions to avoid any bias and ensure the responses you receive are genuine.
3. Ensure Anonymity and Confidentiality
Like we discussed earlier, assure your employees that their responses will remain anonymous and that the data collected will be treated with utmost confidentiality. This promise encourages transparency and honesty in their feedback.
4. Use a Simple and Accessible Format
The survey should be easy to complete and accessible to all employees. Whether it’s distributed electronically or on paper, ensure the format is user-friendly and can be completed in a reasonable amount of time.
Here's a preview of an easily accessible engagement survey template on ThriveSparrow.
- Distribute surveys through any mode, be it emails, text messages, or kiosks (for employees with restricted access to mobile phones).
- Analyze employee feedback in a granular manner and infer the actual sentiment behind the feedback.
- Choose from a bank of questions and customize a survey the way you want.
Get a complete walkthrough of ThriveSparrow, and get all your queries answered. Book a free demo today.
5. Communicate the Purpose of the Survey
Before launching the survey, communicate its purpose to your employees.
Explain how their feedback will be used to make meaningful improvements in the workplace.
This communication can be effectively done in two ways: by including an introductory statement at the beginning of the survey or by providing a detailed explanation alongside the survey link in the email you distribute.
This step ensures that employees understand the significance of their participation and how it can lead to positive transformations in their work environment.
With ThriveSparrow, you can communicate this on the survey or through email.
6. Pilot Your Survey
Test the survey with a small, representative group of employees to catch any potential issues, from confusing questions to technical glitches. This pilot phase is crucial for refining the survey before a full rollout.
7. Launch the Survey
Officially deploy your survey, offering clear guidance on how to complete it. Establish a firm deadline for submissions and issue reminders as necessary to ensure robust participation.
8. Analyze the Results
With the survey concluded, meticulously review the responses. Properly interpreting the survey results can help you identify patterns and actionable insights that align with your initial objectives can help guide your engagement efforts.
9. Share Key Findings and Next Steps
Communicate the survey’s major discoveries to your team, alongside outlining imminent actions. This transparency demonstrates your respect for their feedback and your commitment to positive change.
10. Take Action and Follow Up
Develop a targeted action plan based on the survey outcomes, prioritizing initiatives aimed at addressing key areas in need of improvement.
On ThriveSparrow's engagement survey reports, you can develop action plans alongside the survey response and checklist a list of initiatives you need to complete the action plan.
Conduct a free engagement survey, and view all these insights for free on ThriveSparrow.
After enacting changes, revisit your employees to assess the impact. This follow-up can take the form of additional surveys, focus groups, or casual conversations, ensuring a continuous loop of feedback and improvement.
This step-by-step process can help you create and implement an employee engagement survey that not only garners valuable insights but also fosters a culture of continuous growth and satisfaction within your organization.
A thoughtful structure helps create employee engagement surveys that get better response rates. Research shows employees don't stop responding because surveys are too long or frequent. They stop when they feel their organization won't take action on their feedback.
Use of Likert scale and open-ended options
The Likert scale remains the best way to calculate employee attitudes and perceptions. Rensis Likert developed this five-point rating system in 1932. It helps measure agreement, satisfaction, frequency, and importance. Most experts suggest five-point scales. These scales give enough options without overwhelming people who respond. A typical scale has:
- Strongly disagree
- Disagree
- Neither agree nor disagree
- Agree
- Strongly agree
Open-ended questions are a great way to get deeper insights but they just need more mental effort. The best strategy places them after related questions to gather more context, rather than on their own.
Balancing quantitative and qualitative questions
An all-encompassing approach uses both quantitative questions (rating scales) and qualitative elements (comment boxes). Rating scales give easy-to-measure data points. Comments help explain the "why" behind responses.
Shorter surveys spread over time work better than one long questionnaire to keep participants engaged.
Avoiding survey fatigue with concise formats
Employees experience survey fatigue when they believe their feedback goes nowhere. To curb this:
- Tell people why each survey matters
- Keep surveys brief (5-10 minutes) with focused questions
- Skip questions about trends that rarely change
- Let employees skip questions they don't want to answer
- Plan communications before, during, and after the survey
The key to success: show people how you used their previous feedback. Nothing makes people stop responding faster than feeling ignored.
Using an employee engagement survey template
Templates give you several benefits: consistent data collection, saved time, better response rates, and ways to measure progress. Many companies find that standard templates with 20-57 questions give enough insights while keeping people engaged.
These templates include proven methods like different question types, simple language, and short formats. This leads to more people completing the surveys. You can usually adjust templates by removing questions or adding company-specific items.
Take ThriveSparrow for example. It is an employee engagement platform that help HRs and top executives improve engagement by backing themselves with insights on employee feedback. These inisghts help uncover employee snetiment on a more granular level.
See a preview of a sample employee engagement survey template on ThriveSparrow.
Book your free demo and get a complete walkthrough of ThriveSparrow. Get started on skyrocketing your employees' engagement today.
Let us now take a better look at the six easy steps through which you can create an efficient employee engagement plan.
1. Select a Survey Tool that Best Fits your Needs
This is where having a clear idea of your objective will come in handy. Pick a survey tool that has features that allow you to create questions that align with your initial objectives and goals.
You can create questions from scratch or use the template given in the survey tool to guide you through the process. Customize the questions depending on the employee demographic and make sure the survey tool gives you these options.
If you're looking for the tool to cater to these needs, ThriveSparrow is the place to go. Among its other features, the Engage module of this product offers an ideal solution to elevate your employee engagement surveys to new heights and understand the gaps to work on.
Apart from just creating engagement surveys, ThriveSparrow helps you bridge the engagement gap in your organization with invaluable insights. Book a free demo and get a complete walkthrough of the platform.
2. Get the Leaders on Board
Before diving deep into the process, make sure to have the top management and concerned managers on board with the survey. At the end of the day, it is this group of management that looks at the results and deploys measures to make the necessary changes. If they are not on board, the whole process can be a futile exercise.
Get started with 19 thought-provoking questions every leader should consider asking their team.
3. Create an Air of Excitement for the Survey
Just like how you promote a product before its launch, create awareness of the survey among the employees and get them excited about the same. Let them know the reason why you conduct a survey and how it will have a direct impact on the work environment of the employee.
4. Launch it
The next step is the actual launch of the survey. It is best to send an email to the employees with the survey as an attachment. Or else you could use the good old way of handing over physical forms which the employees can fill out and give you later.
Which way to go is up to you and the structure of your organization. The aim is to make the survey reach every employee and make sure that they have the tools to answer it properly.
5. Observe and Benchmark the Results
Once the employees are done with their survey, collect the details and come to a conclusion.
What are the employees trying to say? Is there a common problem that persists among the employees?
What steps are you going to take in order to resolve these issues? Focus on these questions in the next step.
6. Share the Results with Others
The final step of an employee engagement survey is to share the feedback or message received from the survey with the organization. This will help employees feel recognized and heard. It will also give them an assurance that their problems will soon be mitigated by the organization.
Before we dive into the creation of an engagement survey, we recommend you to use this checklist for every engagement survey that you create.
When preparing to run an employee engagement survey, HR should ensure all steps are covered to maximize participation and gather meaningful insights.
1. Clarify the Survey's Purpose and Goals
Before launching the survey, it’s crucial to define why you're conducting it.
Are you aiming to understand employee satisfaction, identify engagement drivers, or pinpoint areas for improvement?
Communicate these goals clearly so employees know the importance of their feedback and how it will be used. This also sets expectations for both employees and the leadership team.
2. Keep It Short and Snappy
Lengthy surveys are a quick way to lose participation.
Aim to ask focused questions that are clear and easy to answer, sticking to key themes that directly impact engagement.
A concise survey increases completion rates while still collecting valuable insights. Prioritize the most important topics to avoid survey fatigue and respect your employees' time.
Here are a few fun ways to encourage survey participation among your employees.
3. Guarantee Anonymity to Encourage Honest Responses
Employees are more likely to provide truthful feedback when they feel safe from judgment or repercussions. Be transparent about how anonymity will be maintained throughout the process.
Whether through using a survey platform or ensuring data is aggregated, communicating this anonymity factor will help employees feel comfortable sharing their honest opinions.
4. Actively Listen to Feedback and Close the Loop
Survey results should lead to actionable changes.
After collecting responses, take the time to review the feedback, share key findings with employees, and outline steps the company will take based on the data.
Follow-up communication shows employees that their input matters, and creating action plans ensures you’re addressing the right areas for improvement. Closing the loop builds trust and strengthens the relationship between employees and leadership.
By following this checklist, HR can ensure employee engagement surveys are not only successful but also lead to meaningful improvements across the organization.
Why Use ThriveSparrow for Your Employee Engagement Surveys
- User-Friendly with Advanced Customization: Easy to use, yet highly customizable to suit your specific needs.
- Anonymity Guaranteed: Encourages honest feedback through strong privacy features.
- Real-Time Analytics: Get immediate insights into employee morale and engagement.
- Actionable Change: Turn feedback into real improvements with continuous feedback loops.
- Dedicated Support: ThriveSparrow's customer service ensures you’re never alone in optimizing your survey process.
Choose ThriveSparrow for surveys that drive genuine engagement and measurable results.
Wrapping Up
Employee engagement surveys help understand the pulse of your employees and how they currently feel about the company. It is an excellent tool to increase employee morale and productivity as well.
Always keep in mind that customization is key when it comes to surveys. Shape it in a way that fits your employee's needs and you can find the results to be not only useful but transformative as well.
