Employee engagement is one of the key factors that determine the growth and progress of an organization. As long as your employees are willingly involved in and enthusiastic about their work, they are going to deliver their best performance day after day.

Employee engagement, undoubtedly, depends largely on the work environment as well as how things are managed in your organization. Employees who are acknowledged for their efforts, paid well, and allowed to use their creativity are usually found to be more devoted and engaged in the workplace.

Now the question is, how do you know if you are doing enough to improve employee engagement in your organization? How do you ensure that the measures you are taking are the best practices? There has to be a way to measure employee engagement. This is where employee engagement surveys come in. But then again, you will find hundreds of templates for employee engagement surveys online. How do you decide which survey questions are most useful?

Read on to understand what an employee engagement survey should be like and which questions will bring you the desired output.

What is an employee engagement survey?

Employee engagement surveys are conducted by companies to understand the degree to which their employees are engaged and satisfied in their jobs. It is a very useful tool to assess which of your methods of improving engagement are working well and which need to be redesigned.

Under this survey, employees are asked to answer different questions regarding job satisfaction, their views on the company’s functioning, their belief in the vision the company holds, and other relevant topics. These responses can give you insights that help you shape your company’s policies better to provide improved employee satisfaction and engagement.

These surveys also serve as a medium of communication for the employees and give them a voice. It is not always possible for the higher management to interact with every employee one on one. In such a case, common issues faced by employees can be identified through these surveys, which also makes them feel heard and included.

Why are Employee Engagement Survey Questions important?

When you decide to conduct an employee engagement survey, you have an ultimate goal in mind. You know what insights you expect to be delivered by this survey. But your expected results will only be obtained if you are asking the right questions.

The questions you ask should be relevant to the information you are looking for. They should also be precise and unambiguous so that employees can give the most appropriate response leaving no scope for any confusion or vagueness. It is a good idea to have an optimum combination of both open and closed questions to get the maximum amount of data possible from everyone.

Taking the help of professionals can make it much easier to decide on the right questions to ask in your survey as well as the best format to use. A platform like TalenX can help you design productive and fruitful employee engagement surveys that can derive maximum data, giving you a sea of information to work on.

How to plan and implement an employee engagement survey?

Planning is always necessary before you begin with the actual survey. As we have already seen how important it is to ask the right questions, it is required to put in some thought when creating a survey. Approach the process stage-wise for the best results.

The first stage would be brainstorming. You need to set a goal and layout clear objectives of the survey. Some of the common objectives would be – increasing employee engagement, improving employee retention, identifying bottlenecks in communication, identifying unhealthy work cultures, and so on. Some other objectives may be specific to your organization, depending on where you currently stand.

Once the objectives are laid out, prepare a list of potential questions that are asked to fulfil these objectives. This should be done in consultation with senior management or with help from professional platforms, such as TalenX, to ensure there are no lapses. Any gap in these questions will mean lesser data to analyze, leading to inaccurate results.

When the list of questions is ready, you can design the survey. Surveys again can be in various formats. It may not always be possible to include all the questions in a single survey. You can create a full-fledged survey form with some of the important questions. For other questions, you can create some quick pulse surveys, where a single question needs to be answered now and then. Also, your survey responses can be organized into a five-point Likert scale, from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree”. Most of the survey questions can usually be answered on this scale, but some responses may need a little more explaining. Providing some space for the employees to elaborate on their responses is important since the purpose of the employee engagement survey is to hear more from employees.

It will be easier to frame questions if you divide them into various categories. If you are still in a fix about what kind of questions to include in your employee engagement survey, here is a list of the best questions to ask under different categories.

Top 65 employee engagement survey questions

Questions that emphasize on the degree of engagement

These are questions that ask about the general level of satisfaction of employees working in the organization. This is the category under which the majority of the employee engagement survey questions would fall. The top questions in this category are

1. Are you motivated to come to work every day?

2. What do you find most interesting about your job?

3. Do you feel proud to be a part of this company?

4. How happy are you working in this company?

5. Does the role you are working meet with your expectations?

6. Do you see yourself working in this company for five more years?

7. Do you think the compensations you receive are at par with other companies?

8. Would you recommend others to join this company?

9. Do you feel valued in this company?

10. Do you receive acknowledgement for your work?

11. What is one thing you would like to change about your job?

12. How would you rate the work culture (workload, deadlines, recognitions, etc.) in this company?

13. Do you have a clear understanding of your career path in this company?

14. Do you have a healthy work-life balance working in this company?

Questions that reveal how the management is contributing to employee engagement

The way the management deals with employees plays a very important role in employee engagement. Here are a few questions you could include in your survey.

1. Does the leadership provide sufficient support at the workplace?

2. How would you rate the communication between employees and senior management in the company?

3. How strongly do you believe in the leadership’s approach towards achieving company goals?

4. Does the leadership keep you informed about company news and updates?

5. How would you rate your relationship with your manager?

6. Has the leadership communicated to you the goals and vision of the company?

7. Do you feel free to approach your superior in case of a problem?

8. Does the management take an interest in your work-related issues?

9. Does the management take quick actions to resolve issues in the workplace?

10. Are you satisfied with the way the management takes feedback?

12. Are you encouraged by the management to offer feedback on the work culture?

13. How does management ensure a healthy and positive work environment?

14. Does the management make you feel involved in the successes and achievements of the company?

Questions on whether the infrastructure available is sufficient for employees

The infrastructure available at the workplace also affects employee performance and employee engagement to a great extent. If the infrastructure is not good, employees may feel frustrated and overburdened, leading to lower engagement. These questions can help you find out where there is a scope to improve the infrastructure.

1. Do you have access to all resources you need to perform your work well?

2. Are all equipment you use for your work in perfect working condition?

3. Do you think the equipment you use needs to be upgraded?

4. Do you feel you are spending too much time fixing issues in your workstation?

5. Does the technical support team act promptly in solving issues?

6. Does the company offer sufficient training to handle the systems and processes you need to get your work done?

7. Is the physical environment suitable for the type of work you do?

8. Do you think employee’s safety and health are given priority at your workplace?

9. What improvements in infrastructure and resources would you suggest?

10. Do you think you could perform your work better with additional resources?

Questions on how employees see their personal development in your organization

For employees to feel satisfied and engaged in their work, they also need to see themselves growing in their career. Personal development and career growth are crucial to job satisfaction. Here are a few questions to indicate how employees perceive their growth over the years in the organization.

1. Where do you see yourself five years from now in this company?

2. Does the company provide ample growth opportunities?

3. Do you have a clear understanding of your career path in this company?

4. Do you receive frequent constructive feedback from management?

5. How would you rate the perks and benefits you receive for your achievements?

6. Do you think your manager understands and supports your career aspirations?

7. How would you compare your growth in this company to your growth in your previous job?

8. Are you satisfied with the amount of learning and development activities the company undertakes for your career growth?

9. Have you developed any new skills while working in your current role?

10. Do you think this role challenges you to grow and outperform yourself?

11. Do you look forward to new responsibilities in this job?

12. Do you see your career progressing at the rate you had expected when you joined this role?

Questions on interpersonal relationships and work environment

Another factor that plays a major role in an employee’s degree of job satisfaction is his or her relation with co-workers and the work environment. A healthy work environment is imperative for increasing employee engagement. The following questions can help you understand how employees feel about their colleagues and the environment.

1. Would you describe your workplace as friendly and fun?

2. Do you have an amicable relationship with your co-workers?

3. Do your co-workers treat you with respect and compassion?

4. Is the workplace inclusive and tolerant of everyone, irrespective of gender, age, ethnicity or other differentiators?

5. Do you think the company has strong policies against harassment or bullying of any kind?

6. Are your co-workers open to sharing knowledge and supporting your growth?

7. Does the company provide equal opportunity to everyone?

8. Do you find the team events and activities at this company useful?

9. Do you believe there is transparency in the way the company functions?

10. Do you have a relationship of trust with your colleagues and team members?

Open-ended questions

Apart from the questions about specific categories described above, you can also add some general open-ended questions. These can help you gather some additional feedback and suggestions. Some examples are as follows.

1. What do you like most about working in this company?

2. Mention 3 things you would like to change about the company.

3. What, according to you, are the company’s greatest strengths and weaknesses?

4. What changes have you seen since the last employee engagement survey/employee feedback?

5. What is your favorite thing about your job?

Conclusion

The good thing about employee engagement surveys is that you can ask the same questions in many different ways. Depending on the specific information you are trying to gather, you can turn the questions around to change the intended meaning.

It is important that you pay attention to anonymity as employees are often worried about it in these surveys. Also, following up on the survey results is essential to build the employees’ trust in the process and improve your employee retention.

TalenX can help you hire, grow, and retain top talents with the help of strong analytics and I/O psychology. Request a trial today to experience how seamless hiring and employee retention can be with our talent acquisition and talent management solutions.