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Employee engagement survey questions are slowly but surely becoming one of the most prominent aspects of today’s work life and for good reason.
The rise in the prominence of practices such as employee engagement surveys, performance appraisals, and weekly check-ins is allowed to one simple fact. The fact that voice of the employee should be the loudest in the room.
Employee engagement as a metric is quickly becoming one of the core areas through which organizations measure their success.
Gone are the days of blind company loyalty and hustle culture. Failure to keep up with the latest employee engagement trends can result in low job performance, terrible retention rates, and you guessed it, quiet quitting.
With all the employee engagement strategies companies worldwide are investing in, and all the different employee engagement practices coming through the woodwork, measuring the efficiency of these practices and investments is an objectively reasonable course of action.
Just how do we measure the efficacy of these approaches and investments? If the answer isn’t employee engagement surveys then this must be the wrong page!
There are many different questions to be answered when it comes to these surveys:
- How often should you conduct an employee engagement survey?
- Which questions to ask in an employee engagement survey?
- Why do an employee engagement survey?
While this article itself is mainly centered around the content side of employee engagement surveys, we will be answering all those questions and then some!
Table of Contents
Different types of employee engagement survey questions
There are multiple different types of employee engagement survey questions, with each employee engagement survey question type including various question formats such as open-ended, yes/no, “would you rather”, or “one-word answer” questions.
A simple examination of the discussion surrounding employee engagement survey questions will surely reveal that there are as many different question types as there are websites publishing content on this subject
One thing that every voice across the internet can agree on is that there are certain areas that an employee engagement survey absolutely has to cover.
We lined those areas up for you in the list below with brief explanations of why they need to be included in your survey. Here are the best questions for employee engagement surveys!
1. Employee Engagement Survey Questions: Index
The employee engagement survey questions for the index section of your survey relate to the employee engagement strategies mentioned in the introduction of this article.
The questions asked in this section of the survey will play an important role in gauging the success of those strategies.
While the rest of the sections focus on more specific areas related to employee engagement, the employee engagement index section of your survey is centered around the very core question of: Are my employee engagement practices working?
- Do you feel proud to be part of the company?
- On a scale of 1-10, how likely are you to nominate our company as a top workplace?
- Do you go to work each day with enthusiasm?
- Do you want to stay with us for the next two years?
2. Employee Engagement Survey Questions about Management & Leadership
Some of the most important areas to explore when examining employee engagement through a survey are an employee’s brushes with leadership and management.
Gaining insight into the daily interactions between your teams and the leadership they are under, either from you or other executives, can provide you with incredibly valuable insights, along with helpful data.
- Do you feel your supervisor/manager cares for you genuinely as a person?
- Has your manager ever trusted you to take the lead in a project?
- Have you ever been in a situation where you had to act as a substitute and you ended up doing Does your supervisor or manager show genuine concern for you as a person?
- Has your manager ever given you the opportunity to lead a project?
- Have you ever found yourself stepping in and exceeding expectations in a substitute role?
- Do you consider yourself to be an entrepreneurial individual?
- Is it possible for multiple colleagues with strong leadership abilities to work on the same project or is it important for each project to have a balanced mix of skills?
3. Employee Engagement Survey Questions about Employee Satisfaction
Employee satisfaction can include a plethora of different employee engagement related topics such as fulfillment, alignment, or work-life balance.
The answers to these questions, especially if they are asked in a binary form to provide tangible data, can help leaders make the necessary adjustments to the way they manage performance in order to increase employee engagement.
- Do you get enough time to do your job well?
- Do you enjoy your time at work?
- Are you frequently overwhelmed by deadlines and the volume of work?
- Do you often bring work outside of the office?
4. Employee Engagement Survey Questions about Workplace Atmosphere
The title of this section truly speaks for itself. The primary purpose of employee engagement survey questions are to give people leaders insights into just what kind of a ship they are running.
Workplace atmosphere is quite possibly the strongest contributor to employee engagement, along with multitudes of other areas affecting productivity.
Fostering a healthy workplace atmosphere can quite simply prove to be the difference between having engaged employees and not.
- Do you find the overall atmosphere of the workplace to be uplifting and inspiring?
- To what extent is there political maneuvering in the office?
- Are you provided with the basic necessities to feel at ease while working?
- Does the company supply you with the necessary equipment and resources to complete your job duties?
- Do you believe that the company supports a diverse and inclusive work environment?
5. Employee Engagement Survey Questions about Employee Recognition
The terms employee recognition and employee engagement are well on their way to becoming synonymous at this point.
Many employee engagement strategies go through different recognition practices such as peer recognition or virtual employee recognition. The questions below are to examine just how helpful employee recognition survey questions actually are.
- Do you feel that your efforts at work are acknowledged?
- Do you ever feel unacknowledged or undervalued?
- What are your preferences for recognition going forward?
- Are the rewards or incentives received significant to you?
- How frequently are you acknowledged or recognized in the workplace?
6. Employee Engagement Survey Questions about Future Projection & Development
If any workplace practice in today’s world doesn’t include a section on employee development strategies, then that practice is in dire need of an upgrade.
Including questions related to employee development not only provide you with your employee’s opinions on the matter, but also shows that you are invested in their growth.
- Is there any room for personal growth in your company at the present time?
- What kind of professional success are you looking forward to the most?
- Do you have the right tools and information to maximize your potential here?
- Have you ever talked to someone from the company about your career goals?
- What do you think about the future of this organization?
7. Employee Engagement Survey Questions about Work-Life Balance
If you are asking questions to measure employee engagement then you have to devote an entire section on work-life balance.
The best questions for an employee engagement survey are ones that don’t take an employee’s personal life for granted.
Asking engagement survey questions about how their time at work is affecting their personal lives not only helps you gain insight, it also shows that you care!
- On a scale of 1 to 10, how satisfied are you with your current work-life balance?
- How often do you find yourself working outside of regular working hours (e.g., evenings, weekends)?
- Do you feel comfortable taking advantage of flexible work arrangements when needed?
- To what extent do you believe your workload is manageable within a standard workweek?
- Are there any obstacles or challenges that hinder your ability to achieve a satisfactory work-life balance?
- How often do you take breaks during the workday to recharge and relax?
- Do you feel supported by your team and management in maintaining a healthy work-life balance?
- What improvements or changes would you suggest to enhance work-life balance in our organization?
- Are you aware of and utilizing the available resources and programs aimed at promoting work-life balance?
- How would you rate the effectiveness of our current policies and initiatives related to work-life balance?
8. Employee Engagement Survey Questions about Mental Health
Speaking of not taking your employees for granted! Mental health in the workplace is an issue that is gaining more and more traction every day, and for good reason.
While you can opt to conduct employee mental health surveys on their own, including a few questions on mental health as a part of your employee engagement survey will improve the effectiveness of your employee engagement questionnaires.
- On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your overall mental well-being at work?
- Do you feel comfortable discussing mental health concerns with your supervisor or colleagues?
- Are you aware of the mental health resources and support services provided by the company?
- How often do you feel stressed or overwhelmed in your current role?
- Are there specific aspects of your job that you believe have a significant impact on your mental health?
- Do you feel that your workload is reasonable and conducive to good mental health?
- Have you participated in any mental health and wellness programs offered by the organization?
- How would you rate the level of awareness and destigmatization of mental health in our workplace?
- Are there any changes or additions you would suggest to improve mental health support at work?
- To what extent do you believe the organization values and prioritizes employees’ mental health?
9. Employee Engagement Survey Questions about Benefits
At the end of the day, no matter how many employee engagement survey questions you ask, or how many HR initiatives you run, what keeps employees engaged is cold hard cash paired with some juicy benefits!
If you are looking to put together a set of the best employee engagement survey questions, then you need to make sure you have engagement survey questions on just how effective your benefits programs are!
- How satisfied are you with the current benefits package offered by the company?
- Are you aware of all the benefits available to you as an employee? If not, what additional information would you find helpful?
- Which specific benefits do you consider most valuable to you and your family?
- Do you feel that the current benefits adequately meet your needs, or do you see areas for improvement?
- How would you rate the communication and clarity of information regarding employee benefits?
- Have you encountered any challenges or difficulties in accessing or utilizing your benefits?
- Do you believe the organization’s benefits contribute to your overall job satisfaction?
- Are there any additional benefits or perks you would like to see implemented in the future?
- How satisfied are you with the process of enrolling in and managing your benefits?
- To what extent do you believe the company’s benefits align with your long-term career goals and personal well-being?
Why Should You Measure Employee Engagement?
Measuring employee engagement is useful for several reasons:
1. Improves Business Outcomes
To improve business outcomes, you need to gauge employee engagement as it’s one of the important factors that affects how your business will operate.
According to research, high employee engagement scores are associated with improved performance, better efficiency, and increased innovative initiatives.
2. Expands Feedback Collection
You can also collect employee feedback by asking employee engagement survey questions. Engagement survey questions will empower your entire organization by helping you gauge employee sentiment.
Employee engagement surveys help represent diverse voices in your workforce and prevents you from being influenced by a selected few.
Collecting feedback through employee engagement survey questions can minimize the tendency toward biased decisions by providing a comprehensive perspective for employee experience within your organization.
3. Taking Informed Actions To Improve Company Culture
When you measure engagement through employee engagement survey questions, you can gather important data that can improve your decision-making.
This internal feedback mechanism will prevent you from overlooking important employee insights.
4. Identifying Areas for Improvement
Asking effective employee engagement survey questions can help you pinpoint areas that need improvement in your organization.
By using these employee engagement survey questions regularly, you will be able to identify potential problems before they have a more serious impact on productivity and company culture.
In other words, asking effective employee engagement survey questions can serve as a preventive measure.
Moreover, to employee engagement survey questions can give you insights into what motivates your employees to be successful and why they are loyal to their company.
Bonus Section: Feedback
Just as we recommend self-reviews to accompany performance reviews, we definitely recommend you ask for feedback from your employees on your performance as a leader.
While we are huge fans of meticulously designed survey questions that serve unique and crafty purposes of their own, nothing beats a good, honest, old-fashioned request for feedback.
What is the best way of conducting employee engagement surveys?
We have discussed the best questions for employee engagement surveys but while we are at it, let’s give a little bit of time to the best ways of conducting those surveys.
We strongly believe that annual employee engagement surveys aren’t enough. A year is way too long of an interval to put between employee engagement surveys.
The best way to conduct an employee engagement survey is to automate them at quarterly or even monthly intervals.
If you’re curious about how you can automate them, the answer is simple: Through a performance management tool that offers the feature. If you are using Microsoft Teams then Teamflect is the way to go for you.
