Creating a thriving organisation begins with understanding your people. What better way to do that than to ask your team pointed questions? An engagement survey is one of the best tools to measure people’s feelings about their work and your company.
But crafting meaningful surveys is about more than just ticking some boxes. To gain actionable feedback, you must ask the right questions and apply the data you unlock to improve your organisation.
Well-designed surveys will help you improve employee engagement and retention. You can also promote better productivity and deliver frictionless customer experiences. Here’s a look at engagement surveys and how to use them to shape a more productive and satisfied workforce.
What is an Employee Engagement Survey?
An employee engagement survey is a structured questionnaire used to assess how connected, motivated, and satisfied your team members feel in their roles.
These surveys help you collect feedback on areas like leadership, work culture, recognition, and growth opportunities. Use this information to make decisions that support your people and your business.
Core Areas to Cover in Engagement Surveys
When designing your survey, it’s essential to focus on subjects that impact engagement and employee satisfaction. Here are some areas to address:
Job Satisfaction
Ask people questions to gauge how fulfilled they feel in their role. Here are a few examples:
- Do you find your work meaningful?
- Are you proud to work here?
- Does your role match your skills and interests?
Use a mix of open- and closed-ended questions so your team members can elaborate on their feelings.
Leadership and Management
You should also evaluate how employees perceive company leaders. Try the following questions:
- Do you feel that company leaders communicate a clear vision?
- Does your manager support your professional growth?
- Are you comfortable raising concerns with your supervisor?
Consider making these answers anonymous to encourage employees to provide honest feedback.
Work Environment and Culture
Culture plays a huge role in engagement. Explore your workplace culture with questions like:
- Do you feel valued by your team?
- Is the work environment inclusive and respectful?
- Are you encouraged to share your ideas?
You must forge a culture that values fresh ideas, even if they challenge the status quo.
Recognition and Feedback
Recognition fuels motivation. To gauge how motivated your employees are, include the following useful questions:
- Do you receive regular feedback on your work?
- Does your manager acknowledge your achievements?
- Do you feel appreciated for your contributions?
If you discover that employees aren’t receiving adequate feedback and recognition, you must create feedback loops that encourage everyone to reach their full potential.
Career Development
Addressing career development in your engagement surveys will help support your employee development strategy. Here’s how to do it:
- Do you have opportunities to learn new skills?
- Is there a clear path for progression in your role?
- Do you feel supported in your career goals?
You must invest in your employees to promote retention and long-term growth. Employees who don’t see an opportunity to grow within your organisation may seek positions elsewhere.
Work-Life Balance
Burnout can derail even the most engaged employees. Explore this issue with the following questions:
- Are you able to maintain a healthy balance between work and personal life?
- Does the company respect your time outside of work?
- Do you have flexibility in how and when you work?
Once you gauge how workers feel about their current work-life balance, you can brainstorm employee engagement ideas to improve morale.
Types of Employee Engagement Survey Questions
Mixing question types will give you a fuller picture of employee sentiment. Use a combination of the following:
Closed-Ended Questions
Closed-ended questions are quick to answer and easy to analyse. The Likert scale (a range from ‘strongly agree’ to ‘strongly disagree’) is a popular option.
Open-Ended Questions
These provide context behind the data. Keep them focused to encourage clear responses. For instance, you could ask, ‘What’s one thing we could do to make your day-to-day work more enjoyable?’
This sample question allows employees to answer openly while focusing on a specific topic.
Anonymous Comments and Suggestions
Anonymity encourages employees to be honest, especially when they are criticising the business or a manager.
These insights will also help you conduct a performance development review and gauge an employee’s understanding of their strengths and weaknesses.
Tips for Writing Great Survey Questions
Writing helpful survey questions is an art form. Here are some tips to help you form questions that will yield actionable insights:
Clarity and Neutrality
Avoid jargon and ensure that your questions are easy to understand. Keep your language neutral so you do not inadvertently influence the responses.
Instead of ‘How great is your manager at motivating you?’ try something neutral: ‘Does your manager help you stay motivated in your role?’
Avoiding Leading Questions
Leading questions can skew results. Keep them open and balanced. For instance, ‘Don’t you think our office culture is supportive?’ is a leading question that could influence your employees to pick a positive response.
Try something open like, ‘How would you describe the level of support in your team?’
Balancing Quantitative and Qualitative Data
The best engagement surveys gather a mix of information, including qualitative data like employee feelings and quantitative data like hard numbers. You need both to understand and influence employee engagement.
How to Distribute and Collect Engagement Surveys
Even the best questions won’t be effective if your employees don’t participate. Here are some strategies to encourage participation across your workforce.
Timing and Frequency
Timing matters. Avoid peak holiday seasons or high-stress periods. Many organisations opt for quarterly or pulse surveys, which are shorter. They also conduct annual deep dives.
Using a mix of both types of questionnaires can help you stay connected to your workforce throughout the year without making employees feel overloaded.
Choosing the Right Tools
Use digital tools that allow for easy access and secure data handling. Digital survey tools also simplify the process of administering surveys, collecting responses, and analysing the results.
Encouraging Honest Participation
Reassure your team that their feedback is confidential and will be taken seriously. Make sure you follow through and do your best to apply the feedback to improve workplace culture.
If employees see that you are listening to them, they will be more receptive to future surveys.
Analysing the Results and Taking Action
You’ve conducted a survey and gathered the results. Now what? Here’s how to use all of that data.
Identifying Trends
Step one involves looking for patterns across teams or departments. You can also analyse data in a demographic context.
Pay attention to both the scores and the sentiment in open comments. Compare results to previous survey outcomes to measure engagement trends over time.
Communicating Insights to Teams
Don’t let survey data sit in a spreadsheet. Share key findings with employees and let them know the actions you plan to take. This builds trust and shows your commitment to improvement.
Turning Feedback Into Meaningful Change
Prioritise issues that strongly impact engagement, like recognition, workload, and management quality.
The feedback you obtain from your teams will help you create a learning and development strategy that addresses each employee’s unique needs and professional goals.
Get More Help on Engagement Surveys
Creating an effective engagement survey takes time, intention, and the right tools. Klara can help you improve how your organisation measures and responds to employee feedback.
Klara empowers your employees to take control of their professional development. Our human-centred skills management platform promotes better engagement and accelerated growth for your workforce.
Ready to learn more about the power of Klara? Get in touch!
Engagement Survey FAQs
What Are the Key Components of an Effective Engagement Survey?
An excellent engagement survey includes a clear purpose and a good mix of quantitative and qualitative questions. Many surveys are also administered anonymously so that employees feel comfortable providing honest feedback and criticism of the organisation. Make sure your survey is easy to complete and not too long. If the survey is tedious, employees may not give it adequate attention or may skip it altogether.
How Can Survey Results Enhance Workplace Culture?
Survey results illuminate areas of strength and improvement. When you act on your team’s feedback, you demonstrate that you are listening and committed to making the business a better place to work.
You can also create a more inclusive and engaged culture. The goal is to align leadership decisions with employee needs.
How Frequently Should Engagement Surveys Be Conducted?
It depends on your organisation’s size and pace of change. Many companies run a complete annual and quarterly pulse surveys to track engagement throughout the year. The key is consistency. Conducting regular surveys shows employees that you care what they think and are committed to creating a positive workplace culture where everyone can thrive.