10 employee survey questions you should be asking

Use these 10 employee survey questions in your next employee engagement survey. They can be used to consult remote teams, hybrid teams and office-based teams however you may also choose to include survey questions about hybrid working to get a proper picture of how people feel.

Importantly, these employee survey questions are all designed with action in mind. So once your survey results are in, you can swiftly move on to making change happen. Take a look at our essential guide to action planning for more help creating change after your survey.

How do People Insight design survey questions?

The 10 employee engagement survey questions below are from our Pearl™ model of employee engagement which is the framework for all our engagement surveys.

Pearl™ was created by our team of employee survey consultants, who reviewed the latest employee engagement, stress and wellbeing literature. They also carried out primary research across hundreds of clients and analysed over twenty million data points. It’s a great place to start for any engagement survey and it has a set of 35 employee survey questions that provide a clear picture of how engaged people feel, and why.

We know that sometimes you’ll need to add in survey questions of your own, so you can adapt or add custom questions into a Pearl™

survey too. To learn more about designing survey questions, check out this article where we share how to write effective, action-focused survey questions.

10 questions to include in your staff survey

The employee survey questions below are Likert questions, which means they take the form of statements that employees are asked to rate between 1 and 5, with 1 being “Strongly Agree” and 5 being “Strongly Disagree”.

1. I Believe Action Will be Taken as a Result of this Survey

Asking about belief in action is a highly important question to ask in your staff survey because it is a real indicator of your company culture. There is no point conducting an employee survey if nobody thinks any good will come from the exercise. The first time you survey, employees may be sceptical or positive. You are setting a baseline expectation. It is essential that you follow this up with action, in order to establish their trust in the survey process. When you begin to see positive ratings for this question, you will know your employees have faith in your company’s ability to take on board feedback and act on it. This score can become a key parameter across the organisation and should encourage employees to approach managers on other occasions, trusting they are open to feedback.

Related: How to build buy-in and belief with employee surveys

2. Senior Leaders Make the Effort to Listen to Staff 

Thanks to a Gallup poll, we know that senior leaders and managers have a significant impact on employee engagement levels. This question needs to be asked because it reflects whether employees feel respected and valued by leadership. Low scores for this question indicate employees feel superfluous or disengaged. A solution may be for leaders and managers to ask for feedback in town hall meetings or 1:1s and, where possible, to act on this feedback. In many ways this survey question ties in nicely with our belief in action question above since there must be a company culture of listening and action led from the top.

3. I Would Like to Still be Working Here in Two Years’ Time

Asking this question in your employee survey is a great way to start improving employee retention rates. Engaged employees are loyal employees, but if employees aren’t getting what they need out of their role and out of the company, they will (understandably) look for opportunities elsewhere. If you notice negative trends around employee retention, look at scores for this question in the context of your employee survey results. Your results dashboard will highlight the lowest scoring factors which may be driving employees to leave. Once you have a more solid understanding of the causes, you can take action to improve these areas and encourage employees to stay.

4. I Feel Valued and Recognised For the Work I Do

Feeling undervalued is a frequent key driver of disengagement. However when hard work is acknowledged by management, the result is happier and more productive staff. Recognition doesn’t have to come at a high price, and even small companies can effectively reward their employees. For inspiration about employee rewards and recognition, check out our ideas to celebrate Employee Appreciation Day or try these effective non-financial employee rewards.

5. People Help and Support Each Other Here

Poor scores for this survey question can indicate an issue in your company culture around collaboration and teamwork. A supportive and friendly company culture is vital for business success. So low scores for this question, as well as clues in open-text comments, may indicate issues of trust between teams, perceptions of different treatment of one team versus another, competing priorities, or simply a lack of communication. Before taking action, you may need additional feedback from employees to understand this issue. This can be via focus groups or a follow-up pulse survey.

6. This Company is Committed to Doing High-Quality work

This question speaks to employee perceptions of quality of services and organisational values. It’s been proven that modern employees want to be given purpose and meaning in their careers. This is easier to accomplish when people are aware of, and support, company values and ethics. This question also ties into the employee’s pride about the service and/or products the company provides and their perception of the company culture, as well as whether the company’s brand aligns with their own personal brand. This is important for long-term retention and happiness.

7. I Understand the Aims and Objectives of my Organisation

This employee survey question is again crucial in terms of purpose, which is a key driver of employee engagement. Employees must understand company goals, direction and values so they are armed with all the information they need to perform their job well. The more informed an employee is, the better equipped they are to make decisions that support company values and objectives. A low score for this survey question could be a major red flag about your company culture.

8. I can get the Training and Development I need to do My Job

One of the most important drivers of engagement is ongoing training and development opportunities for employees. Not only should employees be given the right training and tools to perform their current job effectively, but they should also be offered growth opportunities and development opportunities to allow them to reach their full potential. Personal growth can also be a useful retention tool. It’s been shown that Millennials are more likely to stay in a job that offers opportunities for development.

9. I Can Cope Comfortably With My Workload

This question is highly relevant in terms of employee wellbeing, job satisfaction and work-life balance. Unfortunately, highly engaged employees may score negatively here, pushing themselves to achieve more and more when inspired. When overworked, employees experience a considerable amount of stress, and their personal life suffers as a result. At People Insight, we have created a guide to help managers spot signs of stress and burnout, and make changes to reduce this.

10. I have the Freedom I need to Get on with my Job

Though spoken about a lot during the Covid-19 pandemic, workplace autonomy shouldn’t really be considered an employee perk. Rather, it is a necessity for employees to feel engaged and passionate about what they do and empowered to get on with their work. Therefore this survey question can reveal a lot about trust and micromanagement within your company culture. There is nothing that kills motivation more than a lingering manager who is constantly there to breathe down your neck and question your every move. If you recruited wisely, you hired ambitious, intelligent adults. They deserve to be treated as such, or they will likely leave for a more progressive organisation.