Wondering how to boost workplace satisfaction and keep your team motivated? It all starts with asking the right employee engagement survey questions. These surveys are a simple yet powerful way to understand how your employees feel about their work, their leaders, and their growth opportunities.
By asking the right questions, you’ll get valuable insights that can help you improve communication, address any issues, and create a more engaged and productive team. In this article, we’ll dive into 20 questions that can help you get the feedback you need to keep your employees happy and thriving.
What is an Employee Engagement Survey?
An employee engagement survey is a tool that helps companies check in with their employees to see how they’re really feeling about their jobs, the workplace, and leadership. It’s made up of questions that cover different areas like job satisfaction, communication, growth opportunities, and work-life balance.
The goal? To get a clear picture of what’s working and what’s not. By gathering employee feedback, companies can pinpoint issues, improve the work environment, and keep employees motivated and happy. In short, these surveys help create a stronger, more engaged team that’s ready to thrive.
Why Do You Need Insights On Employee Engagement
Getting insights on employee engagement isn’t just a “nice-to-have” — it’s essential if you want to keep your team motivated and your business running smoothly. When you know how your employees feel, you can take action to improve their experience at work, which can have a huge impact on everything from productivity to retention. But why exactly do you need these insights? Here are a few key reasons:
Boost morale and productivity
When employees feel engaged, they’re more motivated to do their best work. Understanding what drives their engagement helps you create an environment where they can thrive.
Identify potential issues early
Regular feedback helps you catch problems before they become bigger issues, whether it’s burnout, miscommunication, or frustrations with leadership.
Improve retention
Engaged employees are less likely to leave. By understanding their needs and addressing any concerns, you can reduce turnover and keep your best talent around.
Strengthen workplace culture
Employee engagement insights help you foster a positive work culture where employees feel valued, supported, and connected to the company’s mission starting from their first day,
Make data-driven decisions
Instead of guessing what might improve your workplace, engagement surveys give you real data. This helps you prioritize changes that will have the biggest impact.
Tips On Crafting Effective Employee Engagement Survey Questions
When it comes to creating employee engagement survey questions, getting the wording right is crucial. You want to make sure you’re gathering valuable insights without overwhelming or leading your employees. Here are some tips to help you craft effective questions that get to the heart of what matters:
Keep questions clear and simple
Avoid jargon or overly complicated phrasing. Employees should easily understand what you’re asking, so they can provide thoughtful, honest answers.
Use a mix of open-ended and closed-ended questions
Closed-ended questions (like yes/no or rating scales) are great for quantifying engagement, while open-ended ones allow employees to share more detailed thoughts.
For example:
Closed-ended: “On a scale of 1-10, how supported do you feel by your manager?”
Open-ended: “What’s one thing you would change about the work environment?”
Stay neutral
Avoid leading questions that push employees toward a specific response. Instead of asking, “Do you think our management does a great job?” try something more neutral like, “How would you rate our management’s communication?”
Keep it balanced
Include questions covering various topics—leadership, growth opportunities, work-life balance, and the work environment. This ensures you’re getting a well-rounded view of engagement.
Limit the number of questions
Keep the survey short and focused. Too many questions can cause survey fatigue, leading to rushed or incomplete answers. Aim for quality over quantity.
Ensure anonymity
If possible, make the survey anonymous. Employees are more likely to be honest when they know their responses won’t be tied back to them.
Test your questions
Before rolling out your survey, test it with a small group of employees. This helps catch any confusing questions and ensures the survey will work smoothly for everyone.
The 25 Best Employee Engagement Survey Questions
An employee engagement index is a metric used to evaluate how committed and connected employees feel to their work and the organization. It’s calculated through specific survey questions that touch on key areas such as job satisfaction, leadership, and work-life balance.
To get a well-rounded view of engagement, your survey should cover different aspects of the employee experience. Below, we’ve categorized the most important questions to include in your survey.
1. Job Satisfaction and Motivation
Understanding how satisfied and motivated employees are is key to assessing overall engagement. These questions focus on the employees’ personal connection to their roles and the company.
- On a scale of 1-10, how satisfied are you with your current role?
- How motivated are you to go above and beyond in your job?
- Do you feel a sense of accomplishment in your work?
- How often do you feel excited to start your workday?
- How likely are you to recommend your job to a friend or colleague?
Metrics to Measure:
- Job Satisfaction Score: Calculate the average score for job satisfaction questions to get a sense of the workforce’s overall happiness.
- Motivation Level: Track the number of employees who express high motivation to assess engagement.
2. Commitment to the Company
These questions help gauge employees’ loyalty and long-term commitment to the organization. High commitment often translates to higher retention.
- How likely are you to stay with the company for the next two years?
- Do you feel a strong sense of loyalty to the organization?
- How well do you think the company aligns with your personal values?
- How often do you feel proud to tell people where you work?
- Would you recommend this company as a great place to work?
Metrics to Measure:
- Retention Likelihood Score: Track how many employees are likely to stay with the company over the next few years.
- Loyalty Index: Measure responses about loyalty and pride to generate a company loyalty score.
3. Leadership and Trust
Leadership plays a significant role in engagement. These questions focus on how employees view their leaders, trust their decisions, and feel supported by management.
- Do you trust senior leadership to make the right decisions for the company?
- How confident are you in leadership’s communication of company goals?
- Do you feel that leadership is transparent in decision-making?
- How well does your manager support your personal and professional development?
- Do you feel your manager listens to your concerns and feedback?
Metrics to Measure:
- Leadership Trust Score: Measure how much trust employees have in leadership based on confidence and transparency.
- Manager Support Score: Calculate how supported employees feel by their direct managers, especially regarding development.
4. Work-Life Balance and Well-Being
A good balance between work and personal life is key to sustaining long-term engagement. These questions help you assess how well the company supports work-life balance and well-being.
- Do you feel your workload is manageable?
- How often do you feel stressed or overwhelmed by your job?
- Do you have enough flexibility to manage your work and personal life?
- Does the company support your mental and physical well-being?
- How comfortable do you feel taking time off when needed?
Metrics to Measure:
- Work-Life Balance Score: Average the responses to questions about workload and flexibility to gauge overall balance.
- Well-Being Index: Track how well employees feel supported in maintaining their well-being.
5. Growth and Development
Employees want to know they have opportunities for growth and advancement. These questions assess whether they feel the company provides those opportunities and supports their long-term career goals.
- Do you feel you have opportunities for growth within the company?
- How satisfied are you with the company’s professional development resources?
- Do you receive enough feedback on how to improve your performance?
- How often do you feel challenged in your role in a positive way?
- Do you believe you have a clear path for career advancement here?
Metrics to Measure:
- Growth Opportunities Score: Track responses to questions about career growth to assess how satisfied employees are with their professional development.
- Feedback and Challenge Score: Calculate how often employees feel they receive valuable feedback and are challenged in their roles.
Analyzing Survey Results: What to Look For
Once you’ve gathered responses from your employee engagement survey, the next step is to analyze the data and turn it into actionable insights. The goal is to identify patterns, highlight strengths, and pinpoint areas that need improvement. Here’s a detailed breakdown of how to analyze the results, including the use of a Likert scale scoring system to quantify your data effectively.
1. Assign Scores Using the Likert Scale
The Likert scale is a popular scoring system used to measure attitudes, opinions, or perceptions. In your engagement survey, each closed-ended question can be rated on a 1-5 or 1-10 scale, making it easier to quantify responses and spot trends.
Example Likert scale scoring:
- Strongly Disagree = 1
- Disagree = 2
- Neutral = 3
- Agree = 4
- Strongly Agree = 5
By using this scale, you can calculate average scores for each question and easily compare results across different areas of employee engagement.
For open-ended questions, categorize responses into themes or keywords (e.g., “communication issues” or “growth opportunities”) to identify common feedback and concerns.
2. Calculate Category Averages
Group your survey questions into categories, such as leadership, job satisfaction, work-life balance, and development opportunities. After scoring individual questions using the Likert scale, calculate the average score for each category to understand employee sentiment in that area.
Example of calculating an average:
Let’s say you asked 5 questions related to leadership using the Likert scale (1-5):
- Question 1: Average score = 3.8
- Question 2: Average score = 4.1
- Question 3: Average score = 3.5
- Question 4: Average score = 4.0
- Question 5: Average score = 3.7
To calculate the overall leadership score:
(3.8 + 4.1 + 3.5 + 4.0 + 3.7) ÷ 5 = 3.82
Interpretation:
A leadership score of 3.82 out of 5 indicates generally positive perceptions, but there’s room for improvement.
3. Track Engagement Levels Using an Index Score
After calculating the average scores for each category, you can combine them to create an overall employee engagement index. This score, typically ranging from 0 to 100, provides an overview of engagement levels across the organization.
Here’s how to calculate an employee engagement index using a Likert scale:
- Add up the total scores from all categories.
- Divide by the number of categories to get an average score.
- Multiply by 20 (if using a 1-5 scale) or by 10 (if using a 1-10 scale) to scale the result to 100.
Example:
- Leadership Score: 3.82
- Job Satisfaction Score: 4.2
- Work-Life Balance Score: 3.6
- Growth and Development Score: 3.9
Total score: (3.82 + 4.2 + 3.6 + 3.9) ÷ 4 = 3.88
Multiply by 20 to scale to 100: 3.88 x 20 = 77.6
Interpretation:
An overall engagement index score of 77.6 out of 100 suggests generally positive engagement, but there’s room to push this higher by addressing specific areas of concern.
4. Identify Strengths and Weaknesses by Category
By analyzing the average scores for each category, you can easily spot areas where your company excels and areas where improvement is needed. For example, if growth and development scores are lower than job satisfaction, this could indicate that employees want more opportunities for career advancement.
Example Analysis:
- Leadership: 3.82 (out of 5) – Positive but with room for improvement in communication.
- Job Satisfaction: 4.2 – Employees are generally happy with their roles.
- Work-Life Balance: 3.6 – Some employees may be struggling with workload or stress.
- Growth and Development: 3.9 – Decent, but some employees may feel there aren’t enough opportunities for growth.
5. Use Benchmarks for Comparison
It’s helpful to compare your scores with either industry benchmarks or your previous surveys. This context will show whether your company is ahead of the curve or if there are areas that need urgent attention.
- Industry benchmarks: Compare your scores to data from similar companies. For instance, if your leadership score is below the industry average, it might be time to focus on improving leadership communication and transparency.
- Historical comparison: Track your company’s scores over time. If your work-life balance score dropped from 4.0 to 3.6 in the last year, you should investigate what’s changed and why it’s affecting employees.
6. Visualizing the Data: Charts and Graphs
Using visual tools like bar charts or pie charts helps you communicate your findings clearly. Here’s how to present your data visually:
- Bar charts: Use this to show average scores across categories like leadership, job satisfaction, and work-life balance.
- Pie charts: Represent percentage breakdowns of responses (e.g., how many employees selected “Strongly Agree” vs. “Agree”).
Here’s an example of how to visualize category scores using a Likert scale (1-5) in a bar chart.
7. Follow Up with Action
Once you’ve analyzed the data, it’s essential to take action. Share the results with leadership and create a clear plan to address any low-scoring areas. If work-life balance scores are low, for example, consider offering more flexible work hours or wellness resources.
Regularly follow up with employees to demonstrate that their feedback is valued and taken seriously. Showing employees that action is taken based on their input builds trust and encourages higher participation in future surveys.
How Tools Like Krisp Can Help With Employee Engagement in Remote Work
Remote work has become a standard part of many companies’ operations, and keeping employees engaged in this environment can be challenging. With fewer face-to-face interactions, maintaining clear communication, collaboration, and a sense of connection becomes even more crucial. That’s where tools like Krisp come into play.
Krisp’s features—like noise cancellation, meeting transcription, and AI-powered productivity tools—make it easier for remote employees to stay focused and engaged. Here’s how Krisp can help improve employee engagement in a remote work setting:
Clear, Distraction-Free Communication
Remote meetings often come with background noise—whether it’s a dog barking, traffic sounds, or other distractions. Krisp’s noise cancellation ensures that these distractions are eliminated, allowing employees to focus on the conversation without interruptions. When communication flows smoothly, engagement and collaboration naturally improve.
Increased Productivity with AI Tools
Krisp’s AI Meeting Assistant can transcribe meetings in real-time, helping employees focus on discussions without the need to take notes. This boosts engagement by allowing them to fully participate in meetings and review the transcript afterward for clarity or follow-ups. It’s especially helpful for remote teams that juggle multiple meetings throughout the day.