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The best companies to work for know that the secret to employee retention and success is to put people first. Research shows that businesses with high employee engagement levels perform better*; some of these benefits include:
- 41% lower absenteeism
- 10% higher customer ratings
- 17% higher productivity
- 20% higher sales
- 21% more profit
With a more engaged workforce, business results will follow — but how to get there? Employee engagement surveys are crucial to put this into practice. That’s why we’ve prepared a list of 72 best-practice employee survey questions.
After all, we want to make work fulfilling for everyone, and we want to empower you to run the best employee engagement surveys.
In this article, you’ll learn:
- Why surveys are effective at measuring employee engagement
- What makes a good employee engagement question
- Best-practice questions for employee engagement surveys
- Tips for creating engagement surveys
- What to do with employee engagement survey results
And much more.
Let’s get to it.
📥 Download the full pack of best-practice employee engagement survey questions
*“Create an Exceptional Onboarding Journey for Your New Employees,” Gallup
Why surveys are effective at measuring employee engagement
Employees don’t always choose to be disengaged. To become a people-centric organization and reap the benefits of an engaged workforce, it’s your company’s responsibility to nurture employee engagement. And this starts by evaluating and understanding the current levels of engagement.
Employee engagement surveys consist of sending out a set of questions to collect employee feedback on various topics. The answers will allow you to gauge your people’s motivation and frustrations, unearthing areas for improvement.
If you ask the right employee engagement questions (we’ll show you how to do it) and choose the right engagement metrics, conducting surveys will already be a step to boost overall engagement in your organization (among other benefits). After all, your employees will see that the company cares about its people and the employee experience.
⏰ Discover what makes your employees tick with Leapsome
Our engagement surveys tell you what motivates employees and what gets them watching the clock.
👉 Learn more
What makes a good engagement survey question
A good engagement survey question aims to assess how committed employees feel towards a company and its mission, as well as how satisfied they are at the job. To gain a clear understanding of how employees feel across how the organization, measure employee engagement, and build a better company culture, it’s important to select questions across various topics:
- Performance & engagement
- Company culture
- Employee development
- Crisis and change management
- Diversity & inclusion
- remote working
The answers will allow you to gauge your people’s motivation and frustrations, unearthing areas for improvement — as well as initiatives to keep investing in.
When thinking about how to phrase your questions to measure employee engagement, there are a couple of best practices to keep in mind. Most of your employee engagement questions should be quantitative and allow people to respond on a scale. This way, it'll be much easier to interpret your survey results.
You can include some qualitative questions to gain more detailed, in-depth input, and with Leapsome, qualitative questions can be analyzed using our natural language processing tool.
Make sure that your questions are specific enough to deliver actionable insights. ”My company is a good organization,“ for example, is too broad and doesn‘t provide you with any valuable information. Instead, be more specific with questions about the concrete qualities of your organization.
📘 Learn more about engagement survey frequency, the ideal number of questions, avoiding survey fatigue — and more — in our step-by-step People Ops Playbook
12 must-have employee engagement questions to include in your questionnaire
If you’re looking to put together a brief employee engagement questionnaire, consider this ‘TDLR’ section. The following are essential employee survey questions you can ask to gauge company-wide sentiment. They concentrate on key performance drivers like employee satisfaction, company culture, and personal and professional development opportunities to get to the bottom of how your people really feel.
Use them as a jumping-off point to create customized employee engagement questions that perfectly fit your business.
- I would recommend [company] as a great place to work
- I believe there are good career opportunities for me at [company]
- The overall strategy set by the management is taking [company] in the right direction
- I genuinely identify with the values of [company]
- I’m inspired by the purpose and mission of [company]
- [Company] effectively communicates the goals and strategy set by the management
- [Company] cares about my well-being
- I have access to the equipment and tools I need to do my job well
- I know what is expected of me to be successful in my role
- The information I need to do my job well is readily available
- My manager promotes an open and constructive way to deal with problems and challenging issues
- I am given enough freedom to decide how to do my work
A comprehensive list of employee engagement survey questions
A survey is only as good as its questions. At Leapsome, we ensure that our employee engagement surveys are backed by scientific research, driven by best practices, and verified by experts.
We’ve followed an intentional, thoughtful process to create clear, meaningful, and actionable surveys for companies and their managers.
We have created question packs for 22 categories, under 5 key topics, addressing specific factors that drive engagement. With these categories and 72 best-practice questions, it’s easy to customize the survey to your company’s needs (focusing, for instance, on core topics of current initiatives).
On top of open-ended questions that provide additional context, quantitative questions will help you spot trends for improvement. Survey participants can assign a score from 1 to 10 for each question, with 10 being the most favorable outcome.
📥 Download the survey questions template here
Performance & engagement questionnaire
These employee survey questions will provide clear answers on how your employees feel about the company if you should anticipate retention issues, and if you’re supporting their job performance (and not demanding) as you should. In addition, as alignment is crucial for employee engagement and business growth, you’ll also gain a better understanding of how well you’re communicating your strategy, involving the team, and how much they believe in the company’s mission.
Engagement
1. I would recommend [company] as a great place to work
2. I see myself still working at [company] in 2 years
Accomplishment
3. Most days, I feel a sense of accomplishment from what I do
4. I have the opportunity to do challenging things at work
Goal alignment
5. I know what is expected of me to be successful in my role
6. I know how my work supports the goals of [company]
Strategy
7. The overall strategy set by the management is taking [company] in the right direction
8. [Company] effectively communicates the goals and strategy set by the management
9. I’m inspired by the purpose and mission of [company]
Workload
10. I find my workload manageable
11. I believe my workload is reasonable for my role
12. I am able to arrange time out from work when I need to
Company culture questionnaire
Everyone talks about company culture and knows that it’s one of the main engagement drivers, but do you know what it entails? And are you actively working to develop it?
In simple terms, company culture is about the way things are done in your company. It includes the work environment, communication, team structures, psychological safety, fulfillment at work, and much more. The work in organizational culture is never finished — you should always invest in it. And these employee engagement questions can be a great compass.
Work environment
13. My workplace is free from distractions, and I find it easy to focus on my work
14. I can easily find space for collaboration and conversations with others
Open communication
15. At [company], we value open and honest communication
16. My manager cares about my opinion
17. My co-workers are open to opinions different from their own
Manager support
18. My manager provides me with the support I need to complete my work
19. My manager genuinely cares about my well-being
20. My manager is a great role model for me and other employees
Organizational fit
21. I genuinely identify with the values of [company]
22. [Company] cares about my well-being
Psychological safety
23. Members of my team can bring up problems and tough issues
24. My manager promotes an open and constructive way to deal with problems and challenging issues
25. It is easy to ask other team members for help
26. No one on my team would deliberately act in a way that undermines my efforts
27. It is safe to take a risk on my team
28. Employees at [company] can voice their opinions without fear of retribution or rejection
Meaningful work
29. The work I do is meaningful to me
30. My work allows me to do what I do best every day
31. I make a difference in my team
Employee development questionnaire
An employee’s preferred work option (i.e., remote, hybrid, in-office), ping-pong tables, and free e-scooter rides might make an employee content. But if you don’t bet on their career development, they’re unlikely to be engaged, and your business is unlikely to grow. Employee survey questions around professional growth, autonomy, enablement, recognition, feedback, and pay are keys to getting actionable insights into this area.
Autonomy & enablement
32. I am given enough freedom to decide how to do my work
33. The information I need to do my job well is readily available
34. I have access to the equipment and tools I need to do my job well
Professional growth
35. My job at [company] enables me to learn and develop new skills
36. I believe there are good career opportunities for me at [company]
37. My manager or mentor at [company] actively supports my development
Teamwork
38. I feel I am part of a team
39. I can count on my co-workers to help me out when needed
40. We hold ourselves and our co-workers accountable for great results
Recognition & feedback
41. If I do good work, I know it will be recognized
42. I get enough feedback on how well I’m doing my job
Reward
43. I am fairly rewarded (e.g., pay, promotion, training) for my contributions to [company]
44. The process for calculating salary in our organization seems fair and unbiased
45. I can have well-informed and constructive conversations with my manager about salary
💡 Evaluate & nurture engagement with expert surveys
Use templates or custom questions to create surveys that will help you identify pain points and strengths — with an easy-to-use dashboard that helps you track engagement & eNPS over time
👉 Find out more
Crisis & change management questionnaire
We’re already experiencing the future of work, accelerated by the COVID-19 crisis. How you showed up for your employee during this time matters, as well as how you’re supporting your team if adopting a hybrid or remote model moving forward.
Crisis handling
46. I know how to keep safe and healthy during the COVID-19 crisis
47. The management at [company] has shown that employee health and well-being are priorities during the COVID-19 crisis
48. My company has made sufficient adjustments to adapt throughout the COVID-19 crisis
49. My company is successfully supporting employees throughout the COVID-19 crisis
50. Despite the COVID-19 crisis, I am optimistic about the future of [company]
51. Despite the COVID-19 crisis, I am optimistic about remaining employed by [company]
Remote work
52. I feel productive while working remotely
53. Working remotely does not have a negative impact on teamwork
54. I can maintain a good work-life balance while working remotely
55. My manager is regularly checking in with me (work-related and personally) while working remotely
56. I have the right equipment (e.g., desk, internet access, quiet space) and tools to effectively work remotely
57. Open-ended/qualitative: What further support do you need while working remotely?
58. Open-ended/qualitative: What are your suggestions for what [company] could do differently or improve right now?
Diversity & inclusion questionnaire
Last but absolutely not least, employees expect companies to do the work necessary to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in societies around the world. Unfortunately, many organizations have only performed actions that are seen as performative and not real drivers of social justice and equity in the workplace. Find out how your team feels and how you can do a better job at it.
Striving for diversity
59. [Company] does a good job of fostering a diverse and inclusive environment
60. [Company] seeks to recruit from diverse sources
61. The management at [company] is visibly committed to diversity
62. Open-ended/qualitative: What can we do to make this company a more diverse and inclusive place?
Equal opportunities
63. People from all backgrounds have equal opportunities to succeed at [company]
64. At [company], there is a belief that people can significantly improve their talents and abilities
Giving voice
65. People of all cultures and backgrounds are respected at [company]
66. [Company] makes sure that the opinions and input of individuals from different backgrounds are heard
67. Diverse perspectives are included in decision-making
Inclusion
68. My uniqueness is recognized and valued
69. I am an essential member of my workgroup
70. I feel like I belong at my company
71. I have colleagues and leaders with backgrounds similar to mine
72. My workplace accommodates my unique needs
📥 Download all the best-practice employee engagement questions here and access the infographic below
Tips for creating employee engagement surveys
- Surveys should be anonymous, and your employees must know that their privacy is protected to feel comfortable responding. Otherwise, you would risk insincere responses — or no responses at all.
- Although your survey should be anonymous, you might want to know which departments or seniority levels are most responsive. This can help you understand how to get everyone involved and pick up on potential issues.
- Single surveys can be relevant to address specific situations, but investing in recurring surveys communicates that your interest in employee satisfaction is not a one-time effort.
- To avoid survey fatigue, we recommend a lower frequency for long, recurrent surveys. To show consistency, avoid changing survey frequency too many times.
- Don’t overwhelm your team with a survey that is too extensive. If running a recurrent survey, rotate employee engagement questions and consider “smart sampling” — meaning that not every participant is asked the same questions.
- With an employee engagement survey tool, you can allow for comments to be left along with the quantitative responses. You can even run them through a sentiment analysis for more actionable insights.
- Although they’re not the same as employee engagement surveys, pulse surveys can also be drivers of employee engagement. Pulse surveys are usually shorter, more frequent, and don’t include as many questions. Run those for fast insights on the strategy you already have in place.
💪 Empower employees with Leapsome’s engagement surveys
Find your people’s top drivers and use the data to build an outstanding company culture.
👉 Learn more
📥 Download all the best-practice employee survey questions here and access the infographic below
What to do with employee engagement survey results?
With the data collected in survey rounds (and interpreting this data), you can develop actions to improve engagement, increase performance and satisfaction, and reduce turnover and absenteeism. You can also surface the positives and measure eNPS (your Employee Net Promoter Score), benchmarking your results against other companies.
⭐️ Interested in boosting employee engagement even further in your organization?
Book a demo and speak with one of our experts!
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