When managing a team of staff members, there are various ways to improve productivity and morale at the workplace. One popular method that is commonly used to do this is conducting employee engagement surveys to help with employee engagement.
An employee engagement survey is a questionnaire with specific questions that is distributed to staff, once filled out the results can help to inform management directly about what employees aren’t happy with and what they enjoy about their jobs. It's a great way to measure employee engagement.
Throughout this article, we discuss 15 ways to help leaders correctly go about conducting these surveys. When this method is utilised correctly, it will help improve employee engagement.
Are employee engagement surveys useful for determining if employees feel engaged?
The short answer is yes. Surveys are a very effective tool that's used to find out if employees are engaged with their job. Survey results provide direct answers to management about how employees feel in their current roles. This information can help leaders decide what changes need to be made to increase employee engagement and which policies should be kept the same. After all, countless studies prove that engaged employees produce better results, and stay with companies for longer.
Benefits of measuring employee engagement
There are a plethora of benefits associated with measuring employee engagement. First and foremost, the data helps employers understand the grievances of each employee individually, even those staff members who are too shy to speak up in group situations.
Employee engagement surveys can help to stop problems before they start or before they escalate. They can also build trust with employees, add a layer of transparency throughout the workplace, increase team morale around the office and show common employee trends.
Having these insights about your staff gives invaluable information that can be utilized in order to run a better business.
Below are some questions which can be included in your next employee engagement survey to help improve employee satisfaction.
15 Employee engagement Survey Questions
1) Do you feel excited to come to work? If not, how come? If so, how come?
This is a great question to start with. It will directly let employers know what employees like and dislike about their jobs.
If, for the most part, there is mostly positive feedback when asking this question this is a great sign. An example of this would be they feel great about themselves after an honest day or work an employee could take this reason and try to give even more encouragement to magnify this positive reason.
If negative employee feedback is returned from this question, it gives management the opportunity to decide on a plan to eliminate this problem. An example of this could be that employees feel too much pressure at the workplace, which brings down their morale. A solution to this could be to hire more staff to help relieve the pressure and share the workload.
2) Do you enjoy working alongside your fellow employees?
Asking this question will give your employees a chance to voice how they are feeling about their co-workers. If they do enjoy working together with their team, leaders can utilize this by creating more circumstances where this can happen.
If members of the staff do not enjoy working alongside fellow employees, a leader can aim to work on the company culture, for example, they could introduce some kind of team building so they can maybe get to know each other better to change this.
3) What are the main issues you face which impact your ability to do your job?
This is one of the clearest ways to find out about issues around the workplace. The results from asking this question will give the management the opportunity to devise a precise plan of action that’s aimed to keep your staff working at a very high level of productivity.
This question also helps to give employees a voice, leading to them feeling more valued as an employee, which should help to lower turnover rates.
4) Do you feel valued and motivated by your manager?
Asking your staff if they feel valued and motivated by your manager is a question that is actually aimed to help teach management how to deal with the staff that directly reports to them.
If the staff does feel valued and motivated by their manager, then their management method is something that you can teach other managers to follow. If the staff do not feel valued or motivated, it’d a good idea to teach your managers a different technique to handle their staff.
An effective way to improve the relationship between staff members and their management is to tell leaders to make sure they vocalise when they see good work being done. Another technique if got managers to point out to staff members when they see something not done correctly, in a way that isn’t aggressive. They can either lead and teach their staff by example or pick a non-stressful time to teach the staff what they’d like done differently.
4) Would you recommend working for us to others?
Asking your staff if they would recommend others to work for this company translates to direct information about whether the employee enjoys their job and benefits. If they would recommend the workplace, then it shows they appreciate their job and the way that they are treated.
If the employee wouldn’t recommend others to work for the company, then it may be time to reevaluate benefits, pay and stress levels within the workplace.
5) Do you think of still working here in X months/years time?
In a similar vein to the previous question, when an employee confirms that they can see themselves working for the company in the future, it is most likely because they see opportunities within the company and they can see a long term future and/or they enjoy the company culture. Regardless of the reason, a yes to this question is a positive outcome.
If they do not see themselves having a future with the company, there could be various reasons. However, a common reason that an employee may not see themselves working for the company in the future is because they don’t see opportunities to progress. Alternatively, the role could just be a job someone is doing for the time being, and they have other goals that don’t have to do with the career field that they are currently employed in.
6) If you could make 3 changes to any aspect of your employment or the business itself what would they be?
This question can help employees feel as if they have a say in the company and that they are respected. They will likely also feel like their opinion matters and that the workplace isn’t just somewhere they show up and do their job.
If multiple employees answer the same way it is a strong sign that something needs to change.
7) Does the company provide you with the resources and materials you need to succeed? If not, what is currently missing?
This will ensure that you are giving your staff the correct tools to do their job and the highest level possible due to being well equipped, which should translate into a greater employee productivity rate.
8) Do you feel comfortable putting forward ideas in the workplace?
In order to be happy in a workplace, an employee should feel respected. If they don’t feel comfortable putting forward ideas in the workplace, their satisfaction is likely to be lower than it could be.
After all, when it comes to work, there is little worse than not feeling like a respected part of the team. keeping employees involved and hearing their ideas is a great way to make them feel involved.
9) Do you feel that the company cares about your overall health and wellbeing?
Knowing that your company cares about your overall health and well-being will let your employees know that you care about them as a human- and not just a worker. This should increase employee retention, as well as productivity
10) Do you see a path for advancing your career at our company?
Climbing the career ladder - and getting promoted - is usually an important factor for any employee who is serious about their job. Making sure that employees have a clear vision about how they can do this and what is required to receive a promotion is a great way to encourage employee engagement and encourage hard work.
11) Are you content with your current renumeration and job benefits?
Asking employees how they feel about their job benefits and current remuneration is a good way to keep staff members happy and lessen turnover rates. If results indicate that a large number of employees aren't happy with the current remuneration and/or job benefits, then employers can analyze the current offerings and decide whether an adjustment is worthwhile in an effort to improve an employee experience.
12) How would you describe your job in 3 words?
Asking this will provide you and your management with an overall view or what employees think about the workplace, which will provide management with information regarding whether changes need to be made.
13) Do you feel you have enough time for breaks and sufficiently eat, and hydrate?
General well-being and health are extremely important, and all employers should take this into consideration for their employees.
If an employee's mental or physical health is compromised, it should be addressed immediately.
For example, ensuring that employees have enough breaks for meal times is an essential element in keeping them productive and feeling well and happy around the workplace.
14) Do you believe in the approach management is taking to achieve company objectives?
It’s extremely important to ensure that employees feel comfortable expressing their grievances - even if this means criticizing the workplace or management.
This question gives employees the opportunity to express what they think could be done to make the company better. After all, who else will know the job better than the person doing it day in and day out?
15) Is there anything else you would like to add?
This is an open-ended question which goes great at the end of the survey to give the employee an extra chance to voice a concern that they may not have expressed with the above questions.