57 Employee Engagement Survey Questions For Insightful Results

Surveys, when combined with other forms of employee feedback, are a useful tool to get insights into what’s driving HR KPIs such as employee engagement.

But, as you’re here, you’re probably wondering what questions to ask to get a clearer understanding of levels of engagement in your org.

To help you out, we’ll start by quickly touching on what employee engagement is and what drives it, followed by some ideas for engagement survey questions and best practices to help you get the most from your research.

What is employee engagement?

Employee engagement is the level of mental and emotional commitment a team member has for your organization and the work they do. It has a direct impact on other KPIs such as productivity, turnover, and innovation. Is someone just turning up for the paycheck or are they pushing hard to help drive the company forward?

Drivers of employee engagement (or disengagement) are:

• A clear mission and vision e.g. “To revolutionize space technology with the ultimate goal of enabling people to live on other planets” (Space X).
• A clear understanding of individual roles and responsibilities and how this relates to the company’s success
• Regular feedback and performance discussions
• A supportive manager
• The necessary tools to work effectively
• Feeling included and comfortable contributing ideas
• Stimulating work
• Training and development opportunities
• A clear career path
• Recognition and rewards
• A good onboarding process
• A healthy work-life balance
• Fair compensation.

Why Use Surveys To Measure Employee Engagement?

Using surveys to measure employee engagement provides a structured and quantifiable method for gathering insights into employees' feelings, motivations, and satisfaction levels. Surveys can also help identify areas for improvement within the organization, fostering open communication and continuous development.

Employees who feel that their job description closely aligns with their work are 2.5 times more likely to be engaged. Likewise, an organization’s mission and values—and the action it takes to embody those values—matter to today’s employees.

• Employees expect their employers to take action on social issues such as climate change (81%), automation (79%), and racism (79%).
• For 67% of job seekers, diversity and inclusion initiatives are determining factors in selecting an employer. 

How To Design Your Employee Engagement Questions

Of course, in order to receive insightful survey results that inspire change, you need to ask the right questions. Here's how to design your survey questions:

1. Define Objectives

• Identify the key areas of employee engagement you want to assess (e.g., job satisfaction, company culture, management effectiveness).
• Align your survey goals with broader organizational objectives.

2. Choose Question Types

• Mix quantitative questions (like Likert scale ratings) for easy analysis with qualitative questions (open-ended) for detailed feedback.
• Ensure questions are clear, unbiased, and cover a range of topics relevant to employee engagement.

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3. Keep It Concise

• Limit the number of questions to avoid survey fatigue.
• Focus on essential questions that directly relate to your objectives.

4. Ensure Anonymity and Confidentiality

• Communicate to employees that their responses will be anonymous and confidential to encourage honest feedback.
• Use a survey tool that supports anonymity.

5. Pilot and Refine

• Test the survey with a small group of employees to check for clarity and relevance.
• Use feedback from the pilot to refine questions before rolling out the survey to the entire organization.

Using AI and Chat GPT To Generate Your Questions

Using artificial intelligence to conduct your employee engagement surveys can greatly enhance their efficiency and effectiveness. Not only can AI-driven tools analyze survey data in real-time (identifying trends and patterns that might be missed by manual analysis), it can also help personalize survey questions based on individual roles or departments, ensuring more relevant and engaging surveys.

Of course, there are some guidelines and best practices to follow when using Chat GPT to generate employee engagement survey questions:

• Define Specific Goals: Clearly articulate the objectives of your employee engagement survey to ChatGPT, such as understanding job satisfaction, communication effectiveness, or workplace culture, to ensure the generated questions are targeted and relevant.
• Ensure Question Variety: Request ChatGPT to create a balanced mix of question types, including both quantitative and qualitative formats, to gain a comprehensive view of employee perspectives and experiences.
• Review and Customize: After receiving the initial set of questions, thoroughly review them for relevance, clarity, and alignment with your company's unique culture and values. Then, customize them to fit your organizational context.

1. Exploring Workplace Culture and Satisfaction

Prompt: "Generate 15 creative and open-ended questions for an employee engagement survey focused on workplace culture and job satisfaction."

What it does: Encourages exploration of deeper, qualitative aspects of workplace culture and personal job satisfaction.

Expected Output: Questions that provide insights into the employees' feelings and perceptions about their work environment and job roles.

2. Assessing Remote Work and Work-Life Balance

Prompt: "Create a set of 15 questions for an employee engagement survey that measures the effectiveness of remote work policies and work-life balance."

What it does: Addresses the contemporary issues of remote working arrangements and their impact on employees' personal and professional lives.

Expected Output: Questions aimed at evaluating how remote work policies affect employee productivity, morale, and their ability to maintain a healthy work-life balance.

3. Evaluating Leadership and Management Dynamics

Prompt: "Formulate 15  insightful questions for an employee engagement survey to evaluate leadership effectiveness and employee-manager relationships."

What it does: Focuses on the crucial aspect of leadership quality and the dynamics of employee-manager relationships.

Expected Output: Questions that probe into the nature of leadership within the organization and the quality of interactions between employees and their managers.

4. Understanding Career Development Opportunities

Prompt: "Develop a series of 15 questions for an employee engagement survey aimed at understanding opportunities for professional growth and career development within the organization."

What it does: Concentrates on the availability and effectiveness of career development and growth opportunities within the organization.

Expected Output: Questions that assess the scope for professional growth, career advancement prospects, and employee perceptions about their career pathways in the company.

5. Gauging Alignment with Company Values

Prompt: "Construct 15 questions for an employee engagement survey to gauge the impact of company values and mission on employee motivation and alignment."

What it does: Investigates how the company's values and mission influence employee engagement and motivation.

Expected Output: Questions aimed at understanding employee alignment with the company's core values and mission, and how these elements influence their motivation and behavior at work.

57 Employee engagement survey questions

When conducting any employee survey, it’s important to ask the right questions to get the employee data you need while ensuring that you don’t inadvertently alienate employees or bias their responses.

Below, I’ve provided a list of 57 employee engagement questions you can use for your survey, and sorted them into categories based on the different aspects of engagement they seek to measure.

These questions aim to assess an individual’s alignment with your organization’s mission and goals as well as clarity around their role and overall levels of enthusiasm. 

1. I feel proud to work for [Company Name]
2. I have a clear understanding of the company's mission and vision
3. I understand why our values are what they are and feel they guide my work effectively
4. The company’s mission, vision, and values inspire me
5. I feel excited about coming to work most days
6. I feel motivated to go the extra mile for [Company Name]
7. I rarely think about seeking a job at a different company
8. I see myself still working here in 2 years' time
9. I feel motivated to do my best work
10. I would recommend [Company Name] as a good place to work
11. I understand what I need to do to succeed in my role
12. I understand how my role contributes to the overall success of the organization
13. I feel ownership of my work
14. I believe that quality and improvement are important to [Company Name]
15. I find my work for [Company Name] meaningful
16. I feel that [Company Name] is a socially-responsible organization
17. I believe that [Company Name] is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion and its practices reflect this
18. I believe that [Company Name] is committed to environmental stewardship
19. I feel that the company culture at is positive and collaborative

Leadership Questions

There’s a strong relationship between great management and employee engagement levels. In fact, according to Gallup, “70% of the variance in team engagement is determined solely by the manager.”

Gallup also reports that employees who have regular meetings with their managers and receive frequent feedback are three times more likely to be engaged employees. They’re also less likely to want to leave. To poach an employee from an engaging manager, you can expect to fork over 20% more pay.

These questions seek to measure engagement by getting insight into employees’ view of—and relationship with—the organization’s leadership as well as their direct manager(s). 

1. Leaders communicate clear goals and objectives
2. I feel that the leadership are transparent and shares important information that affects the company as a whole 
3. I feel that the leadership is transparent and shares important information that affects me as an individual
4. I feel that my manager is someone I can respect and trust
5. I believe that my manager is capable and effective
6. I receive regular feedback about my performance and how I can improve
7. I believe that my manager is invested in my success
8. I feel that the executives care about creating a positive work environment and company culture
9. I feel that I receive appropriate recognition for my work

Work Enablement Questions

There are few things more frustrating or burnout-inducing than not having the resources (whether that be time, materials, or skills) to achieve seemingly impossible goals set by managers.  

These questions seek to measure engagement by eliciting feedback on whether employees feel that the organization equips and empowers them to succeed in their roles. 

1. I feel I am equipped with the skills and knowledge to do my job well
2. I have access to the resources, tools, and materials I need to succeed in my role 
3. I feel that my team is equipped to meet our objectives
4. I feel I have access to the training I need to excel in my role 
5. I think that the systems and processes in place to support employees in getting their work done are effective
6. I feel I have a good working relationship with my team members
7. I feel comfortable and safe voicing my opinions and contributing ideas
8. I feel comfortable asking for help if I don’t have the resources, time, or skills I need to perform a task
9. I usually have enough time to do my work well 
10. I often work long hours or take work home to complete projects
11. I feel I have a healthy balance/separation between work and my personal life
12. I feel that if I ask for help, I will receive it
13. I know who to ask for help if I need it

Work Environment Questions

Work Institute’s 2020 Retention Report found that 7.7% of avoidable employee turnover are the result of issues stemming from the work environment—that is, their physical and cultural surroundings.

With the rise of remote and hybrid work environments, tracking the relationship between engagement and the work environment is becoming more important.

These questions aim to measure engagement by establishing whether employees are satisfied with the physical and cultural environment of the workplace or office space itself.

1. I feel that the workspace is conducive to work
2. The workspace or office is well-equipped for the work at hand
3. The workplace offers comfortable places to take a break, relax and socialize with my colleagues
4. The workspace or office is set up for collaboration as well as work that requires concentration
5. I am satisfied with the amenities available in the workplace

Development Questions

Employees invest in companies that invest in them. Companies with high internal mobility (that hire/promote from within) retain employees for twice as long as companies that don’t prioritize promoting from within—and according to LinkedIn, these internally hired employees are 3.5 times more likely to be engaged.

These questions seek to measure engagement by asking how employees feel about their career and development prospects with your organization.

1. I believe there are good career opportunities for me here
2. I have access to professional development opportunities
3. My manager or supervisor is interested/invested in my career aspirations
4. I feel my work is the right balance of achievable and challenging
5. I feel that my work is contributing to my professional development
6. I believe performance management initiatives are sufficient

Free-Text Questions

Free-text questions provide an opportunity to ask your employees for more general feedback on issues they deem important. 

Including open-ended questions allows you to gather qualitative data in addition to the quantitative data you gather through scale-based questions. 

These questions give employees a chance to be heard, address anything you didn’t think to ask about, and raise issues that you may not even be aware of. 

1. What things are [Company Name] doing really well?
2. What do you think [Company Name] could be doing better? 
3. Is there anything we didn’t ask you about in this survey that you feel we should know?
4. Are there any specific things we could do to help you feel more engaged at work?

Employee engagement survey best practices

Here are some best practice tips to make the most of your engagement surveys:

Survey design best practices

• Consider the type (or types) of question and response you’ll use. Will you ask open-ended questions? Will you use a rating system or sliding scale (strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, strongly disagree)? Will you provide a comment field so employees can give their opinions and/or explain their ratings? 
• Clearly communicate the reason for the survey and how ultimately it’s designed to benefit the participants
• Use frequent pulse surveys instead of annual surveys to continuously measure and improve engagement and track improvement over time
• Give the option for people to complete the survey anonymously to encourage employees to be honest in their criticism without fear of reprisals
• Use automation available in tools such as employee survey software to set up survey completion deadlines and reminders
• Use shorter surveys with fewer questions to encourage survey completion. Under 20 minutes is a good rule of thumb. 
• Beware of using emotive language or phrasing that could influence or bias the respondent’s answer.
• Don’t leave an implied answer. If your questions include words that convey a value judgment (e.g. “what do you think of our terrific new hybrid model?”) you’re implying what kind of answer you want to hear, which defeats the purpose of the survey.
• Don’t try to kill two birds with one stone. Avoid referring to two subjects within the same question, as this can lead to confusion and inaccurate answers. 
• Use simple, inclusive language
• Use a simple response scale such as the Likert Scale to keep survey responses fast and low-effort to improve participation.

Post-survey best practices

• Communicate to your employees what you’ve learned and what you’re making it a priority to improve employee engagement and learn from them
• Use data analysis to identify trends and gain insight into fluctuations in survey responses over time 
• Use follow-up surveys or interviews to dig deeper to understand specific employee concerns and how to fix them
• Invite employees to be part of the conversation and take ownership of their engagement
• Take deliberate action to address issues revealed through the survey responses
• Clearly communicate the actions you’re taking to improve engagement
• Embed engagement goals throughout your organization—and at all levels
• Offer employees transparency by sharing the survey results

Taking Feedback into the future

While engagement surveys are a great way to measure how your employees feel about your organization, just running a survey isn’t going to fix—or even find—all your problems. It’s worth combining feedback from multiple sources such as:

• Anonymous suggestion boxes
• Regular one-on-one meetings
• Stay interviews
• Exit interviews
• Skip-level meetings 
• Employee resource groups

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