Employee satisfaction survey — downloadable sample questions

An employee satisfaction survey is essential for getting a true picture of how satisfied employees are with their work and their workplace. The survey helps dispel the doubts and misconceptions that colleagues are satisfied with everything just because they don't kick up a fuss and do their jobs properly. The employee satisfaction survey also plays an important role in helping you identify the areas you need to focus on — for example, identifying employee needs and areas for improvement, and defining valid organisational values (the employer value proposition) that the company can highlight in its recruitment communication (too).

What is employee satisfaction?

Even the best professionals sometimes confuse employee satisfaction with engagement. Although the two are related, they don't mean the same thing. Employee satisfaction examines how satisfactory an employee finds their working conditions (e.g. infrastructure, management, company culture, benefits, etc.). Although this really does affect engagement, it still doesn't mean that a satisfied employee is necessarily also committed to the company's goals, or that it would be easy to involve them in the life of the company. That's exactly why the two concepts have to be treated separately.

The level of employee satisfaction depends on several factors.

For example:

• pay and other financial benefits,
• development and career opportunities,
• recognition — according to a global survey, 79% of resignations stem from employees not feeling valued
• work-life balance,
• workload,
• company culture,
• management, and so on.

Contrary to the misconceptions, blue-collar workers, too, can't be kept happy and satisfied in the long run by pay alone. Anyone familiar with the concept of the Maslow pyramid can see this. As soon as a human need on a lower level of the pyramid is met, we move up to the next level, where even the blue-collar worker will no longer be interested only in whether they properly receive a decent salary, but also in whether their work is recognised and their expertise valued. Research also seems to confirm this, showing that only 12% of resignations happen because another workplace offers the employee a higher wage.

Recommended frequency of the employee satisfaction survey

While it's worth conducting a simpler pulse survey of 1–3 questions as often as every 2–4 weeks, a more complex and comprehensive employee satisfaction survey is worth holding at least once a year. These surveys can contain as many as 30–50 questions, so completing them is more time-consuming. Because of this, a too-frequent survey can trigger resistance, and willingness to complete it can wane. An annual survey, however, doesn't overload employees, and it also gives the employer a chance to meaningfully address the areas that need optimising in order to increase employee satisfaction and thereby retain talent. In fact, it can even form the basis of the annual HR and communication (and marketing) strategy. What really matters is that between the two surveys colleagues receive continuous feedback (e.g. reporting back the results, pulse surveys, information about management actions launched based on the survey results).

Here's how to get started on the satisfaction survey

Preparing an employee satisfaction survey consists of several steps, each of which you have to pay attention to in order to get the most out of the survey.

1. Know your target group

Within every large enterprise there are numerous work areas. And people working in different areas can, at group level, have different needs, so they experience the question of satisfaction differently too. To explore this better, it's worth measuring employee satisfaction by target group, keeping in mind the given company's field of operation, life cycle, company culture, and so on. For example by organisational unit, because colleagues working on the production line may have different needs from those handling packaging and shipping, or you can also carry out the survey by site.

2. Define the parameters of the survey

For a successful survey it's essential that you know exactly what you want to measure and what you need to emphasise in the questionnaire. There are general topics that, even just by touching on them, can give us plenty of information about overall satisfaction, such as satisfaction with, for example:

• the current work,
• the direct supervisor,
• colleagues,
• professional development opportunities,
• benefits, and
• management.

However, if you're clear — e.g. based on the previous year's results, taking the company strategy or economic situation into account — about which of these is currently  the most important area for you, then you can also ask deeper questions aimed at uncovering the level of satisfaction.

3. Put together the survey's set of questions

Once you know the target group and have taken the company's current priorities into account, you can start developing the set of questions for the employee satisfaction survey.

• When wording the questions, aim for simplicity and avoid jargon.
• Try to word things in a friendly way and to create a dialogue with colleagues.
• Ask only one question at a time; don't pile up information and questions in a single item. (Example of a bad question:  “Are you satisfied with the new cement mixer? And with the old one?” Separate the two questions and ask them in separate items so you can get a clear answer.)
• Use different types of questions. — Let employees answer in free text, but also indicate their satisfaction on a scale, or choose from a list, or perhaps rank items, and so on.

4. Choose the channel and test the questionnaire

In many cases large companies are still forced to have most of their blue-collar staff fill in the questionnaire on paper. This is not only an extremely time- and energy-intensive undertaking but also slow, and in many cases it requires taking colleagues out of the workflow for that time. A more practical and effective solution is needed!

CHEQ can “run” the entire project, from the preparation all the way to the follow-up.

• Advance communication, preparing the organisation.

• It lets you send a notification to everyone concerned that they need to complete a survey.
• You provide an easy-to-understand interface for filling in the questionnaire.
• Everyone can do so whenever and wherever they want.
• You can send out reminders.
• You can provide FAQ support for those who have questions about completing it.
• Processing the responses is much easier and faster; there's no need to do data entry manually.
• You can communicate the results of the survey back.
• You can amplify the company values.
• You can ensure continuity between two surveys by communicating actions based on the results and by involving colleagues.

That said, before going live it's worth testing the questionnaire to make sure it really works properly, so that employees don't run into a problem while completing it, since that could lead to dissatisfaction.

A few tips to get more people to complete the employee satisfaction survey

1. Anonymous responses - This way more people complete the questionnaire and also give more honest answers, especially on sensitive topics. According to one study, 74% of employees are willing to give feedback if they can do so anonymously.
2. Reward completion. - You don't have to think of a huge gift; often company gifts such as a company-logo pen or bag, or perhaps a water bottle, are more than enough. This can be individual, tied to certain time limits, or even group-based, based on completion rates by area
3. Be transparent and tell employees why the survey is needed. - If they understand the reason behind it and what you'll use the results for, and you also share it with them, then they'll be more willing to help achieve the goal by completing the survey.
4. Communicate the survey results and act on them. - It's sad, but according to research 4 out of 5 employees think management won't change anything after the survey, so they consider completing the questionnaire pointless. But it's even sadder that, according to some research, only 48% of managers actually take steps after an employee satisfaction survey. So if you want as many people as possible to complete the questionnaire, you have to prove that it really has a point and a purpose.

Now that you know how to go about successfully carrying out an employee satisfaction survey, all that's left is to write up the questions. Below we've gathered 50+ questions for you, which you can use as a starting point to build the framework of your own employee satisfaction survey. Download them for FREE!