Choosing the right questions for your employee survey is one of the most effective ways to learn how you can increase employee satisfaction and productivity throughout your business. In fact, 89% of HR professionals agree that employee engagement surveys are key to successful outcomes.
At the same time, you want to be sure that you’re asking the right questions. So how do you shape employee survey questions that will help grow your business, boost engagement levels, support consistent communication, and improve the overall employee experience? Keep reading to get the answer!
7 Effective Questions For Your Employee Survey
1. How would you rate your understanding of the business’s goals and priorities?
To create an effective working environment, it’s critical that your employees understand the business’s primary goals and how they have the potential to impact daily decisions. Does the company effectively communicate its long-term and short-term goals, or do your employees struggle to fully understand how the company operates?
An employee who knows what is most important to the company can base their decisions on that knowledge. Alternatively, an employee without this information might not know how to prioritize their personal work obligations.
When you craft this question, ask employees to rate their understanding on a scale of 1-5 or 1-10, based on how much detail you want in their responses. You should also provide a section for employees to describe what they would like to know about the business’s goals and priorities, including what questions they still have about its operations.
2. How would you rate your knowledge of the company now based on your knowledge of the company a year ago?
Encourage employees to respond, “I know much more about the company now than I did a year ago,” or “I know a little more about the company now than I did a year ago,” etc. You can also rate their understanding on a numeric scale of 1-5. 5 for a much better understanding down to 1 for significantly less understanding than they had a year ago.
This question is a great way to track employee communication progression over time, giving you a better idea of what you’re getting right versus what you’re getting wrong. Then, you can shape future communications based on that feedback.
3. How confident do you feel about the process for addressing a problem with your manager?
When employees have problems, do they feel confident to talk to their managers about it? More importantly, do they know the procedure for addressing a problem? Each company has unique methods for reporting specific issues and challenges. Ensure that when challenges arise, your employees know where to bring their struggles.
Provide them with a sliding scale to rate their understanding of how to report problems, and provide extra feedback space for any questions. When you know where your employees struggle to understand internal communications, you can address those challenges more effectively.
4. How well do you feel that the company listens to your concerns?
“5: I feel that the company listens to and addresses my concerns very well.” “4: I feel that the company listens to my concerns fairly well, but there are some areas for improvement.” “1: I feel as though my concerns are being ignored completely.”
Employees are looking for companies that genuinely care about them and their opinions. Set measures in place to accomplish that precisely. While you can’t make everyone happy all the time, it’s essential for your company to get a general idea of how your employees feel about your communication efforts and how well they think that you are addressing any problems.
5. How do you prefer to get information from the company?
It’s not just about what information your employees are getting. It’s also important to ensure that you are delivering information in the way that’s most effective for the majority of your employees. Do they prefer to get information through email? Internal communication software? Paper memos and newsletters? For that matter, are employees even reading those newspapers? Take a hard look at how your employees prefer to receive internal communications to help you better shape your communication efforts.
6. Do you feel that you can easily find the information you’re seeking about the company?
Whether it’s information about a specific procedure or how to contact a particular individual within the company, can employees easily find that information? What do they feel would make it easier and more intuitive to access it? By asking critical questions about information sharing, you can reshape the way you store and provide search options for valuable knowledge.
7. How much do you care about the future of your organization?
If you post anonymous employee surveys (and they should be truly anonymous if you want accurate responses), you can also ask how much employees care about the future of your organization.
Employees will care more about an organization if they feel it cares about them. If needed, shift your communication efforts to communicate the organization’s goals more effectively and improve the way employees view the company as a whole. Employee survey questions are the gateway to opening doors to better communication and employee retention.
Are you ready to start improving employee communications within your workplace? Make sure that you understand your employees’ needs more fully by adding these key questions to your next employee survey questions. Need more help with your internal communication efforts? Schedule a 15-minute FREE DEMO call today to learn more about how we can help.
Employee survey questions are the gateway to opening doors to better communication
Are you ready to start improving employee communications within your workplace? Make sure that you understand your employees’ needs more fully by adding these key questions to your next employee survey questions. Need more help with your internal communication efforts? Schedule a 15-minute call today to learn more about how we can help.
