How to plan employee satisfaction survey questions

By Raj Roy

Planning employee satisfaction survey questions can be complex. Employee engagement surveys are very different from any other research survey because of the final goal associated with them. Unlike market research surveys, employee satisfaction surveys cannot be built just to capture data – survey questions need to be engaging, motivating and should resonate with employees in a way that makes them feel included in the decision making process.

Surveys that empathise and energise

Your survey questions must be framed in a way so as to say – “We are here to take your opinion”. Remember, that employee satisfaction surveys are not KRA forms where only data needs to be captured for processing. The survey must always “ask” and not “tell”. For example:

“Given that we have not met our annual targets, what do you feel about your managers?” – This type of engagement questions can be counter-productive. Instead, simply ask “How effective do you feel is your reporting manager in guiding you towards achieving annual targets?” – Now that’s a question which is accurately asking the question without being condescending to any employee.

Surveys that listen to employees

Open ended questions can be a great way in allowing freedom to your employees to speak out about matters of their concern. They are a clear indication that the organization is willing to know what affects each employees and how they can be helped. A simple way to ask a generalised open-ended question is – “Is there anything else you would like to add?”, or “What is your opinion of product X?” and so on.

Surveys that are customised

Not every employee will respond and connect with your survey in the same way, just like you should not engage all of them in the same way. A 45 year old employee will expect to be treated more respectfully and a 25 years old will expect the survey to be more engaging and open. The language must appeal to their needs and that can only be achieved through customizations using logic and variables in your survey where you can ensure that the right questions are presented to the right audience.

Surveys than inspire transparency and a winning work culture

The most important effect that every employee engagement survey must have is that the purpose of the survey is to increase transparency in the organization while taking steps towards building and sustaining a winning work culture. For this purpose, HR leaders need to ensure that while you are also collecting critical employee data, the approach should send a message that the effort is to benefit employees and understand their expectations.

After all, if there is one idea that has been commonly expressed by all industry experts is that ‘engaged and satisfied workforce will make you money, dis-engage them and it will cost you money’.