21 great employee survey questions (and free templates)

Every successful company should be mindful of its employees and their employee satisfaction levels. Because even though they are the working parts of a successful machine, they are as important as the customers for the future of the company. 

And a great and successful way to collect this information is using one of the employee survey tools. By using an online employee survey, it is possible to identify potential problems among team members & management and negative and positive aspects of the work environment. In this article, we will go through employee survey examples and possible survey questions.

What is an employee survey?

An employee survey is a type of survey where one can collect and assess employee feedback on various topics. The topics of these questions can be employee experience, career goals, comments on the management team, and internal communication. It is a great way to collect concrete data from the employees of any company or institution.

It is also a valuable means for employees as it provides a safe space to express their opinions without their coworking eavesdropping. The survey could be done anonymously or with the name visible on it. When the pressure of consequences is taken out of the picture, people can state their feelings more freely. The information collected can work as actionable insight and becomes very valuable for company goals.

The definition of employee survey

21 awesome questions to ask your employees in surveys

An effective way to collect the aimed data from the employees is to present them with a number of sentences and ask them to choose between numbers from 1 to 10, or 1 to 5, or select choices between “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree” according to their answers. And, another successful way is to ask questions with an open-ended answer field to collect honest opinions.

1 - I understand how my role/efforts support the success of the company.

This question will let you know if your employees are feeling validated in the office environment and know their entire role description. If they have no doubt in their mind that they are a crucial part of the business, they will feel more motivated.

2 - The office workspaces are suitable for the work I am doing.

As the employer or someone from the human resources department, your point of view of employees’ workspace could be biased. And this question will allow you to put yourself in their shoes and see any issues going around bothering the workers.

3 - I see myself working at this organization for multiple years.

With this question, you can learn if your employees are planning to stay in this company throughout their career development plans. Their view on this matter would affect their dedication and loyalty to the workplace.

4 - My supervisor takes time to listen to me.

By asking this question, you can learn about the dynamics between employees and their supervisors. They may feel like they are not being listened to by their direct supervisors, and that leads to big tension in the office. In an anonymous or written statement, they will answer about their supervisors more comfortably.

5 - When I take my effort, skills, and experience into account, I believe I am paid fairly.

This question helps you understand if they feel they are underpaid and underappreciated. These two items are mostly what motivates the workers in their career paths. If they feel their work is being undervalued, it is likely they will not do their jobs with their whole potential or quit after some time.

6 - I’m looking for roles outside the company.

This question will let you know if your employers are seeking other jobs. If their answer is yes, that will only mean there’s something wrong with the way things work or their future goals do not align with your business. You can plan ahead with this information, or you can add an open-ended question to go into detail with the conditions feature of your survey creator.

7 - The working conditions are adequate for the role I have.

The employees may have requirements that upper management does not know about. The best way to know what’s necessary is to ask the people doing the job. They may require more space, equipment, or manpower.

8 - What can the company do to improve itself?

If you ask this question in an open-ended manner, the employees can add anything necessary to the workplace that you may not think about asking. Their suggestions could be very small but important or could be very groundbreaking for the company itself. This way, you may find hidden gems within the company.

9 - How would you describe the level of challenge you have at work?

Some employees may find their roles unsuitable for their talents. They may think they should be working in higher, harder positions. With this question, you can learn who wants to be promoted or who is finding it difficult with their responsibilities.

10 - Do you think you are being judged fairly by your managers?

True or not, sometimes employees may feel they are being treated unfairly by their managers and employers. By asking this question, you can find out if there is any trouble with the power dynamics in the workplace.

11 - Do you think you get the help you need when you feel distressed at work?

Sometimes employees may feel mental or psychological distress in their life. And how they face these issues directly correlates with their motivation. It is important to ask questions about their stress levels as well.

12 - Is there any kind of mobbing going around in the office?

If you ask this question, you can learn about your workers' social relations with each other. It doesn’t matter if it’s big or small if there is any tension between people who work with each other or around each other, that will affect their motivations and the quality of their work.

13 - Do you feel like a part of a team?

With the way the survey takers answer this question, you can understand if they feel like they are being encouraged by their colleagues or if they feel like they have to do all the work in a group project. And learn about the dynamics in projects and encourage employee engagement.

14 - Do you often feel like you have to make up for someone else’s lack of work ethic?

Not everyone has the same work ethic when it comes to job quality. This would affect other employees when they have to make up for another person. And most of the time, they may not feel comfortable ‘snitching’ on their colleagues for not properly doing their job. Even if they do not name any names, you can be sure if there are any imbalances in the work your employees do. And if you want to go further into detail, you can ask them one by one about this issue before it turns into a much bigger problem.

15 - Would you like to receive any training from the management? If yes, please explain.

There may be some areas that need improvement that could be solved with a little bit of training from within or outside of the company. If you want to nurture and motivate your employees, you should be mindful of what they offer as a subject for training.

16 - Do you think you have a good work-life balance?

Sometimes employees may feel their work and life balance are not that good, and they may feel burned out because of it. If you want to keep your employees engaged with the work every time they’re in the office, this question is a good thing to ask.

17 - What makes you feel motivated at work?

There are some expectations for every person that keeps them motivated. That could be having a good social life and a relaxing workplace or feeling like you accomplished something. When you know what motivates employees, you can work around that to keep them happy and motivated.

18 - Do you think you are more of a leader or a follower?

People have different expectations of their work responsibilities. Some people like to have someone to tell them what to do and follow it, and other people like to be the ones telling others what to do. Sometimes people find themselves in different positions than they were expecting, and it’s OK. When you know what their hopes and aspirations are, you can decide on assigning the jobs appropriately.

19 - What do we do better than we did a year ago?

It doesn’t matter big or small, when there are changes in the company your employees feel them. And maybe some change you did had a very positive impact on the workplace, and if you know what is the thing that made your company better than it was before, you can focus on that element even more.

20 - is there anything you would like to propose for a positive change?

Employees have ideas just like everyone else. They may suggest doing something like an employee of the month, a pizza party for the lunch break, or a secret Santa for New Year’s. You may get a great idea from the suggestions and go along with it for the sake of everyone. It will definitely be a surprise and a nice touch.

21 - Is there anything else you want to mention?

You should always add this question at the end of your surveys because there may be some details that need to be fixed or made better that you did not think about. For example, maybe the workers would like to have more smoking time, or they would like to have more frequent meetings with their managers or anything that is related to the business.

Free survey templates for businesses

Asking questions to your workers via an online survey would be a great help for your company. Employees can feel heard and validated when you ask for their opinion. It will be a good opportunity to collect valuable insight into the minds of people you work with. 

And if you want to create your online employee surveys, there is a great survey maker called forms.app! They have more than 300 templates for many subjects. It is very easy to go through and completely free to use. You can start collecting employee survey submissions today by using one of the ready-to-go employee survey templates for businesses:

Job Satisfaction Questionnaire Template

Employee Feedback Survey Template

Employee Engagement Survey Template

SEE MORE TEMPLATES