Employee engagement survey questions that drive real results

In an ideal world, your operation runs like a well-oiled machine. You offer solid products or services and get results that keep your stakeholders happy.

But at the heart of any organization’s success are the people driving it. And if their energy shifts, your results are likely to shift, too. 

Employee engagement surveys are a great way to make sure your team’s productivity stays on track (or help you course-correct, if things aren’t moving as they should). Not sure how to create an effective survey? This guide will tell you everything you need to know.

What’s an employee engagement survey?

An employee engagement survey is a questionnaire organizations use to gather feedback from workers about how connected they are to their work. 

These questionnaires aim to measure employee engagement and understand any factors negatively impacting workers’ experience. Then, companies can synthesize the survey results into insights about what’s working well (and what’s not), pivoting as needed. 

Employee engagement vs. employee satisfaction

People sometimes use the terms “employee engagement” and “employee satisfaction” interchangeably. But although they’re related, the meanings aren’t quite the same. 

Satisfaction, which describes the happiness employees feel at their jobs, is only one part of engagement. While engaged employees are often content in their roles, they also feel connected to their work. That deep connection drives workers to support the organization, and they take pride in getting results.

An employee survey designed to measure engagement looks beyond happiness. The survey questions explore topics like leaders’ effectiveness, workplace culture, professional development, and benefits, aiming to paint a precise portrait of the entire employee experience. 

Why does measuring employee engagement matter?

The purpose of an employee engagement survey is to gather feedback. But this information will only serve your organization if you know how to interpret the results and make changes. If an employee survey uncovers issues that are negatively impacting the employee experience, you can start taking steps to improve them. 

When you act on insights to create an even better company culture, your workforce reaps the benefits. And since employee engagement is essential to driving results, your organization benefits, too. 

Here are five perks of surveying employee engagement:

1. More trust: Asking for input helps employees see that you value their contributions and thoughts. This action builds trust by showing workers they’re in an environment that cares. They feel they can voice concerns without fear and that the company will take steps in the best interest of employees. 
2. Improved productivity: Engaged employees are more productive, which leads to better overall profits and results for the company. Surveying your employees and using the results to invest in meaningful change pays off. 
3. Less absenteeism and turnover: Engaged employees are 78% less likely to miss a day (or quit altogether). They’re motivated and content at work, so they don’t need to find reasons not to come in. 

How to create an employee engagement survey in 6 steps

Great employee engagement surveys strike a balance between specificity and open-endedness. These questionnaires aim to gain information on certain points of the worker experience. But they should also give employees the chance to freely express concerns. That means the survey questions shouldn’t lead respondents to answer in any one way. 

While creating a survey that strikes this balance is easier said than done, following these steps will help you create a great employee involvement questionnaire.

1. Decide what to measure

Decide what parts of the work experience your organization needs to learn more about. Maybe there’s a specific issue you hope to explore, like career development or subpar leadership. Or perhaps you want to do a general check-in with the workforce. Workleap Officevibe’s customizable pulse surveys make it easy to get the answers you want. 

2. Determine the audience 

You might not always need to survey the entire workforce. For routine check-ins, a company-wide survey is the way to go. But if the marketing team has been underperforming, for example, you can tailor a survey to that specific group.

Defining the audience also matters for results segmentation. If you’re surveying the whole company but want to analyze marketing team responses separately, you’ll need to set that up in the questionnaire’s backend from the start. This is another spot where Workleap can help: Officevibe lets you filter survey results by team, department, or custom groups, as long as you set up those attributes in advance.

3. Design good survey questions

You have several formats to choose from when designing your employee engagement survey questions: multiple choice, yes/no, ranking, and open-ended. Each format serves a different purpose. Closed questions (like yes/no or multiple choice) give you structured, easy-to-quantify data, while open-ended questions allow employees to speak their minds. For the best results, use a thoughtful mix. Workleap makes it easy to create surveys from a template or from scratch.

4. Keep it short

The longer the survey, the more likely it is to tire respondents out (or make them avoid it altogether). Keep your questionnaires short, and give employees a heads-up about the time commitment — even a quick “This should only take 5 minutes” can boost participation. 

Pulse surveys are perfect for ongoing feedback. With bite-sized insights rolling in weekly, you won’t need long, catch-all questionnaires that keep your team from focusing on their work. 

5. Analyze survey results

With your survey results in hand, start looking for patterns. Workleap’s survey tool highlights key trends automatically, helping you spot recurring themes. For example, if dozens of employees say they don’t feel adequately trained, you’ll know the problem isn’t just a one-off.

From there, dig deeper. Even with anonymous responses, you can segment results by department or role (if your survey was set up that way). This gives you sharper insight into where feedback is coming from and where to focus your efforts.

6. Turn insights into change

Some of the trends you identify will be positive. People may rate certain parts of their employee experience a five out of five or shout out a leader in an open-ended response. Other trends will pinpoint issues that are negatively impacting the employee experience. And that’s when you know it’s time to pivot. 

Determine an action plan for correcting the issues. If employees complain about poor training, you might revamp your teaching modules and work with leaders to improve their delivery. Need more context? You can always send out a follow-up survey that delves deeper into a specific issue, then use the responses to model an effective action plan.

Examples of great employee engagement survey questions

Writing questions about engagement can be daunting, whether you’re creating a survey for the first or fiftieth time. The goal is to ask the right things in the right way. 

Here are a few sample employee engagement survey questions to get you started.

Job satisfaction

• Rate your happiness at work on a scale from one to five, with one being the lowest and five the highest. 
• If you could change anything about your job, what would it be? 
• What are the best and worst parts of your day at work? 

Motivation 

• What motivates you to come to work?
• When do you feel most proud of your work? 
• How do you feel your work relates to the bigger picture?

Leadership

• How do you prefer to receive feedback (e.g., verbal, written, in the moment, quarterly, etc.)? 
• What would you change, if anything, about the company’s leadership? Be as specific as possible. 
• How do your leaders explain tasks and express larger goals? 

Workplace communication 

• What is your preferred form of workplace communication (e.g., asynchronous messaging, emailing, video calls, in-person meetings, etc.)? 
• What channels do you have for communicating feedback to leadership? 
• Do you think communication is clear at the company? Why or why not? 

Workplace culture 

• How would you describe the current workplace culture? 
• What, if anything, would you change about the workplace culture? 
• Would you say the workplace culture is generally positive or negative? (Choose one.)

Well-being 

• Does the company offer a good work-life balance? What would you change?
• What other benefits or perks would you like to see at the company?
• Do you feel the company cares about your mental and physical health? Why or why not?

Collaboration

• Rate your team’s ability to collaborate on a scale from one to five, with one being the lowest and five the highest. 
• What tools or practices facilitate collaboration on your team? 
• Describe a recent time when you couldn’t collaborate well and explain why. 

Professional development 

• Describe a professional development opportunity you recently had. 
• What’s your preferred learning style?
• What other professional development opportunities would you like to see at the company? 

Turn employee feedback into positive change with Workleap

It’s easier to show employees that their happiness and well-being matter by regularly checking in on engagement. And that’s even easier with Workleap Officevibe. 

Use Workleap’s custom surveys to explore the full employee experience. Then keep momentum going with automated pulse surveys that surface insights in real time. Think your engagement could use a boost? Built-in recognition tools like Good Vibes empower teams to celebrate wins and reinforce company values. With Officevibe, you can create custom card collections, share meaningful shoutouts, and track the impact with AI-powered insights.

Ready to build a culture of feedback, recognition, and real engagement? Try Workleap Officevibe for free today to see the impact for yourself.