How to create a staff engagement survey

And discover more about your business

First published on Thursday, June 4, 2020

Last updated on Monday, July 8, 2024

If you want to make sure your employees feel valued at work, good business practice is to provide them with a chance to air their views.

What’s a productive way to go about doing that?

One option is to introduce an employee engagement survey. Here’s a little more that involves.

Aiming for employee satisfaction

It’s no big surprise that a happy workforce leads to a flourishing business.

From an HR perspective, employee engagement is a complex subject. But its central principle is job satisfaction—this means your workforce is fully committing itself to your annual objectives.

The trick here is to ensure you keep your staff happy?

One way of understanding how your staff members feel is to get feedback from them. Doing so can help your workforce feel valued. It’s their chance to say their bit.

From your side, measuring what they all have to say offers many advantages. 

You can find out what keeps your staff happy, where your weaknesses are, and work to improve the situation.

Aiming for engagement and satisfaction

What should your employee engagement questionnaire aim to measure? Here are the main elements that are important to measure what your staff thinks about your business:

  • Learning and development opportunities.
  • Pride in work.
  • Interaction with colleagues.
  • Long-term future prospects.

Depending on your industry, you may want to consider different angles.

You want to know if your employees are happy and willing to commit their future to your business.

Staff survey questions

Right, so you now know why you should introduce a questionnaire.

But what exactly do you go about asking your workforce? We can help you out there.

Below you can find a list of suitable questions to ask:

  • How happy are you at work?
  • Would you consider moving to a new business?
  • How do you rate your work-life balance?
  • Name the main reason why you would consider leaving the business:
  • Do you see a strong career development in this role?
  • Are you valued in your role?
  • Is feedback from managers productive for you?
  • What’s your favourite part of working for the business?
  • Do you feel you receive recognition for your work?
  • How would you describe your company culture?
  • Do you think your co-workers provide you with respect?
  • Do you enjoy working for us?

Such employee engagement survey questions deal with a wide array of important subjects. You can add as many questions you’d like to include, of course.

This may be about the company car parking structure, or a final open comment section where an employee can add additional ideas.

Ultimately, you want to address key points that reveal information about the:

  • Managerial style of your business.
  • Likelihood of employee retention.
  • How your company culture is doing.

Your survey

After compiling a list of employee satisfaction survey questions, what’s next?

Well, you can go ahead and make your survey. There are several approaches you can take.

  • Digital: Online software options provide a template design you can add email addresses to. It will send your survey to staff members periodically (such as once a month). Offering confidential feedback, you can then pour over the results.
  • Print: Take a traditional approach with pen and paper. Your staff members can complete your questions and had it back to a designated HR team member.

The choice you take is up to you. Depending on your business, in the modern era it’s more effective to make your surveys digital. That way, you can easily gather your results and save them for a later date.

Let’s create your questionnaire

Want help setting up your employee engagement survey? We can help you out. Get in touch today: 0800 783 2806.


Lucy Cobb

Employment Law Specialist

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