Employee engagement refers to employees’ commitment and connection with their work, colleagues, and company. Engaged employees are usually more enthusiastic about their jobs, more motivated to contribute to the company’s success, and willing to go the extra mile to achieve objectives.
So, how does a company measure employee engagement? A simple approach would be to ask the employee engagement questions about their jobs and how satisfied they are in their current roles. Companies can utilize mid-year check-ins and surveys to ask these questions, going beyond the simple “Are you happy/satisfied?” (though that question does matter) and focusing on questions from a few different perspectives to truly understand if the employee is happy in their role. Let’s dive in to the essential employee engagement questions to retain your team.
Why Should I Ask Employee Engagement Questions?
Asking employee engagement questions is critical for companies that want to understand, measure, and enhance their workforce’s engagement level. Here are a few reasons why companies should utilize employee engagement questions.
- Assess job satisfaction
- Identify areas for improvement within the company
- Enhance communication channels
- Reduce turnover
- Improve employee well-being
- Enhance company culture
Asking employee engagement questions is a proactive and strategic approach to understanding employees and addressing concerns. Employees feel heard and seen, and these survey questions help companies succeed.
25 Employee Engagement Survey Questions
1. How satisfied are you with your current role/responsibilities?
This survey question is a fundamental part of giving the company a general idea of employee satisfaction. It is an excellent warm-up question for a survey or mid-year check-in. Job satisfaction, in general, is a leading reported reason for employee retention.
2. Do you feel like your work is meaningful?
This job satisfaction question is a great way to gauge employees’ happiness within their roles. If something (the employee’s roles, overall job, etc.) has no purpose, then there is no reason to complete said task. If the employee finds the reason behind their work meaningful (this may play into company culture or the organization’s goals), they are more likely to fulfill their tasks and feel accomplished.
3. What aspects of your job do you find most fulfilling?
This survey question explores the reasoning behind how employees find meaning in their work. By forcing them to choose a positive in their day-to-day, it challenges even the most unfilled employee to look for the uplifting aspects of their job.
4. Are you comfortable providing feedback to your supervisor?
This survey question provides valuable insight into whether or not employees and management work well together. Companies want their management and leadership to reflect the company’s culture. If employees don’t feel comfortable providing feedback, this can lead to further problems (such as not feeling heard or supported, which could negatively affect employee retention and engagement).
5. Do you feel supported by your supervisor and management?
Employees who feel they need support to look out for themselves (which may include looking for employment elsewhere) instead of performing their jobs thoroughly.
6. How would you rate your supervisor’s interest in your success?
A great manager/supervisor should not only have great listening skills but also great coaching skills and be able to offer valuable advice for employee growth. If a manager doesn’t care about their employees’ growth and success, how is the employee supposed to feel inspired and engaged in their current role?
7. How well do you feel you work with your team?
Good intra-team dynamics can maximize employee engagement through cooperation or lead to less than the sum of individual efforts. Poor team dynamics could look like unhealthy competition and adequate communication, leading to disengaged employees.
8. How satisfied are you with the communication within your team?
It’s no secret that organizations can almost always improve their communication. However, this survey question asks if at least the minimum amount of communication is happening to allow the team to function well and complete tasks.
9. What team-building opportunities would you like to see?
If the company has a focus on company culture, there should be opportunities for team building, which would have many positive effects on employee engagement. These are especially valuable in remote and hybrid environments.
10. How would you rate our utilization of your skills?
If an employee does not feel of use, they do not see meaning/purpose for them specifically in the company. To feel maximum purpose, most employees should have opportunities to use skills that they acquired in their education or professional development training for their current role.
11. How clear are your opportunities for career advancement?
Good employees should be looking forward to the career path and not staying stagnant. This includes wanting opportunities for career advancement. Asking these questions opens the floor for employees that want to push themselves further in their career to look for opportunities (and voice their concern if they don’t find opportunities for advancement).
12. How would you rate your opportunities for professional development and training?
This survey question also helps employees look for opportunities to further their career through professional development training. This question also provides an opportunity to learn about the employee preferences for opportunity and growth.
13. How often do you receive constructive feedback from management?
This question provides insight as to whether management is providing adequate feedback for their employees to properly do their jobs. It may be helpful to include an example of what constructive feedback looks like so employees don’t automatically think that “keep up the good work” is a type of constructive feedback. These types of questions also provide an opportunity for companies to see if there is a need for leadership training.
14. How satisfied are you with your current work-life balance?
If an employee feels more like a robot rather than a person, they are less likely to stay at their current company, which can quickly lead to burnout. Companies that value their employees’ work-life balance have higher employee retention and generally happier employees.
15. Do you feel comfortable taking time off when needed?
This survey question also provides insight as to whether an employee feels like they are allowed to have a life outside of work. If management or leadership makes an employee feel bad about wanting to take time off, there is a problem, and that kind of attitude can cause disengaged employees and negatively affect employee retention.
16. Do you feel recognized for your contributions?
Employee recognition plays an essential role in employee engagement. Employees who feel recognized are generally happier and more likely to be engaged in their jobs versus employees who are not recognized. Employee recognition can be received through management or from peers and should be happening frequently so the employee feels seen.
17. How satisfied are you with the existing rewards and recognition programs?
If a company has employee recognition software or employee rewards program, this would be a good survey question for companies to gauge whether they are effective programs.
18. What would you like to be acknowledged for?
This open-ended survey question gives an opportunity for employees who may not have been recognized for their contributions (this could be related to a specific task or project). Companies can choose to use this as a way for employees to simply vent about past acknowledgments or use it as a way to properly acknowledge their efforts (especially if they were overlooked in a large project).
19. How do your values align with your company’s values?
This survey question helps provide valuable insight to whether an employee fits into the company culture. Employees who feel like they belong, simply from having similar values to the company, are more likely to be engaged.
20. What opportunities do you see for improving company culture?
This open-ended question would give an opportunity for company growth (including within leadership or management). This also ensures that the company is seen as wanting to continuously improve their employees’ well-being.
21. On a scale of 1 to 10, how engaged do you feel in your role?
While this may seem like a general question, it does provide valuable insight to whether or not employees feel engaged in their role. Once a company knows the answer, they can find out why employees don’t feel engaged and how that can be improved.
22. What factors contribute to your overall job satisfaction?
This survey question helps employees find ways that their company contributes to their job satisfaction and helps the company see what is and isn’t working. This question can be either structured as open-ended or as a “select all that apply” answer.
23. What changes would increase your level of job engagement?
This would provide the company for ideas for growth and see if employee engagement efforts are working. Again, this could be structured as an open-ended or “select all that apply” answer.
24. Do you trust this company and its leadership to be fair to all employees?
If there is a trust-gap between employees and leadership, it will only grow. Employees should feel that regardless of race, gender, age, orientation, they will be treated fairly. This is especially important to gauge the effectiveness of DEI initiatives.
25. Do you have access to the tools to help you succeed in your current role?
This question helps companies to see if they are not providing adequate tools (this could include tangible items, or things like proper training) for employees to succeed.
Best Practices For Employee Engagement Surveys
Companies should follow some guidelines to get the most out of an employee engagement survey; below are a few ideas.
Establish Clear Goals
Before conducting any employee engagement (whether through surveys or other methods), ensure that the company understands what specific insights or information they want to find. Figuring out what the company wants to know will help create specific questions to find the answer.
Track and Measure Answers
Another critical aspect of employee engagement surveys is properly tracking and measuring results. These can be manages manually by HR staff members or included as a part of some specific HRIS systems.
Offer a Range of Response Options
In an employee engagement survey, it can be helpful for employees if there is a diverse range of response options provided. A range of options is beneficial in scaled questions and can help capture a more accurate representation of employee sentiments. Many questions can be answered with a sliding scale (very satisfied, satisfied, neutral, not satisfied, very unsatisfied), but there are some questions that might require open-ended answers.
Act-On Feedback
Finally, companies should act on feedback rather than simply rely on survey results. Acting on feedback also includes communicating these initiatives to employees so they can see that their voices are heard and the survey results are leading to positive changes.
Other Ways To Implement Employee Engagement Questions
Companies can also measure employee engagement levels through in-person check-ins. HR or leadership may measure monthly, quarterly, or yearly, depending on who meets with the employee. A manager may want to do more frequent check-ins, and the questions may be more based on the employee’s current project rather than their overall satisfaction with the company. A yearly check-in with management would be the time to go over general satisfaction and ask employee engagement questions, where they will share answers with the company.
Here are a few other ideas to measure employee engagement other than surveys:
Focus groups
Companies could consider utilizing focus groups as a tool to improve employee engagement. Focus groups are a great way to involve employees in developing solutions to problems found in employee engagement surveys, which leads to employees feeling more valued and that their voices are heard.
Performance Reviews
While employee engagement surveys serve a valuable purpose, performance reviews (when conducted effectively) can also help companies gauge employee feedback. Not only do performance reviews offer a time for employees to express satisfaction (or dissatisfaction) within their current role, but they also offer a two-way communication for feedback and recognition. Companies can utilize performance reviews to provide professional development opportunities, open a discussion for goal setting, and help with employee retention by creating a positive feedback loop.
Exit Surveys
Finally, exit surveys are another tool that HR can use to gauge employee engagement. Companies can include engagement-specific questions that include job satisfaction, motivation, work-life balance, and overall views of the company’s culture. Companies can also include reasons for leaving the company and find out what they could do differently for current and future employees. Like employee engagement surveys for current employees, HR and leadership should measure and track the exit survey results over time and shared with leadership so the company can implement any needed changes.
Enhance Your Employee Engagement
There are many ways to measure employee engagement (performance reviews, employee engagement surveys, focus groups, and exit surveys). All of these methods can be used to improve employee experience and gauge whether employees are engaged and can improve employee satisfaction. It is essential to measure the results of employee engagement surveys and act on any necessary changes based on survey results.
Take Employee Feedback To The Next Level
Onboard an employee engagement software and boost employee happiness through the power of appreciation, recognition, and celebration.
FAQs about Employee Engagement
What Role Does Leadership Play In Fostering Employee Engagement?
Leadership and management play a significant role in fostering employee engagement. How a manager leads and interacts with a team can significantly impact the happiness and engagement of employees.
How Often Should I Conduct Employee Engagement Surveys?
At a minimum, you should conduct employee engagement surveys annually. An annual survey gives enough time for the company to adequately act on any changes that you should make based on survey answers and avoids survey burnout for employees.
How Do You Address Reluctance To Participate In Engagement Surveys?
It can be difficult to encourage employees to be on board with employee engagement surveys. There are a few ways to address reluctance to participate, but here are a few ideas:
- Communicate the purpose of the survey and emphasize the survey’s role in improving the company environment and employee well-being.
- Assure anonymity of responses in case there is a concern about confidentiality.
- Highlight previous improvements based on past survey results.
- Offer incentives for completing the survey.
The most important way a company can ensure that employees will be willing to take the survey and provide honest feedback is through open and honest communication about the survey (and anything else).
