Employee satisfaction survey questions: sample question bank and survey design

When HR sits down to prepare a satisfaction survey, it usually ends up with a very long list of questions: some repeat each other, a few ask about two things at once, and for none of them is it clear what will be done with the result. The form goes out by email as a Word file, a few weeks later lots of files come back, and who gave which answer is obvious from the file name and the sender’s address. Employees notice this, so they either do not reply or write what everyone wants to hear. The problem is not the questions themselves but how they are chosen and how the answers are collected. This article first offers a sample question bank, then principles for running the survey.

An employee satisfaction survey collects employees’ views on their work, their managers, the working environment and the organisation using the same questions and the same scale, with the aim of turning the results into areas for improvement.

Before you start: scale and wording

All the statements in the question bank are written in an “agree / disagree” format. Using the same scale for every statement makes it easier to compare results and see the distribution across topics. A five-point scale is enough for most companies (see the table below). Three rules help when writing statements: each statement covers a single topic (“my manager is open and fair” is two separate statements), statements are phrased positively, and they ask about the employee’s concrete experience. Instead of broad questions such as “Is the company a great place?”, observable statements such as “I can get the information I need to do my job” give more useful results. The question bank below has five topics with five statements each; twenty-five statements in total form a solid backbone for most surveys. You do not have to use them all: choosing the three or four topics you are most curious about and taking three or four statements from each is also enough.

Employee satisfaction survey questions: sample question bank

1. Manager

• My manager tells me clearly what they expect of me.
• I can raise my problems with my manager comfortably.
• My manager gives timely and constructive feedback on my work.
• My manager treats the team fairly when making decisions.
• My manager supports my development.

2. Workload and working arrangements

• I can complete my workload within my working hours.
• My tasks and responsibilities are clear.
• I have access to the tools and information I need to do my job.
• Shift and leave planning treats me fairly.
• During busy periods, the workload is shared evenly within the team.

3. Communication

• I hear about decisions made in the company in good time.
• Announcements are clear and reach me.
• I know where to find the information I need.
• My views are listened to and I get a response.
• Communication between departments makes my work easier.

4. Development

• There are enough opportunities to develop myself in the company.
• The training I receive contributes to my work.
• I have clear information about my career opportunities.
• I feel that my contribution is recognised by the company.
• I find support when I want to learn a new skill.

5. Belonging and overall satisfaction

• I am happy working at this company.
• I feel part of my team.
• The company’s values are visible in day-to-day work.
• I find my work meaningful.
• I would recommend this company to people I know as a place to work.

For open-ended questions, four examples are enough. Keep them short and limit their number: reading and grouping the answers takes effort, so decide from the start who will review the responses to each one and how.

• If you could change one thing about the way you work, what would it be?
• What motivates you most at work?
• What do you think is needed for healthier communication?
• Is there anything else you would like to add?

Can you run an employee satisfaction survey in Word or Excel?

Yes, and for a one-off survey in a small team it is often enough. You can prepare the questions in Word and print them, or set up a form sheet in Excel; in a very small workshop, even a paper form handed out in person does the job. As the survey grows or is repeated, it breaks down at these points:

• Anonymity: When the file arrives by email, it is clear who filled it in. Employees know this and hold back from answering honestly.
• Participation tracking: You track by hand who has replied and who has not; protecting anonymity and tracking participation pull in opposite directions.
• Department breakdown: To split the results by department, you have to merge the files one by one.
• Distribution and comparison: You count by hand how many people chose each option for every statement; comparing with last year’s results becomes a separate job.
• Version confusion: When several people change the questions, it becomes unclear which file is current.

How do you run the survey? Six steps

1. Define the purpose. Write down at the start what you want to learn from the survey and what you will do with the result. “We will measure satisfaction with the shift pattern and review planning based on the result” is a good purpose; “taking the pulse of employees” is vague. Do not ask a question that will not lead to a decision.
2. Keep the number of questions low. Choose a few statements from each topic; a short survey is much easier for employees to complete.
3. Decide whether to publish anonymously or to a target group. If you want to collect opinions, publish anonymously; if you want to measure the experience of a specific department, publish to a target group.
4. Monitor participation. Track the participation rate while the survey is open, and send reminders to managers in departments where it stays low.
5. Share the results. Telling employees about the results and the decisions to be taken is the most important reason they take part in the next survey. A survey whose results are never shared tells employees that their views made no difference.
6. Take care with small groups. In departments with very few people, a department breakdown can weaken anonymity; combine the results of such departments before presenting them.

How do you read survey results?

Reducing the results to a single average score is tempting but misleading. Two statements can have the same average: in one, everyone may cluster in the middle, while in the other, answers split half and half at the two extremes. So look at the response distribution for each statement and use topic averages only as a first summary. Five questions guide the reading:

• Which topic looks weakest? Focus first on the two weakest topics; trying to fix everything at once spreads your effort too thin.
• Are there differences between departments? If the same statement is positive in one department and negative in another, the problem is not company-wide but lies in that department’s management and working arrangements.
• Where does the “neither agree nor disagree” option cluster? A lot of clustering at the midpoint may indicate that the statement is unclear or that employees are reluctant to speak openly.
• Do the open-ended answers match the numerical results? If the numbers point to an issue, the comments explain why.
• What will you tell employees? Write down what you heard and what you will do about which issue; stating clearly that you cannot act on an issue is more reassuring than staying silent.

How does the Survey Management module run a survey?

In YazSis KurumsalPortal, the Survey Management module follows five steps: you prepare the questions, choose the target audience, publish the survey, monitor participation and analyse the results. The question builder lets you design the survey around the topic you want to measure, using different question types. The survey can be published anonymously or targeted at a selected audience; the anonymous option is part of a design built around KVKK, Turkey’s personal data protection law. Participation is monitored while the survey is live, results are shown with the response distribution for each question, and because they can be examined by department, improvement decisions rest on data. The statements in this article are examples; they do not mean that we offer a ready-made survey template or a standard measurement system. We clarify the module’s question types together with you during the needs analysis.

To publish a survey to a target group or anonymously, monitor participation and see results by department, take a look at the Survey Management page; for the other modules, see the KurumsalPortal page.