Do you know if your employees are satisfied? If not, have you considered asking them directly?
Employee satisfaction surveys reveal how happy and engaged your employees are, as well as their intention to stay at your organization. But you can’t understand – or improve – employee satisfaction without asking your people about it.
Below, we’ve taken a closer look at what an employee satisfaction survey is, why employee satisfaction surveys matter, the type of survey(s) best suited for measuring employee satisfaction, plus 15 sample questions to help you get started creating your own surveys.
What is an employee satisfaction survey?
An employee satisfaction survey measures how satisfied employees are working at your organization.
The employee survey typically includes a list of questions that will reveal insights into the employee experience, and enable your organization to take action on employee feedback in real time.
While some organizations conduct an employee satisfaction survey just once a year, others opt for a more frequent, pulse survey approach that enables them to regularly gather data at various points along the employee lifecycle – and take more pointed action to improve those metrics at specific touchpoints.
Why do employee satisfaction surveys matter?
Not only do employee satisfaction surveys give a voice to every employee, but they also uncover actionable insights that organizations can use to design and improve the employee experience and, in turn, drive better business results.
In addition, employee satisfaction surveys:
1. Improve employee happiness
When you ask – and take action on – employee feedback, your employees feel seen, heard, and appreciated. In turn, this boosts employee morale and reinforces to your employees that you not only care about their experiences, but also value their input and plan to make changes because of it.
2. Support employee retention
Happier, satisfied, and engaged employees are more likely to stay at your organization. This positive employee sentiment supports employee retention, reduces turnover, and maintains internal expertise.
3. Save your organization money over the long term
By asking for employee feedback about job satisfaction (and thus, supporting retention), your organization will save money by not having to allocate time and resources to recruiting, hiring, and onboarding new talent.
4. Increase productivity and performance
When you take action to understand and improve employee satisfaction, your organization will see improved employee productivity and performance. Why? Employees who are satisfied and engaged with their work are motivated to go above and beyond what’s expected of them.
How to get started measuring employee satisfaction
To measure how employees feel about your company, get started with an employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) survey. Quick to implement and easy to analyze, an eNPS survey is a simple and powerful tool to quantify employee satisfaction and help you make an organizational impact with real-time insights.
Our Delighted eNPS survey solution includes a straightforward, two-question survey: an initial “How likely are you to recommend working at [your company] to a friend or colleague?” question and an open-ended follow-up question.
Once your organization is more comfortable with surveying employees, you can gradually expand your employee feedback program in a few ways.
- To start, you can customize your Delighted eNPS survey by adding up to 10 Additional Questions. These questions can be any question relating to employee satisfaction.
- Not sure what to ask? When you upgrade your eNPS to include Additional Questions (a Premium Feature), you will receive a Question Guide, prescribed by Qualtrics. We’ve also included 15 sample questions you can use to fill out your survey, below.
- Then, when you’re ready, grow your employee experience (EX) management program to measure employee satisfaction, engagement – and more – at all of the meaningful moments across the employee lifecycle.
15 examples of good employee satisfaction survey questions
Want to create your own employee satisfaction survey? You came to the right place. Below, we’ve rounded up 15 survey questions to help you measure employee satisfaction at your organization.
1. How would you rate your overall job satisfaction?
This question allows employees to assign a numeric score to their job satisfaction. Doing so will help you quantify how satisfied employees are at your organization – and identify experience gaps in demographics, departments, or other groups.
2. Do you trust your manager?
If an employee trusts their manager, they are more likely to handle difficult circumstances well. A trusting relationship with a manager also allows an employee to be clear about their expectations, challenges, and to be more transparent.
3. Does the company culture promote transparency and communication?
Transparency and communication lay the foundation for trustful relationships in an organization – trust being a pivotal aspect to a healthy working environment.
4. Do you have a good work-life balance in your current role?
Employees who don’t feel they have a good work-life balance are unlikely to see a long-term future with your organization. This question will help you understand their levels of engagement and intent to stay.
5. Is your work interesting?
This question reveals whether employees feel that their current role is a good fit and if they’re engaged and challenged by the work they do.
6. Is your work environment inclusive?
An inclusive work environment is a key differentiator between a positive working culture and a negative one. Inclusive organizations are more innovative, productive, and have higher retention.
7. Do you feel supported by your team members?
Feeling supported by team members relates directly to your employees’ sense of belonging and whether there’s a culture of psychological safety. This question will help uncover whether those critical components exist within your team.
8. Do you feel there are opportunities for career growth at this organization?
Employees want to feel a sense of growth in their role and that their work is offering something to them. By asking this question, you can gauge whether employees feel that there are opportunities for them to grow at your organization, or if they will need to look elsewhere to grow.
9. Are you offered opportunities to collaborate with others at work?
Collaborative work leads to better employee attitudes, and collaboration itself is increasingly important to employees as it can provide a means for socializing and foster a sense of belonging at work.
10. Do you feel empowered in your role?
Employees want to feel that they have autonomy over their work, and this question will reveal whether your employees feel that sense of empowerment. Keep in mind that the more empowered employees feel, the more engaged they’ll be and the longer they’ll stay at your company.
11. Does your manager demonstrate the company values?
Integrity is often a core part of organizational purpose. Employees prefer to work for a manager that demonstrates the company values and works with integrity.
12. Do you feel safe to contribute your ideas and opinions?
This question focuses on the concept of psychological safety at work – the notion that employees feel safe to voice thoughts, feelings, opinions, and ideas that may challenge the norm, without fear of being shamed or ostracized.
13. Does your job give you a sense of accomplishment?
Employees want to feel a sense of pride in the work they do. They also want to do meaningful work. This question will demonstrate whether your employees derive a feeling of accomplishment from the work they contribute.
14. Are your goals and objectives clear?
Clarity around roles and responsibilities helps employees feel more engaged, as well as like they’re an important part of the team. If employees express that there’s a lack of clarity, you’ll want to quickly address this with your team.
15. Do you feel your manager takes action on your feedback?
Employees need to feel that you value their opinions. One immediate way to do this is to take action on the insights you’ve gleaned from this employee satisfaction survey.
Ready to measure employee satisfaction at your organization? Start gathering feedback with Delighted eNPS surveys. Sign up today to send free surveys in minutes.
