Four Great Questions To Include On Your Employee Engagement Surveys

If you want your business to succeed, it is of the utmost importance that your employees are engaged and interested in their work. Companies with engaged employees outperform those with un-engaged employees by more than 200%! When your employees feel engaged, they stay with the company longer, demonstrate more creativity, and are more likely to go above and beyond for the business. But how do you know if your employees are engaged? Simply asking them if they're engaged is not very productive. A better method is to conduct periodic employee engagement surveys that include questions that will tell you not only how engaged your employees are, but also what areas you need to focus on in order to improve engagement.

Make sure your surveys are anonymous so that employees feel comfortable being honest with their responses. Here's a look at four key questions you'll want to include in your surveys.

On a scale from 1 to 10, how happy are you to come to work in the morning?

The answers to this question will give you a good "overall picture" of your employee engagement. If employees are very happy and engaged with their jobs, they'll look forward to coming to work in the morning and should give you responses of 8 or higher. If you get a lot of 5, 6 and 7 responses, you know you're on the right track but have some improvements to do. If you get a lot of responses that are 4 or lower, you know that your employees, as a whole, are not enjoying their jobs. The answers to the following questions can help you better understand why this is and what you can do to fix it.

On a scale from 1 to 10, how would you rate the recognition you get for your work?

Employees want to feel like their work is recognized and that their superiors appreciate their efforts. If you get a lot of low-number responses to this one, you know you have to work on showing greater recognition. Some ways to do that include the following:

• Sending out a "thank you" email after an employee does a particularly good job on a project
• Mentioning employees who have recently done a good job at the beginning of meetings
• Giving out monthly awards such as "most productive employee" and "most sales for the month"

On a scale from 1 to 10, how comfortable do you feel approaching your supervisor when you have concerns or questions?

Employees should feel like they're able to be honest with their supervisors and seek assistance when needed -- not like they'll look silly or irresponsible if they ask for help. There's a common saying, "You don't leave your job. You leave your boss." Employees who don't feel their supervisors are approachable and helpful won't feel engaged and won't stay with the company long. If you receive low-number responses to this question, try the following:

• Reminding your supervisors that they should welcome questions and feedback from their subordinates
• Encouraging supervisors to be clear, fair and impartial when dealing with employees
• Organizing team bonding activities, like a game day or scavenger hunt, to help supervisors and their subordinates get to know one another on a more personal level

On a scale from 1 to 10, how would you rate your opportunity for advancement within the company?

Employees who feel like they can move up and advance in the company will feel more engaged in the company and will work harder because they have a reason to do so. In a smaller business, there may not be a lot you can do when it comes to offering opportunities for advancement. However, in a larger company, it's important to structure your positions in a way that allows the more senior employees to advance and move up the ranks. You can tell if you're doing a good job of this in asking this question. If you receive a lot of low-number responses, you may want to consider creating some more higher-level titles for those who are deserving.

To gain as much information as possible, encourage employees to explain their answers to these questions in text. Make sure you re-administer your survey at least once a year so you can monitor your progress when it comes to improving employee engagement.

For more information and tips on what questions to include in surveys, talk with companies that write and analyze these surveys, such as Scarlett Employee Surveys.

Share