Free Employee Engagement Survey Template and Ultimate Guide
83% of HR and IT leaders believe employee engagement is a top priority. But how do you turn belief into insight? Employee engagement surveys are the answer — learn to craft, distribute, and analyze them to help you develop successful engagement strategies.
“Employee engagement cannot be understood using only quantitative data. You have to include qualitative sources if you want to access insights related to employee experience,” says Dr Dieter Veldsman, Chief HR Scientist at AIHR.
One of the most effective ways to do this is through employee engagement surveys — in addition to gathering feedback, they can help you uncover key business challenges and opportunities.
Regular, well-designed surveys provide valuable data that can shape a company’s future. From improving workplace culture to addressing issues affecting productivity and morale, the insights you gain from these surveys can be game-changing.
We’ve developed a free-to-download employee engagement survey template to get you started:
Contents
What is employee engagement?
The role of employee engagement surveys
The benefits of using an employee engagement survey template
What makes a good employee engagement survey?
7 pitfalls to avoid with employee engagement surveys
The best employee engagement survey questions to ask
Employee engagement survey example and free template
What is employee engagement?
Employee engagement refers to employees’ commitment and connection to their work, team, and employer. Engaged employees are enthusiastic about their work, fully involved in their roles, and committed to performing to the best of their abilities.
Employee engagement significantly influences business success. According to Gallup, the top quartile of businesses with the highest employee engagement enjoys 10% more customer loyalty, 18% higher sales productivity, a 23% increase in profitability, and 70% higher well-being.
In contrast, businesses in the bottom quartile experience 78% more absenteeism, 32% more defects, and 28% greater shrinkage due to theft. Employee engagement clearly matters — as an HR professional, how can you determine your company’s employee engagement level?
The role of employee engagement surveys
Employee engagement surveys play an important role in gauging employee engagement and helping HR identify and address concerns. These surveys gather feedback from employees and provide invaluable insights and data to inform your company’s employee engagement strategies.
Regular employee engagement surveys help you measure and track engagement levels over time. You can then identify trends, pinpoint areas of strength, and uncover potential issues before they escalate into more significant problems.
The data you collect through these surveys enables you to make informed decisions and implement targeted strategies to improve employee experience. These can include training programs, career development opportunities, work-life balance policies, and recognition and reward programs.
Soliciting employee feedback also contributes to increased engagement as it shows employees their voices matter. It creates a culture of open communication and transparency, both essential elements in fostering a positive work environment.
HR tip
Avoid using surveys as a pat on the back. Watch out for lower engagement scores and use them as early warning signals that it’s time to implement proactive interventions and retention strategies.
The benefits of using an employee engagement survey template
Employee engagement survey templates can help you assess and improve employee engagement. The benefits of using such a template include:
- Data collection consistency: A well-designed template has a standardized set of questions and response formats, ensuring comparable data across different departments, teams, and periods. This helps identify trends, make meaningful comparisons, and track progress over time.
- Time efficiencies: Developing a comprehensive survey from scratch can be time-consuming. A pre-designed template lets you distribute surveys more quickly and spend more time analyzing results and developing action plans.
- Improved response rates: Employee engagement survey templates incorporate best practices in their design (e.g., using a mix of question types, ensuring clarity, and keeping the survey concise). As such, employees are more likely to complete the survey.
- Benchmarking capabilities: Survey templates support internal benchmarking, letting you track employee engagement levels over time and gain insights into the impact of cultural shifts. You can also identify best practices for enhancing overall engagement.
- Enhanced credibility: A well-crafted template boosts the credibility of your survey results. It also makes respondents more likely to trust the process and the actions you take based on their feedback. This helps create a culture of continuous improvement and engagement.
- Scalability: You can easily modify survey templates to accommodate changing employee and company needs. This aligns engagement efforts with organizational growth without sacrificing data integrity or quality.
Learn how to analyze employee survey data
Once you’ve sent out your employee engagement surveys, you’ll need to analyze the data and tell a compelling story to the business on your findings.
AIHR’s People Analytics Certificate Program teaches you how to transform, organize, and clean your data. You will also learn data storytelling to communicate your findings with impact.
What makes a good employee engagement survey?
An effective employee engagement survey involves key elements that help it gather meaningful insights. These include:
Clear objectives
Before drafting any questions, determine which aspects of engagement you want to measure and what actions you’re prepared to take based on the results. This clarity of purpose ensures the survey remains focused and the data it collects will be actionable.
Clear, concise questions
Good survey questions are unambiguous, easy to understand, and directly relevant to the survey’s goals. They should be formulated in a way that avoids leading respondents towards particular answers and allows for honest, thoughtful responses. Use language familiar to all employees, avoiding confusing jargon or overly complex terminology.
A mixed-methods approach
This approach typically combines quantitative questions (e.g., rating scales or multiple-choice questions) with qualitative elements (e.g., open-ended questions or comment boxes).
Quantitative questions provide easily measurable data points, while qualitative responses offer richer, more nuanced insights into respondents’ thoughts. This allows for a more comprehensive understanding of engagement levels and their influencing factors.
Testing and refinement
Before distributing your survey company-wide, pilot it with a small group of employees from various departments and levels in the organization. This can help identify any unclear, irrelevant, or problematic questions.
It also allows you to assess the survey’s overall flow, length, and completion time. Based on this feedback, the survey can be refined to ensure it is as effective and user-friendly as possible.
Anonymity and confidentiality
Assure employees that their responses will be anonymous and confidential. This will encourage more open, honest feedback. Clearly communicate how you’ll use the survey data and who will have access to the results. This helps build trust and increases the likelihood of candid responses.
Context and expectations
Include a brief introduction before the start of the survey to explain its purpose, estimated completion time, and how you’ll use the results. Setting these expectations upfront helps employees understand the importance of their participation and how their feedback will contribute to meaningful organizational changes.
Internal benchmarking
Design your survey to allow for internal benchmarking over time. By including consistent questions across different surveys, you can track changes in employee engagement and compare results across different periods or departments. This helps identify trends, measure the impact of initiatives, and pinpoint areas where engagement is improving or declining.
Follow-up with action
After analyzing the survey results, act on the findings. Develop a clear action plan based on the data, communicate it to employees, and provide regular updates on its progress. Following up with action not only shows employees their input is valued but also reinforces the importance of future surveys.
HR tip
Optimize survey distribution and collection: To maximize reach and response rates, distribute the survey through multiple channels, such as email, intranet, and mobile apps, if available. Make the survey accessible from various devices so employees can complete it at their convenience.
7 pitfalls to avoid with employee engagement surveys
Here are seven common mistakes to avoid when creating, distributing, and collecting data from your employee engagement surveys:
- Overly lengthy surveys: Excessively long surveys can lead to survey fatigue, resulting in incomplete responses or rushed, inaccurate answers. Keep surveys concise and focused, aiming for a completion time of no more than 20 minutes.
- Ambiguous questions: Unclear or double-barreled questions can confuse respondents and result in unreliable data. Use simple, straightforward language and ensure each question addresses only one concept. Test questions with a diverse group to ensure clarity across all employee levels.
- Disregarding feedback: Collecting data without acting on it can worsen disengagement and cause skepticism about future surveys. Develop a clear action plan based on survey results and communicate both the findings and planned actions to employees.
- Infrequent surveys: Conducting surveys too infrequently can result in missed opportunities to address emerging issues and track progress. Implement a regular survey schedule, such as annual comprehensive surveys supplemented by shorter quarterly pulse surveys.
- Lack of anonymity: If employees don’t feel assured of the anonymity of their responses, they may not provide honest feedback. Use a trusted third-party survey provider or implement strict data protection measures. Clearly communicate to employees how you’ll protect their anonymity.
- Focusing only on quantitative data: Relying solely on numerical scores can cause you to miss important context and nuanced feedback. Include open-ended questions to get qualitative feedback to complement quantitative data.
- Poor timing: Conducting surveys during particularly stressful periods or immediately after major organizational changes can skew results. When planning survey timing, keep in mind the organization’s calendar and any recent or upcoming events that might impact responses.
HR tip
Set clear deadlines and send reminders: Set a reasonable deadline for survey completion, and send periodic reminders to employees who haven’t responded. Reminders can significantly boost participation rates, especially if the survey period spans several weeks.
The best employee engagement survey questions to ask
A well-crafted employee engagement survey should include a mix of questions that cover various aspects of the employee experience. Here are some sample questions to consider:
1. General satisfaction
- How satisfied are you with your current role?
- How likely are you to recommend our company as a place to work?
- On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your overall job satisfaction?
2. Work environment
- Do you think you have the necessary tools and resources to do your job well?
- On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate the physical work environment (office space, equipment, etc.)?
- Do you feel the organization prioritizes work-life balance?
3. Career development
- Do think the company can offer you a clear career progression framework?
- On a scale of 1-10, how satisfied are you with the professional development opportunities the organization offers?
- Do you think your current role fully utilizes your skills?
4. Leadership and management
- How would you rate the effectiveness of communication from senior leadership?
- Do you feel your immediate supervisor supports your professional growth?
- How confident are you in the leadership of the organization?
5. Company culture and values
- To what extent do you feel the company’s values align with your personal values?
- Do you feel the organization prioritizes Diversity, Inclusion, Equity, and Belonging?
- How well do you think the company lives up to its stated mission and values?
6. Recognition and rewards
- Do you feel your team and the organization recognize and reward your contributions?
- How satisfied are you with your compensation and benefits package?
- Do you believe there are fair opportunities for advancement within the company?
7. Teamwork and collaboration
- On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate the level of cooperation within your team?
- Do you feel comfortable sharing your ideas and opinions with your colleagues?
- How effective is the communication between different departments or teams in the organization?
8. Job role and responsibilities
- Do you have a clear understanding of your job responsibilities and expectations?
- Do you find your workload manageable and appropriate?
- On a scale of 1-10, how challenging do you find your current role?
9. Company processes and procedures
- Do you find the company’s decision-making processes efficient?
- Do you think the organization’s policies and procedures support your ability to do your job effectively?
- On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate the effectiveness of the company’s internal communications?
10. Future outlook
- On a scale of 1-10, how confident are you about the organization’s future success?
- Do you see yourself still working for this company in two years’ time?
- Are you optimistic about your own future within the organization?
11. Open-ended questions
- What do you like most about working here?
- If you could change one thing about the organization, what would it be and why?
- What additional support or resources would help you perform your job more effectively?
Employee engagement survey example and free template
Here is an example of an employee engagement survey. We have also created an easy-to-use free employee engagement template (Word) for you to download. Customize the questions according to your organization’s goals.
To sum up
As an HR professional, you are ideally placed to drive positive employee engagement across your organization. You can start by remembering three important things.
First, use employee engagement surveys as strategic tools to identify areas for improvement and boost engagement. Secondly, internal benchmarking through regular employee engagement surveys can be used to track engagement levels across different departments and identify the most engaged teams. Analyzing this data can help you implement targeted strategies to enhance engagement.
Finally, include clear objectives, well-crafted questions, and a mixed-methods approach that combines quantitative and qualitative data in your employee engagement surveys. Ensure anonymity, provide context, and follow up with actionable steps to maximize survey effectiveness.
Learn more
Related articles
Are you ready for the future of HR?
Learn modern and relevant HR skills, online
