Employee surveys – ask these indispensable questions

One of our most popular features on the Engage powered by Schoop app is the Forms and Surveys section. Forms and Surveys offers the potential of taking the pulse of an organisation, yielding invaluable feedback from employees throughout the business.

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Why seek employee feedback?
If you are not seeking employee feedback, you are overlooking a vital resource in developing engaged, productive employees. Obviously, the surveys themselves are not the answer to employee engagement. All the surveys in the world are worthless if they are not analysed and, critically, acted upon. They can, however, provide an invaluable insight into how your current HR policies are being received and in doing so, identify areas that might be ripe for improvement.

Five questions you need to be asking
To get you started with your Employee Engagement Survey, we have come up with the five most important and revealing questions you need to ask in order to understand how your employees currently feel about your organisation and their place within it.

  1. How happy are you in your role?
    This is a blunt tool, yet an obviously revealing one. Any responses that are non-committal or negative should be taken as a red flag. A low overall score to this question should set alarm bells ringing and drive an immediate call to action.
  2. Would you recommend your workplace to friends looking for employment?
    An important question, this is an efficient way of finding out what your employees really think of your organisation. By effectively putting their own reputation on the line with friends in their personal lives, a high score here is an encouraging sign of an engaged workforce.
  3. Do you understand the organisation’s strategic objective and your place within its development?
    If your employees understand where your company wants to be and can visualise their part in overall strategy, you are halfway to engaging your workforce. Employees who feel like an overlooked cog in a machine are less likely to strive for a goal they perceive as having nothing to do with them – and overall productivity will suffer as a result.
  4. Do you feel you have scope for professional development within the organisation?
    A particularly relevant question for Millennial employees, a high score here indicates a satisfied workforce who are able to envision a fulfilling career within your company – vital in terms of employee retention. Not only do frequent departures affect morale, your company’s bottom line will be adversely affected. As the Wall Street Journal notes, it can cost ‘twice an employee’s salary to find and train a replacement’.
  5. Does your manager listen to your concerns and set clear goals?
    The saying, ‘people leave managers, not jobs’ couldn’t be more accurate. Working in a great company but with a micro-managing superior – or, the opposite but just as bad, a manager who is so hands-off they’re barely seen –  can be miserable whichever snacks are on offer in the common room. All staff should be offered continuous vocational training as well as regular appraisals that follow SMART criteria, i.e. are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound.

We think these questions are a great way to start off your employee survey. What questions would you ask your employees? Engage powered by Schoop gives you a quick and simple tool to take the pulse of your organisation, with powerful analytical tools to help you understand employee responses. Get in touch now for a demo – can you afford not to Engage?