Essential questions for your employee engagement survey
According to Gallup, businesses with high levels of employee engagement can see 23% higher profits than those with ‘miserable’ unengaged workers.
It’s no surprise that organisations where employees feel enthusiastic and engaged in their work tend to see better performance. In fact, high levels of employee engagement are correlated with higher productivity, improved retention, and lower absenteeism. As one of the best indicators for an organisation’s success, employee engagement is a top priority in many organisations.
But how exactly can you measure employee engagement in your organisation? Unlike metrics such as the number of sick days taken or the employee turnover rate, employee engagement is deeply subjective and unique to each individual employee.
Surveys are the best way to measure engagement levels among your workforce, but the results of the survey are dependent on the quality of the questions you ask. In this article, you will find some of the essential questions that you should include in the survey.
But first, it’s important to get some definitions out of the way.
Employee engagement: A definition
Although employee engagement is a much-used term in HR and leadership circles, there are many different definitions of it.
According to Wikipedia, employee engagement refers to ‘the nature of the relationship between an organisation and its employees. An "engaged employee" is defined as one who is fully absorbed by and enthusiastic about their work and so takes positive action to further the organisation's reputation and interests.’
Gallup more simply defines employee engagement as, ‘the involvement and enthusiasm of employees in their work and workplace.’
And a more academic and specific definition comes from the Utrecht University group of occupational psychologists, who argue that employee engagement is where employees demonstrate a state of mind of:
- Vigour: they show energy and work hard
- Dedication: they have pride and enthusiasm in their work
- Absorption: they are engrossed in their work
In short, employee engagement is the opposite of burnout; it describes employees who are willing to go the extra mile in their work.
Employee engagement surveys explained
As the name suggests, an employee engagement survey is a questionnaire where employees are asked questions relating to their engagement in their work and workplace. These are a great way to gather data about engagement levels across a whole business.
When should you use engagement surveys?
A combination of quick pulse surveys frequently throughout the year and more occasional in-depth surveys is a good way to measure engagement levels. It’s important to find a frequency that provides a good amount of data but does not overwhelm employees and discourage them from filling them out.
Should engagement questionnaires be anonymous?
Keep the surveys anonymous; this ensures employees feel free to share their true opinions. However, it’s useful to still ask them to share some non-identifying information such as their department, role type, or length of time in the role. This allows you to identify engagement issues in particular parts of the business so they can be resolved, or, on the other hand, helps you identify high engagement levels which can help you replicate the positive environment elsewhere in the business.
Now, here are the best questions to include on your engagement survey.
1. How likely are you to recommend working here to a friend?
If you ask an employee whether they’re engaged at work, they’re unlikely to be able to give you a useful answer. Engagement is a vague and subjective term; being engaged might mean something different to each person.
Instead of directly asking how engaged an employee is, a great way to measure engagement is by asking if they would recommend working at your organisation to a friend. This gets to the heart of the matter and helps you figure out employees’ true feelings about their jobs. It’s an effective way to assess how employees feel about their workplace and company culture instead of the day-to-day details of their jobs.
Note: it’s best to formulate the question as a ‘how likely’ rather than a yes or no question. This provides more opportunity for nuance and helps you collect more accurate data.
2. Do you look forward to coming to work?
When employees are highly engaged in their jobs, they tend not to experience those Monday blues. Asking the team whether they look forward to coming to work is a good way to figure out if they are engaged or not.
Don’t forget to add an optional comments section allowing team members to explain the reasoning behind their answers. If they don’t look forward to coming to work, why not? This qualitative data can be just as useful as the quantitative data gathered from their other responses.
3. Does your team inspire you to do your best?
In any job, the team can make a huge difference to an individual’s engagement levels. Engagement is contagious; a person working in a highly motivated team is likely to also want to go the extra mile. On the other hand, burnt out team members, ineffective managers, and bosses who don’t give enough praise are a surefire way to decrease engagement levels across the department.
This question asks employees to think about the impact of their team on their work. It might also be useful to ask them to share the names of team members or managers who particularly inspire them so you can identify and reward these particular team players.
4. Are you proud of the work you do here?
Asking employees if they are proud of their work is a good way to find out whether they are engaged with the company’s mission and feel that their role contributes to those greater goals. Employees who feel that their role is aligned with business objectives and that they are succeeding in doing great work are far more likely to show high levels of engagement in the role.
If employees answer in the negative, it’s essential to follow up about why not. Perhaps employees do not feel engaged with the organisation’s mission. Maybe they don’t understand the mission. Or maybe they just don’t feel that their particular role is contributing to it. By finding out what barriers are preventing employees from being proud of their work, it’s possible to take steps to resolve the issue and help everyone feel more engaged..
Conclusion
Research has found that although 85% of business leaders claim that employee engagement is a top priority, only a third of businesses actually take the necessary steps to make it one. With an effective employee engagement survey using these four essential questions you can focus on transforming engagement in your workforce.
Are you looking to hire amazing people who will show high levels of engagement and take your organisation to the next level? Skillsarena can help you make more accurate hires using skills testing and personality profiling. With a range of different assessments available, it’s easier than ever to hire the perfect person for the role.
