9 Employee Satisfaction Survey Questions That Will Reveal A Lot

Employee satisfaction is critical for more than just glowing Glassdoor reviews — it can also greatly impact your company's long-term growth.

When employees are happy, they're more likely to be productive and engaged at work. To produce exceptional results, then, it's critical your team feels fulfilled at the office. But, while you might think you have a pulse on your employee's satisfaction, there's a chance you're not seeing the whole picture.

To find out whether your employees are truly happy and engaged at work, send out an anonymous employee satisfaction survey.

9 Employee Satisfaction Survey Questions That Will Reveal A Lot

Consider asking these nine questions to gather truly helpful insights regarding your employees' happiness.

1. Do you find your work meaningful?

A survey found the number one reason people stick with their companies was "My job — I find the work meaningful". 32% of respondents chose this as their first option, surpassing compensation, company culture, and coworkers or managerial support.

People need to feel their work is meaningful. For many, there's no increase in compensation (or other perks) you can offer to make them stick around if they don't feel their work matters. To ensure low employee turnover, hire people who find meaning in your company and the specific work they'll be doing as well as work to motivate and inspire your team often.

2. On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your work-life balance?

Without good work-life balance, your employees could quickly burn out or become resentful that the company they work for doesn't afford them time to pursue their hobbies or spend time with family. To ensure long-term satisfaction at work, it's critical you encourage a good work-life balance for all employees.

Having a healthy work-life balance at your company doesn't just satisfy your current employees — it also helps you attract a valuable and impressive talent pool of recruits. According to a 2017 report, 45% of employees say a good work-life balance is a key contributor to a company's attractiveness.

3. Are you inspired by the purpose and mission of our company?

Similar to the above discussion about the importance of employees feeling their work is meaningful, if they don't believe in your company's purpose or mission, it's unlikely they'll feel fulfilled, motivated, or engaged.

Without a strong mission statement that states your purpose, it'd be difficult to encourage strong leadership and unity across the organization. But you don't need to work for UNICEF to find purpose in your brand.

For instance, Zappos is an online shoe and apparel retailer. On the surface, it might seem like Zappos' purpose is to provide shoes and clothing. But Zappos takes a different approach — their mission includes, "... delivering happiness to customers, employees, and vendors."

Ask your employees if they feel inspired by your company's purpose or mission. If they're not, consider how you can adjust your mission statement and philosophy to ensure your employees understand their work is directly tied to a greater purpose.

4. Do you like our company culture?

Creating a delightful company culture is necessary for retaining top talent. It's critical your employees enjoy your work culture, which includes workplace environment, company goals and expectations, and company values.

We've discussed already how important it is that your employees' are happy for long-term productivity and growth. Additionally, a good workplace environment can foster better relationships between coworkers, enabling greater collaboration and efficiency.

5. On a scale of 1-10, how likely are you to recommend our company as a good place to work?

Many companies offer referral incentives when an employee recommends a strong candidate for a position. For good reason, too — it reduces cost, time, and effort normally used to find and recruit top talent. Additionally, your current employees are likely good judges of someone who would fit in well with your company's culture.

Ideally, your employees want to recommend your company as a good place to work to members of their networks. If not, you're likely losing out on some exceptional candidates, and it's also an indicator your current employees aren't as happy as they could be.

6. Hypothetically, if you were to quit tomorrow, what would your reason be?

This question is a fantastic opportunity to uncover unforeseen reasons you risk losing employees down the road. You might find employees feel undervalued or believe there aren't enough growth opportunities. By identifying these issues, you can create new strategies that attempt to mitigate those problems and create a better culture for everyone in the long run.

7. Do you feel valued at work?

Feeling valued and appreciated at work is a necessary component for low turnover rates and high employee satisfaction. In fact, 79% of employees who quit their jobs cite a lack of appreciation as a key reason for leaving.

If your employees feel valued, they will often go the extra mile (e.g. stay late, volunteer to help other teams, and put optimal effort into their work). On the contrary, if they don't feel respected by leadership, they won't feel as inclined to deliver phenomenal results.

It's critical everyone at your company — from intern to VP — feels valued and appreciated for their contributions. If they don't feel like important assets to your team, they'll likely eventually look for alternative opportunities.

8. Do you feel there is a scope for personal growth such as skill enhancement?

The more your company can nurture growth, the longer your employees' will stick around. Not to mention, it's cheaper for you to train and develop your current employees than to hire and train new ones.

Career training and professional development are key motivators to employee retention, so it's critical you discover whether your employees feel satisfied with their current growth opportunities.

9. Does your team inspire you to do your best work?

Employees spend a good deal of time around their team members, so their happiness and productivity rely heavily on whether they feel motivated by (most) coworkers (remember, it's not possible for everyone to be friends at all times while at work — but employees should respect, support, and challenge one another to ensure team-wide success).

If your team is able to inspire one another, it will promote increased creativity and collaboration. Additionally, it makes your job as a leader easier if coworkers are able to find renewed inspiration and motivation from each other. (If most of your employees' don't feel inspired, consider implementing team-building exercises to foster a better team environment.)

How to Get the Best Results From Your Employee Satisfaction Survey

There’s more to an employee satisfaction survey than the questions you ask — it’s also about how you ask them. Here are a few things you should keep in mind while creating your employee satisfaction survey, according to Lauren Pope from G2 Crowd:

1. Allow employee anonymity.

The most important part of creating an employee satisfaction survey is to allow your employees to answer anonymously. If there’s a fear of backlash, your employees may avoid answering honestly.

2. Avoid using confusing language.

Leave the industry terms and complicated language out of your employee survey. You want these questions to be accessible and easy to understand for maximum participation.

3. Keep your survey’s consistent.

It can be tempting to change your survey style and questions up every year, but you should avoid doing this. Keeping things consistent year over year will help you track your data more efficiently.

4. Don’t ask too many questions.

The worst thing you can do is overload your employees with too many questions. The longer and more time-consuming your employee satisfaction survey is, the less likely your employees will want to complete it.

5. Technology is your friend.

If your company is large enough that you’ll be handling dozens of employee satisfaction surveys, you may consider investing in an employee engagement software to lighten your workload and help streamline the process.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in October 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.