7 Common Types of Employee Surveys (2023)

The people that make up a company’s structure represent its lifeline. Satisfied employees will always be motivated to do more for their colleagues and the projects they’re involved with.

On the other hand, those that are disengaged and dissatisfied with their workplace, management, or business culture will become detractors.

Keeping a close eye on your employees’ satisfaction, feedback, and morale through employee surveys is essential in today’s corporate landscape. There are thankfully plenty of employee survey types to choose from, ranging in scale, depth, and types of information they ask from individuals.

To get an understanding of how you can utilise employee surveys, let’s discuss some common types and how you can benefit from them.

Reasons to use employee surveys in your company

There are numerous concrete reasons why employee surveys are relevant for a healthy work environment. For starters, employees like it when their management cares about their opinions, be it superficially or in greater detail.

Asking your employees how satisfied they are with their job descriptions, salary, culture, and other important workflow elements will inform you of their motivations.

You can use employee surveys to create better professional development programs, restructure your teams, or upgrade hardware or software in the company as needed.

Beyond that, you can also find out what types of team building, bonding, and group activities your employees enjoy participating in. These are useful regarding helping your employees warm up to one another and work more productively going forward.

According to Gartner, only 16% of employers utilise survey technologies to stay in touch with their HR structures, which can frequently lead to management-employee misunderstanding.

Let’s break down the exact reasons why you should consider using employee surveys:

• Help set business culture standards in your company
• Measure each department’s and team’s satisfaction individually
• Establish a positive, communicative work environment
• Boost employee satisfaction, productivity, and agency
• Discover workflow bottlenecks and shortcomings firsthand
• Gradually measure your employees’ satisfaction levels
• Show employees and your networking partners that you care

Common types of employee surveys to implement

Net Promoter Score (NPS) survey

NPS score surveys are commonly associated with customer satisfaction, but they are often used in corporate environments. These are short, concise surveys that aim to measure an individual’s satisfaction with your company. Employees which engage with NPS surveys will fall under one of the following three result categories:

• Detractor (0-6 satisfaction, unhappy and advocating against your company to their networks)
• Passive (7-8 satisfaction, uninterested in the company, prepared to change jobs given the opportunity)
• Promoters (9-10 satisfaction, loyal and advocating for the company to their networks)

Creating an NPS score survey is straightforward. All you need to do is attach 0-10 scales to each of the questions you write into the employee survey and measure the responses afterwards. Some questions can also be solely based on 0-10 scales, with 0 as “Completely Disagree” and 10 as “Completely Agree” with the statement.

Survey on employee performance

Employee performance surveys aim to answer the question of how engaged a person is with their job position. These represent sets of self-evaluation questions that should give you a good indication of how each employee feels.

They are especially useful when you want to redesign your professional development programs and introduce new lectures or courses to your employees. Some questions you can include in these surveys are:

• I take on more responsibilities beyond my job description (scale 0-10/Why?)
• I like challenging situations that require me to adapt quickly (Yes/No/Why?)
• I am completely focused at work, and nothing is disturbing my workflow (Yes/No/Why?)
• I am satisfied with my work performance in the past month (Yes/No/Why?)

Survey on employee attitude

These surveys are excellent at helping you evaluate your business culture and general mood among employees. Workplace culture is an essential part of what makes a successful business. These surveys are often anonymous, but depending on your company’s scale, you can use your discrepancy in this.

Employee attitude surveys can help you improve your employees’ satisfaction by building on your company’s inclusivity or expanding your HR team and introducing personalised coaching. Here are the questions to think about in case of this type of survey:

• I like working in a constantly changing work environment (Yes/No/Why?)
• My work is appreciated, and I’m satisfied with the feedback I receive (Yes/No/Why?)
• I am satisfied with the company’s stance on inclusivity and gender equality (Yes/No/Why?)
• I know that my coworkers will support and help me if I have too much work (Yes/No/Why)

360 feedback survey

As its name might suggest, 360 feedback survey is not solely centred on employees. Rather, managers, leaders, and employees alike need to participate in the survey for it to bear tangible fruit. It consists of 0-10 or 0-5 rating statements with the option for individuals to expand on their answers with further comments.

This is a long-form employee survey, meaning that 10 or more questions can be implemented in it. Likewise, project managers, department leaders, and ground-level employees can all receive different versions of the survey based on their job descriptions.

What are some commonly asked questions in 360 feedback surveys?

For employees

• I am satisfied with how my input, feedback, and work are being treated by managers (0-10/Why?)
• I am always informed about changes, additions, and expansions to current projects on time (0-10/Why?)

For managers

• My department exhibits cohesion, teamwork, and proactive communication (0-10/Why?)
• I am satisfied with cross-department workflow and have no issues with other departments (0-10/Why?)

For team leaders

• My team has an established culture, scheduled meetings, and no unit cohesion issues (0-10/Why?)
• I am satisfied with the amount of professional development my team members receive (0-10/Why?)

Survey on employee experience

Employee experience surveys are typically reserved for employees who are on their way to leave the company. They consist of questions regarding their experience with your company from onboarding to transition from the company.

This is a useful employee survey because employees who are on their way to another company will offer a different perspective on your business culture. There might be comments or suggestions they’d be inclined to pass on sharing otherwise.

You can ask difficult questions and expect honest answers from employees in hopes of improving the workflow and culture for those that remain on board.

• The company has been supportive and understanding of my professional needs (0-10/Why?)
• I’ve never felt overwhelmed with work, under-appreciated, or discriminated in the company (0-10/Why?)
• I have had the software, hardware, manpower, and resources to work efficiently (0-10/Why?)
• I am satisfied with my time in the company and would gladly advocate for it to my peers (0-10/Why?)
• There is nothing I would change about the company’s culture, onboarding, HR, or workflow (0-10/Why?)

Survey on change management

Change management surveys refer to surveys which you can implement once large-scale changes have been implemented into the workflow. For example, you may have introduced new software for your employees or acquired new Apple devices for everyone to use going forward.

Each of your employees will take to the change differently, and you should accommodate for their successful transition from old to new. These surveys will help you identify problems, both technical and personal, to minimise any resistance to change your employees may have. The questions you can ask consist of the following:

• The new hardware/software (specify) helped improve my workflow significantly (0-10/Why?)
• I am satisfied with the latest changes to our department’s workflow (0-10/Why?)
• Certain things would help make my transition smoother (Yes/No/What?)
• I am confident that the changes made to my workflow will be rewarding in the long term (Yes/No/Why?)

Survey on employee health

Commonly referred to as employee health or employee wellness surveys, these aim to answer how satisfied your employees are with their mental and physical wellbeing. Providing your employees with ample support in terms of physical training, HR meetings, and work/life balance is important.

Using this type of survey will let you find out exactly how to help your employees achieve those goals. Employee health extends to mental wellbeing or whether your employees experience anxiety, stress, or nerve-wracking workflow in your company. What can you ask your employees to find that out?

• I am satisfied with my work/life balance, and there is nothing I would change about it (0-10/Why?)
• I get enough sleep and physical exercise opportunities by working with the company (0-10/Why?)
• I don’t get sick or overworked by working with the company (0-10/Why?)
• I am satisfied with the mental and physical care the company takes of my wellbeing (0/10/Why?)

Elements of successful employee surveys

Now that we’ve taken a look at different types of employee surveys, we can draw parallels between them to determine what makes a successful survey. According to Gallup, 51% of employees feel disengaged from their work, with 13% going so far as to spread unhappiness and demoralise their coworkers.

Using proper employee surveys and following up on them is essential if you want to retain your employees and attract worthwhile talent to your company. What makes a successful employee survey, and how can you design one for your company properly?

• Create objective goals before writing the employee survey – what do you want to accomplish with it?
• Create clear metrics for your employee survey – which KPIs are you tracking survey-to-survey?
• Adapt your writing style and tone of voice to your employees – are they corporate or casual?
• Rely on a professional employee survey platform such as 6Q instead of writing ad hoc or DIY surveys
• Schedule and announce your employee surveys to ensure maximum response rates early on
• Compare employee survey results to one another over time to measure your employee satisfaction

In Summary

Any company, regardless of its scale or niche, should use employee surveys on an ongoing basis. Knowing how your employees feel about their workflow, your business culture, and their team/department cohesion is very important.

Failing to track your employees’ wellbeing can result in high turnover, poor company reputation, and an overall drop in the quality of work done in-house.

Make good use of these common types of employee surveys and retrofit them to serve your company’s HR structure. The best way to help your employees is by simply asking them directly – employee surveys can help you achieve just that.

About the Author

Jessica Fender is a professional copywriter, editor at EssayShark, and HR specialist with extensive experience in the digital marketing and business development industries. She spends her free time reading up on personal development literature and honing her writing skills to perfection.