There’s a long list of ways to gather feedback from your team, but your timing and method don’t mean much if you don’t ask the right questions.
Finding and asking the right employee survey questions is vital to the success of your project. People can only answer the questions you ask, and their answers are what enable you to take action.
How do you write an employee engagement survey that tells you the truth about what’s happening on the ground? Use these tips to generate honest answers from your next round of surveys.
1. Let Your Objectives Guide You
Do you have a list of potential questions? Okay, now put them away.
Before you start creating questions, you need to understand your overall employee engagement objectives.
Start by looking at your past survey results and current systems. What are you looking to improve with this survey? What kinds of answers do you need? What do you want for the future?
From here, you can begin to write the questions that will deliver. Make sure every item fits into your goals and serves a purpose.
2. Use Benchmark Questions
Every company in your industry issues employee engagement surveys. What do their studies have to do with you? They’re you’re competitors, so you want to see how your teams compare. Benchmark questions help you see if your organization is on the right track.
While you shouldn’t overly rely on external benchmarks because another organization’s survey may never match yours, consider setting up an internal system.
What questions can you use to determine the direction of your company today and a year from now? Your goals will help you develop these questions. Your job is to ask them again and again.
3. Don’t Make Questions Mandatory
There’s nothing more frustrating than being asked to answer a question you don’t understand or one that’s not relevant. What’s more, you won’t generate meaningful responses. Instead, you wind up with junk data that could hurt your goals.
So, make sure your employee engagement surveys don’t demand full answers at every point. Allowing respondents to opt out protects the integrity of the survey.
4. Ensure Every Questions Has Purpose
By now, you have a long list of questions that you want to include in your survey. Of course, you need to whittle them down to a manageable number. But how?
The best way to do this is to outline each question’s purpose and compare it with your objectives. At no point should an employee reach a question and wonder what it has to do with the survey.
Now, You’re Ready to Create Your Employee Survey Questions
Surveys are a core part of gauging the temperature of your employee engagement. But you need to craft the right employee survey questions to get the answers needed to build your engagement program.
Every question should be relevant both to your employees and your stated objectives. If they miss the mark, you could wind up with unusable data.
Ready for more business help? Check out our Business Article archive for more great content.
