Listen, we’re pretty sure you’re a good leader— you wouldn’t be reading this if you weren’t intentional about the workplace you’re trying to build. But even experienced, attuned leaders have a different vantage point of their company’s culture. Employee opinion surveys are a low-risk way for any company to assess engagement and solicit feedback.
What is an employee satisfaction survey?
An employee satisfaction survey is a questionnaire that staff anonymously fill out to give you a measurable snapshot of how they really feel about your company. Employee surveys present an opportunity to understand your team better: their strengths and weaknesses, motivation, concerns, and satisfaction.
There are a number of different ways to create an employee opinion survey, but there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Making use of free (or inexpensive) survey apps like SurveyMonkey, Google Forms, or Typeform is a good way to get started.
What should I ask in my employee survey?
Let’s take a trip back to high school science class. When you’re conducting an experiment, what’s the first thing you do? Write a hypothesis. This theory you’re trying to prove or disprove can help give shape to your questions. For example, if your hypothesis is “Our employees are proud to be part of our brand” one question you might ask in your survey is, “On a scale of 1-10, how aligned do you feel with our company’s mission statement?”
It’s important to include both open-ended (qualitative) and measurable (quantitative) questions to give you data to work with when analyzing the results, and let your employees articulate how they feel.
Here are five questions you don’t want to miss:
On a scale of 0-10, how happy are you at work? This one might seem obvious, but finding out where your team falls on this scale allows you to track employee satisfaction in its most basic form.
What responsibilities at the workplace motivate or inspire you? Inspiration is an essential ingredient to an employee’s happiness. If they’re not motivated— you’re going to feel that in their productivity, and ultimately, your bottom line.
Are you comfortable approaching your manager/supervisor with doubts or concerns?Establishing and nurturing an open-door policy is important to a company’s culture. You might be surprised by the answers here, but this could be the wake-up call you need to make some changes.
Are you happy with the incentives and rewards offered here? Building an effective rewards and recognition program can go a long way in keeping employees happy, motivated, and loyal.
Would you recommend this organization to your family or friends for employment?Take a peek inside those conversations at happy hour. When the work day’s over, how do your employees talk about their experiences to those closest to them?
How to analyze and implement the needed changes
You’ve done the employee opinion survey, peeked at the results, but… now what? Using data collected from the survey, experts here at Ladder HR can predict behaviours and patterns within a company, and recommend changes to your organization.
Our Culture Shift Program is an integrated, tactical program designed to align your people from top to bottom, so everyone knows what is expected of them and they’re excited to do it.
Once admitted to the program, we can help with the following:
Analyze your organization's layers of culture and harness their power
Leverage culture as a leadership tool to attract and retain the best talent
Ensure that culture aligns with the company's strategy and vision
Map out a plan to enhance and perpetuate your culture
Help your organization become a better place to work