5 Employee Engagement Survey Examples to Improve Your Engagement Gameplan

Employee engagement surveys aren't just questionnaires. They're mirrors reflecting your workforce's pulse, emotions, and spirit. They're goldmines of insights. That is, if you master the art of crafting the perfect survey.

Which questions to ask? How to phrase them? We get it. It's a maze. 

But here's the thing: You're not alone in navigating it. We gathered a set of employee engagement surveys from multiple organizations (think Cisco, Gitlab) to inspire you. You will see how they approach:

• Asking open-ended or rating questions.
• The different categories of questions (targeting various drivers of employee engagement) that must be included.
• The length of the survey and frequency of sending them out to employees.
• Some general tips and best practices to consider before sending the engagement survey invites to your people.  

📡 Example 1: Ciscos' Engagement Pulse

After years of research, Cisco identified the eight critical questions corresponding to four areas of engagement: 

• purpose; 
• excellence;
• support;  
• the future.

Plus, the 1-5 Likert scale questions can be further bundled in "We" and "Me"-focused categories: 

• The "We" items measure communal aspects of the workplace, so they ask about the team and about Cisco.
• The "Me" items measure aspects of the workplace that are individual. They ask about an individual's relationship with the work they do and the relationship with their leader.

"If we can move the needle in these eight key areas of engagement, then we can boost individual and team performance." Cisco, Engagement Pulse: Discussion Guide.

"WE"

1. I am really enthusiastic about the mission of the company.

3. In my team, I am surrounded by people who share my values.

5. My teammates have my back.

7. I have great confidence in my company's future.

"ME"

2. At work, I clearly understand what is expected of me.

4. I have the chance to use my strengths every day at work.

6. I know I will be recognized for excellent work.

8. In my work, I am always challenged to grow.

There is a comments field for team members to share additional feedback with the team leader. 

"If we can move the needle in these eight key areas of engagement, then we can boost individual and team performance." Cisco, Engagement Pulse: Discussion Guide.

It is also interesting to note that for Cisco, measuring engagement is strategic for their approach to performance management:

"The items address dimensions that predict team excellence and lead to high performance. [...] In a 2018 survey of over 11,000 individuals at Cisco, we learned that engagement is strongly linked to career satisfaction. Fully engaged team members are 20% more likely to be satisfied with their careers compared to less engaged team members." Cisco, Engagement Pulse: Quick Reference Guide.

Managers send the pulse survey quarterly. Once results come in, teams discuss the results together. The goal is to celebrate current and discuss continued engagement. Managers are also encouraged to continue the engagement conversation during 1-on-1s, primarily to accommodate the team members who may be more candid in a more private setting.

"The value of the Engagement Pulse is not the quantitative results but the rich discussion that ensues from the results. If an org leader administers the survey only to see the quantitative results –and has no plan to debrief the results with the team for the purpose of having a rich discussion, they will have no true understanding of the meaning behind the numbers." Cisco, Using Engagement Pulse to understand Engagement at the Organization level.

👩‍💻 Example 2: GitLab Team Member Engagement Survey November 2020

GitLab's Team Member Engagement Survey contained 46 multiple-choice questions, including 3 free text questions. 

The multiple-choice choice questions use the following scale: 

• Strongly disagree. 
• Disagree. 
• Neither agree nor disagree. 
• Agree. 
• Strongly agree.

Questions are grouped by sections, which correspond to factors of engagement.

The survey is thorough, touching on various topics influencing employee engagement – from perceptions of leadership and team dynamics to personal development and company culture.

The comments section allows employees to provide qualitative insights, giving a voice to potential concerns or praises that may not be captured in the fixed-response items.

We particularly like the 'Action' section. It helps understand the credibility and trust employees place in the feedback process, indicating if they believe their feedback will lead to tangible change.

This engagement survey example is the longest included in our review. The survey might be too extensive, with many sections and questions to potential survey fatigue. This can affect the quality of responses as employees may rush through questions.

💰 Example 3: Employee engagement survey from the Office of Financial Management, State of Washington

The Employee Engagement Survey from the Office of Financial Management, State of Washington, measures employee satisfaction with

several components of the work environment, or "conditions of engagement":

• my work questions;
• my team questions;
• my customers questions;
• my supervisor questions;
• my agency questions;
• my work environment questions;

The survey contains 3 main types of questions: 

• 22 standard questions;
• 2 modern work environment supplemental questions;
• 5 demographic questions.

For the standard questions, employees have to answer how often the given statement is true. They use a 1-5 Likert scale:

1 - Never or almost never

2 - Seldom

3 - Occasionally

4 - Usually

5 - Almost always or always

For the modern work environment supplemental questions, the following scale applies:

1 – Very dissatisfied

2 – Dissatisfied

3 – Neutral

4 – Satisfied

5 – Very satisfied

N/A – Doesn't apply to my position

At the end of the survey, they include the following open-ended demographic questions:

25) In which area of the state do you work the majority of the time?

26) Are you a supervisor?

27) How long have you worked for the state?

28) How long have you worked for your current agency?

29) Which agency do you work for?

We can distill the conditions of engagement from their engagement survey into four overarching themes:

1. Clarity and alignment: This theme highlights the importance of Understanding one's role, how individual efforts contribute to organizational goals, and what's expected at work.
2. Support and resources: This theme highlights the importance of having the necessary tools, information, and training to do one's job effectively, as well as a supportive and respectful relationship with supervisors.
3. Recognition and growth: This relates to employees feeling valued, recognized for their contributions, and having opportunities for personal and professional development.
4. Collaboration and culture: This theme underscores the significance of a positive work environment characterized by teamwork, cooperation, continuous improvement, inclusivity, and fairness.

Like Cisco, OMF highlights the link between engagement and performance, stressing that "Engaged employees find their work meaningful and are more likely to deliver results for their agency, coworkers, and other stakeholders."

🧬 Example 4: Engagement Survey from Joyous' The Employee Experience Genome Project

The Engagement Survey from The Employee Experience Genome Project contains 25 questions total: 1 for eNPS and 24 questions, 6 for each defined realms:

• Culture & Environment;
• Fairness & Inclusion;
• Well-being;
• Engagement.

The Employee Experience Genome project breaks Employee Experience into three realms. These realms group the experiences that most impact an employee's engagement:

Culture and Environment questions focus on the resources people need to do their jobs well. 

Sub-realms: clarity, responsibility, physical environment. 

"If you get Culture and Environment right you will empower your teams. Get it wrong and you will limit them."

Fairness and Inclusion questions focus on the extent to which people think procedures, rewards, and interactions at work are unbiased and how valued people feel based on how others treat them.

Sub-realms: belonging, opportunity, fairness

"People who are included in decisions and given opportunities to develop will put in greater effort. And people who are respected and have their work fairly recognized are more likely to be highly motivated. The flip side is grim. If employees think they are treated unfairly and frequently excluded, it is very hard to motivate them in other ways."

Well-being questions focus on the psychological functioning of people in the workplace.

Sub-realms: support, security, workload.

"The core of work-related well-being is helping employees balance work demands with work resources. A good balance between resources and demands promotes flourishing, while not having enough resources to cope with demands can cause people anxiety, burnout, or stress."

Joyous shares the following recommendations for running the survey:

• You can send the complete 25 questions twice per year for baseline surveys.
• For collecting continuous employee feedback, they recommend sending one question per week (one question from each realm per month). The goal is to get a general sense of how employees feel about the realms. Since every realm has three sub-realms, each with two questions, ask them 12 weeks apart so that you can track changes over time.

🤓 Example 5: The Utrecht Work & Well-being Survey (UWES)

The Utrecht Work & Well-being Survey (UWES) is a self-report questionnaire that measures work engagement.

The survey covers multiple facets of work engagement, providing a holistic view of an employee's connection to their job.

"Engagement is a positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind that is characterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption. Rather than a momentary and specific state, engagement refers to a more persistent and pervasive affective-cognitive state that is not focused on any particular object, event, individual, or behavior." Schaufeli, W., & Bakker, A. (2003). UWES Utrecht Work Engagement Scale. Preliminary Manual.

The UWES contains questions grouped into three main categories:

1. Vigor: This dimension pertains to high energy and mental resilience while working, the willingness to invest effort in one's work, and persistence even in the face of difficulties.
2. Dedication: This refers to being intensely involved in one's work and experiencing a sense of significance, enthusiasm, pride, inspiration, and challenge.
3. Absorption: This is characterized by being fully concentrated and engrossed in one's work, such that time passes quickly and one has difficulty detaching from work tasks.

Each category provides insights into different facets of work engagement, and together, they give a comprehensive picture of an employee's level of engagement with their job.

There are 17 statements to be rated on a 1-6 scale with the following labels:

• 0 - Never
• 1 - Almost never / A few times a year or less
• 2 - Rarely / Once a month or less
• 3 - Sometimes / A few times a month
• 4 - Often / Once a week
• 5 - Very often / A few times a week
• 6 - Always - Every day

UWES is grounded in academic research, making its findings credible and reliable for organizational use.

🔗 3 Alignment-focused engagement survey question examples from Practice Reasoning Tests

Tia Campbell, Director of Marketing at Practice Reasoning eTests, strongly advocates including alignment questions. She explains this approach:

"These questions assess employees' alignment with the company's mission and vision and reveal differences that may have an impact on engagement and motivation." 

Example survey questions:

1. Do you find your work meaningful?
2. Are you motivated by the organization's mission and core values?
3. Can you relate your position to the company's objectives?

These employee engagement survey questions can inform activities to enhance the employee experience and foster a feeling of purpose and meaning at work.

🔮 3 Future-focused engagement survey question examples from RevenueGeeks

Adam Wood, Co-Founder of RevenueGeeks, views engagement surveys as "future-oriented and essential," strategy highlighted by some of the questions they include in their engagement surveys:

1. In 3 to 5 years, how do you envision your role evolving? 
2. How can the company contribute to your professional growth? 
3. Do you feel that everything necessary for success is offered? 

"Surveys allow you to benchmark results. Collecting engagement data enables you to compare your results with industry-specific data to better understand how your company compares."

Benchmarking lets you determine whether any concerns are unique to your organization or industry-wide.

"Suppose, for instance, that only 50 percent of your employees are satisfied with the professional development options you provide. In this situation, you can compare your results to those of other businesses to determine whether this is a typical result or one that needs improvement."

💼 4 Employee engagement survey question examples from Maison Law

Martin Gasparian, Owner and Attorney at Maison Law, believes that employee engagement surveys are essential for any business looking to thrive: 

"When it comes to high stress environments like my law office, this kind of check in is critical. The survey allows the business to gather data on various aspects of how the team is feeling like job satisfaction, communication, company culture and opportunities for growth."

Example survey questions:

1. Do you feel your work is meaningful and contributes to the organization's success? 
2. How often do you receive feedback on your performance? 
3. Do you feel valued and appreciated by your supervisor and colleagues? 
4. Are there any workplace issues or concerns that need to be addressed? 

His law firm regularly conducts engagement surveys to ensure employees are motivated, committed, and valued.

Ready to jump right into creating your new engagement survey?

💪 For extra assistance, choose from our ready-to-use engagement survey templates to kick-start your engagement efforts.

🔢 Plus, learn how to report on the data from your engagement survey.

➡️ Collect engagement insights and start making a difference with Zavvy

You cannot afford to ignore employee engagement. There's no way to sugarcoat it.

Zavvy helps you monitor handy engagement metrics like your employee satisfaction, well-being, and eNPS scores, analyze the feedback you receive, and offer strategic recommendations to address your top engagement issues.

But Zavvy goes beyond measuring engagement. We offer a complete suite to engage employees throughout their entire journey with your organization:

• 🌱 Employee development: Help your people develop their skill sets and acquire new competencies. Help them grow in their roles or take on new challenges with career progression paths.
• 💪 Learning experience: Keep your employees engaged in their professional development by providing access to a library of world-class training courses.
• 👯 Connection programs: Auto-connect your employees for meaningful conversations, walking meetings, casual meetups, and more. 

❓ FAQs

What should be included in an employee engagement survey?

An employee engagement survey should include questions about:

1. Company leadership to collect perceptions of management effectiveness, communication, and vision.
2. Team dynamics to investigate key areas like team collaboration and communication.
3. Growth & development to assess employee perceptions of opportunities for training, career advancement, and feedback.
4. Work-life balance to gauge employee opinions on flexibility, workload, and support for personal well-being.
5. Feedback & actionability to investigate whether your people believe feedback is heard and leads to change.

Also, include the space for collecting open-ended feedback. Doing so will allow employees to voice concerns, suggestions, or praises not covered in specific questions.

What are some good employee survey questions? 

Here's a list of the best 10 questions from the company engagement surveys discussed.

1. I am proud of working for this company.
2. Company leadership is contributing to the work culture.
3. I am motivated by the organization's mission and core values.
4. I can relate my position to the company's objectives.
5. I believe my efforts are respected and appreciated.
6. I enjoy working in a team.
7. The company contributes to my professional growth.
8. I feel that everything necessary for success is offered.
9. I receive feedback on my performance regularly.

What are examples of employee engagement?

1. Encouraging open communication and feedback.

2. Providing opportunities for growth and advancement.

3. Recognizing and rewarding employees.

4. Creating a positive work environment.

5. Encouraging collaboration and teamwork.

6. Providing financial benefits.

7. Empowering employees to contribute to decision-making processes.

8. Encouraging creativity and innovation.