Employee surveys are an effective way to gain insight from employees about their job satisfaction, workplace environment, and career goals. 

With an average of 43.1 hours spent at work weekly, employees have a unique perspective of the day-to-day operations of the company and their feedback can provide invaluable information that can help shape the future of the business. 

However, not all surveys are created equal and there are a few different types of employee surveys that can be used to garner this important data. From traditional surveys to employee pulse surveys and even 360-degree feedback surveys, there are a variety of options to choose from. 

So, which one should you use? 

Let's take a closer look at the different types of employee surveys and the benefits they each offer. 

But first…

What is an employee survey?

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Employee surveys are feedback tools used by HR professionals or team managers to get employees' opinions, suggestions or ideas and measure their overall experience with the company.

You can use employee surveys to

• Measure employee satisfaction levels
• Review employee morale
• Monitor employee achievements and professional growth
• Boost employer-employee relationship
• Motivate employees
• Improve employee work-life balance
• Improve employee performance

Most companies carry out anonymous surveys to ensure confidentiality and encourage employees to express themselves freely and genuinely without worries.

When done correctly, these survey responses give you actionable insights into how you can improve employee experience and make them feel valued.

Most employees abandon surveys halfway, so it's essential to make your surveys precise and exciting for employees to participate in to avoid survey fatigue.

Now let's see the types of employee surveys we have.

Types of employee surveys

Different companies carry out employee surveys for various reasons at different times. While some might want to measure employee satisfaction or evaluate employee engagement levels, others might want to review workplace culture or measure career growth.

Therefore, depending on your goal, we have different surveys to suit other occasions.

Let's review them, shall we?

1. 360-degree surveys

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A 360-degree survey gives you a comprehensive insight into the overall performance of an employee. This survey aims to get different perspectives about an employee's performance and identify their strengths and weaknesses to know how best to go about their professional or personal growth.

It is called a 360-degree survey because it includes feedback from the employee and people they work closely with, like their managers, subordinates, etc. Sometimes, you might consider client input if the employee interacts with them frequently.

360-degree surveys give your employees clarity and boost self-awareness because they provide insight into how other employees feel about them. You can also use the survey results to draft customized training or strategies to help employees perform optimally to yield better results.

360-degree surveys focus on specific skills like

1. Team spirit
2. Leadership potential
3. Communication skills
4. Management skills, etc

The survey questions are usually direct; you can use the rating scale for this, with an option for other written feedback.

2. Company culture surveys

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A company's culture greatly influences employee engagement and increases job satisfaction by 42%. It can also impact a company's

1. Sales
2. Reputation
3. Recruiting efforts, etc

As an employer, you might feel you have built a work environment that helps your employees thrive, but this isn't always the case. Employee feedback lets you determine how they perceive their work environment, leadership style or communication practices.

These surveys give you insights into improving and creating a healthier environment that promotes growth and employee satisfaction.

A healthy workplace culture inspires employees to be productive and yield the best results possible because they feel worthy and trusted to carry out their job responsibilities efficiently. It also reduces employee turnover.

You could ask direct questions in your survey to take written responses or make statements that allow the employees to choose how they feel about the accuracy of the comments. The questions should seek their opinions about leadership, management, teamwork, inclusion and diversity.

Company culture survey questions to consider

For direct questions, you could ask the following

• Are you satisfied with our company culture? If No, why?
• Do you have a healthy work-life balance?
• Does our culture promote your career development? If No, why?
• Would you recommend anyone to work here? If not, why?
• How would you describe your work environment in two words?
• How would you describe our leadership, management and communication style?

If you want to go the statement route, below are just a few examples of statements you could make, then have a response scale from "Strongly agree" to "strongly disagree."

• I am rewarded for great work
• My voice is heard at this company
• I feel valued and appreciated
• My managers and supervisors treat me with respect
• I have the resources I need for my career development
• I can share my thoughts comfortably with my team members and leaders

3. Employee engagement survey

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Employee engagement surveys help organizations measure employee morale and how committed, motivated or passionate the employee is about the job role and the company's vision or mission.

These surveys give you insight into your employees' knowledge gaps, areas of difficulty and how serious they feel about carrying out their responsibilities to benefit the company.

Employee engagement is vital for the company's growth and employees' well-being. According to the "State of the Global Workplace 2022 Report" by Gallup, companies with engaged employees record 23% higher profits than those with disengaged employees, and 95% of employees thriving at work say they are treated with respect.

Additionally, employee engagement

• Boosts employee loyalty
• Helps maintain high employee retention
• Increases customer service and satisfaction
• Fosters employee satisfaction
• Boosts employee productivity
• Reduces employee absenteeism

With regular meetings and surveys, you can see how well you are keeping your employees engaged.

Employee engagement survey questions to consider

With the following questions, you can get insights into how engaged your employees feel.

• Do you feel empowered at work?
• Do you feel recognized for your input?
• Do you feel driven to help the organization succeed?
• Does the company allow you to learn and develop your skills?
• Do you have confidence in the organization's leadership?
• Do you feel the organization has your best interests?
• Do you have the resources and guidance you need to succeed in your job?

4. Employee opinion survey

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An employee opinion survey helps you understand their perception of the workplace and different aspects of the company.

You could get opinions from your employees about how to solve a company's problem or how they feel about a situation in the company. You never know how helpful ideas or suggestions from your employees can give you perspectives you probably would have needed to consider.

Getting feedback from your employees also makes them feel like their opinions count, and we can agree that valued employees are more invested in the company's growth and success.

5. Employee satisfaction survey

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As the name implies, an employee satisfaction survey, often referred to as job satisfaction, survey measures employees' contentment levels toward their jobs and the company.

Satisfied employees feel thrilled about their jobs and value them highly. Several factors could influence employee satisfaction, including

• Income
• Recognition and appreciation
• Workplace culture
• Work benefits, bonuses or wellness programs
• Work flexibility
• Motivation
• Career development opportunities
• Work-life balance, etc.

According to statistics, unhappy employees reduce profitability by 15% and productivity by 18%, resulting in an annual loss of about $550 billion for U.S. companies. With employee satisfaction surveys, you can identify how many employees are pleased, disgruntled, passionate or barely satisfied with their jobs and get feedback on how to make them happy.

When your employees are satisfied,

• Their productivity increases
• They become more passionate about their role
• Your customer satisfaction increases
• Employee turnover reduces
• Your reputation increases
• Revenue and profits also go up.

Therefore, it is in your best interest to keep your employees happy and conduct these employee satisfaction surveys periodically.

Employee satisfaction survey questions to consider

Employee satisfaction surveys are usually done with a rating scale while still providing an outlet for them to give their written feedback, depending on your goal for the survey.

You can determine your employee satisfaction level with the following questions.

• Do you find your role stressful?
• How satisfied are you with your position?
• Do you feel respected?
• Do you enjoy your job?
• How likely are you to search for another job?
• Does your pay reflect the work you do?
• Are you satisfied with the perks and bonuses you receive for your role?
• Does the workplace culture align with your values?
• Does your role give room for career growth?
• Do you have a healthy work-life balance?
• How well do you relate with your managers and team members?
• Are you provided the resources you need to perform well in your role?

Tips to consider when planning to conduct an employee survey

Regardless of why you want to conduct an employee survey, you can use these tips to increase your response rates and make your surveys more effective.

Have a goal

Your employee survey should aim at solving a problem or achieving a result. When you have a goal, it is easier to ask the right questions to achieve your desired results.

Make it fun with aesthetic themes and colors

More than half of employees ignore employee surveys because they are boring.

To encourage your employees to participate in your surveys, you need to make them different from the regular monochrome questionnaires they are used to.

Using bright themes and colors to design your employee surveys can make them fun for them to participate till the end.

Make it short and straightforward

The last thing you want to do is to overwhelm your employees with long and complex questions when answering employee surveys.

If you want them to avoid ditching it halfway, keep your surveys short and simple.

Ask the correct survey questions

Just like customer satisfaction survey questions, it would be best to ask the right questions to get the desired results or responses from your employee survey.

For example, for employee satisfaction surveys, you need to ask how the employee feels about their job. It will give you insight into whether they are happy with their jobs, or not.

Consider written feedback

Some employees may prefer to write feedback instead of ticking questionnaire checkboxes.

So it would help if you allowed them to express themselves by including multi texts options in addition to the usual radio buttons and checkboxes.

Act on survey results

It's not enough to collect feedback from your employees; you also need to act on the results so that your employees can feel valued and appreciated. When you ignore survey responses, employees will not participate in subsequent ones.

Use survey software

We live in a time where innovative and automated tools help us perform our duties more efficiently. Several enterprise survey tools are at your disposal, and you can leverage them to create and share your surveys seamlessly.

An example of a powerful and professional survey software for your business is Checkbox. It has several helpful features like custom branding, automation, reporting and exporting to help you customize your surveys and distribute them efficiently.

Also, Checkbox can be deployed on mobile devices so your employees can respond to surveys on-the-go and monitor your responses in real time.

With our free trial, you can now try Checkbox to join top companies like Deloitte and Wells Fargo, which use Checkbox to satisfy their survey needs.

Creating an employee survey with Checkbox

Founded in 2002, Checkbox is a professional survey tool that helps you create fun customer and employee surveys seamlessly. Checkbox offers excellent features that help you increase your survey response rates.

Not only does Checkbox allow you to create and customize mobile-friendly surveys, but it also gives you real-time reports and analytics so you will retain essential data. Sharing surveys has never been easier; you can efficiently distribute your surveys through custom links, QR codes, social media platforms or email/SMS campaigns.

Our tool makes surveys enjoyable for your customers and employees, as it offers various templates that allow you to gather data in different ways based on the preferences of your employees or customers, including

• Radio buttons
• Multichoice options
• Rating scale
• Multi text boxes
• Single line responses
• Emojis, etc

Additionally, your respondents can upload files to answer specific questions.

Checkbox offers you many helpful features, such as

• Custom branding
• Email and SMS invitations
• Automation and third-party integrations
• Best-in-class security
• Mobile responsiveness
• Reporting and analytics
• Easy exporting and sharing, etc

You can access Checkbox using our cloud-hosted subscription that doesn't require installation or leveraging our on-premise software, which you have to install on your servers or private cloud.

Whether you choose the SaaS or On-Premise software, you still get value and have access to our many features. Both plans offer affordable pricing plans.

Creating an employee survey with Checkbox is easy; all you need do is to

1. Sign up to access our free trial
2. Select a survey template, build from scratch or import an existing survey
3. Customize your survey style and info
4. Add and customize your survey questions
   

1. Export or distribute surveys
2. Monitor responses and receive timely reports

Checkbox is easy to use and over 2500 professionals from various industries use Checkbox globally to make their surveys fun and effective.

Conclusion

We have explained an employee survey and highlighted the different types you can use for your company, but it doesn't just end there.

Most employees ignore surveys because they feel organizations don't act on them or improve employee satisfaction.

To make your employee survey effective, you must also act on your survey responses to encourage employees to participate in subsequent ones.

Try Checkbox for free now and join over 2500 companies globally that use Checkbox to create the best customer and employee satisfaction surveys.

FAQ

1. What are employee surveys called?

Employee surveys are questionnaires that help employers gather opinions, suggestions or feedback from employees to measure their overall experience.

2. What should be included in an employee survey?

Different employee surveys have varying goals and are used for various purposes. So depending on your plan, your employee survey can include questions that touch on essential aspects of the workplace, like:

• Employee goals
• Employee satisfaction
• Level of engagement
• Workplace culture, etc.

Most importantly, your survey questions should give insights to help you achieve organizational goals and solve your needs.

3. What are the best employee surveys?

The best employee surveys are

1. Employee satisfaction surveys
2. Employee engagement surveys
3. Workplace culture surveys

4. Are employee surveys effective?

Not all employee surveys are effective because they are done wrongly. To make your employee surveys effective, you should

• Have a goal
• Ask the right questions
• Leverage different response options
• Encourage anonymous surveys
• Keep your survey simple and short
• Leverage survey software like Checkbox
• Act on survey feedback

With these, you can increase your survey response rate and make it effective.

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