What Questions to Ask on an Employee Engagement Survey

Gauging the satisfaction of your team sounds like a great idea, but what are the right questions to ask on an employee survey? How do you truly understand how your team feels about their workplace, leadership, development, and skills? 

A carefully crafted questionnaire that gets to the core of the employee experience must go beyond surface-level satisfaction to uncover the deeper connections your employees have with their work, their colleagues, and your organization’s mission.

An Introduction to Employee Engagement Surveys

Employee engagement surveys are essential tools that help organizations assess the commitment, motivation, and overall satisfaction of their employees. By identifying strengths and areas for improvement, these surveys enable companies to implement targeted initiatives that enhance workplace culture and performance.

Why Are Employee Engagement Surveys Important?

Conducting regular employee engagement surveys allows organizations to:

• Measure Engagement Levels: Understand how invested employees are in their work and the organization. Are they engaged in their daily tasks? Do they care about customer satisfaction? 

• Identify Improvement Areas: Pinpoint specific aspects of the workplace that may require attention. Skill development, workload management, and overall challenges in the workplace can all be found through employee engagement surveys.

• Enhance Retention: Address concerns that could lead to turnover, thereby retaining top talent. By identifying dissatisfaction, challenges, or a lack of engagement earlier, you can resolve issues and prevent costly turnover problems.

• Boost Productivity: Engaged employees are generally more productive and contribute positively to the company’s goals. By showing genuine interest and care in your employees, you can all improve, grow, and perform as a team.

Key Areas to Address in the Survey

To gain a comprehensive understanding of employee engagement, your survey should cover the following areas:

Job Satisfaction

Assess how content employees feel with their roles and responsibilities. Do they find their job easy? Difficult? Do they feel they could take on more responsibility, or perhaps they’re interested in a different role?

Management Support

Evaluate the effectiveness and approachability of leadership by asking how comfortable and supported employees feel with their manager and company leadership.

Professional Development

Determine if employees feel they have opportunities for career growth and advancement. If they don’t, you may have an issue retaining top talent. This is a great opportunity to understand where the gaps in professional development, or communication around those opportunities, are in the company.

Work-Life Balance

Understand how well employees can balance their professional and personal lives. Many employees are prioritizing their mental health and ability to have a happy life outside of work, and your company could be a leader in this space.

Company Culture

Gauge the overall work environment and its alignment with company values by assessing your employees’ connection to your mission, values, and how they see them being lived out each day. 

Download The Franchisor’s Guide to Employee Wellness for practical strategies and examples of how to implement a comprehensive wellness program in your organization.
Get your copy now.

Sample Employee Engagement Survey Questions

Wondering how to get to the core of the themes we shared above? With FBR providing engagement surveys for franchisees, customers, and employees for 20+ years, we have some great examples to add to your list!

Job Satisfaction

• On a scale of 1 to 10, how satisfied are you with your current role?
• Do you find your work meaningful and fulfilling?
• How well does your current position utilize your skills and abilities?
• Do you feel challenged and engaged by your daily tasks?
• Do you feel your contributions are valued and recognized?
• How well does your role align with your career interests and goals?
• Do you have clarity about what is expected of you in your position?

Management Support

• Do you feel that management listens to your concerns and feedback?
• How would you rate the communication between employees and managers?
• Does your direct supervisor provide clear direction and guidance?
• How accessible is your manager when you need support or have questions?
• Do you feel comfortable approaching your manager with problems or ideas?
• Does management follow through on commitments made to employees?
• How effectively does your manager handle conflict resolution?

Professional Development

• Are there sufficient opportunities for professional growth within the company?
• Do you receive regular feedback that helps you improve your performance?
• Do you have access to mentorship or coaching opportunities?
• How satisfied are you with the company’s performance review process?
• Are there clear career development paths within the organization that you feel excited about?
• Do you receive feedback that helps you identify areas for improvement?
• Does the company invest in tools that help you develop professionally?

Work-Life Balance

• Do you feel you have a good balance between your work and personal life?
• Does the company provide adequate support for maintaining this balance?
• How often do you feel stressed or overwhelmed by your workload?
• Are you able to disconnect from work during your personal time?
• Does the company offer flexible work arrangements that meet your needs?
• Do you feel pressure to work beyond your scheduled hours?
• Does the company respect your time off and vacation requests?
• How satisfied are you with your current work schedule?

Company Culture

• How well do you think the company’s values align with your personal values?
• Do you feel a sense of belonging within the company?
• Do you feel comfortable being yourself at work?
• How well do different departments collaborate and work together?
• Are you proud to tell others where you work?
• How well does the company handle change and adapt to new challenges?
• How supportive are your colleagues and coworkers?
• Does the company celebrate achievements and milestones appropriately?

Best Practices for Employee Engagement Surveys

Now that you’re armed with the themes and questions to help you survey your employees and gather powerful insights from your team, you’ll need these best practices for effective employee engagement surveys.

Ensure Anonymity

By ensuring anonymity, you guarantee that responses are confidential and encourage honesty. There’s no point in not hearing genuine feedback from your team members! Without honesty, there’s no opportunity for growth.

Communicate Purpose

Clearly explain the survey’s goals and how the data will be used in advance. This is an underrated step in the survey process. By understanding how this feedback will shape their development, career, and the brand as a whole, your employees can share the most helpful information and feedback.

Act on Feedback

Demonstrate commitment by addressing issues highlighted in the survey results. Many brands FBR works with on employee engagement surveys review the top feedback points as a team and then share how the results will be acted on to improve the company.

Regular Assessments

Conduct surveys periodically to monitor progress and make continuous improvements. FBR recommends our clients conduct surveys at least annually to capture information regularly, identify trends, showcase their care, and continuously make enhancements to their franchise system.

See how Payroll Vault used employee engagement surveys to improve employee feelings around work by 17%,
Read More

Uncover Insights That Will Transform Your Franchise 

Employees are the people who represent your brand every day. They are the team with the biggest impact on your customer experience, and their feedback is crucial to growing, improving, and excelling as a brand.

By thoughtfully designing your employee engagement survey, utilizing the best practices shared in this article, you too can harness the power of team member feedback to drive impactful, positive change within your franchise organization. The Franchise Business Review team is happy to share standard questions from our employee engagement survey and help you identify custom questions specific to your organization. Just reach out to us.

Ready to learn the power of third-party, proven survey results for franchises? Schedule a free demo to learn more about our process, our franchise benchmark data, and our interactive online reporting tool designed specifically for franchise organizations.

Related Content

Franchising at WORK Report

Franchise Business Review surveyed more than 11,000 employees—from the C-suite to the frontlines—to uncover the truth about job satisfaction in franchising and identified the top franchise workplaces.